A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics
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A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics | |
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October 20, 2004A Political Revolution?I must admit that I was not aware of these ballot initiatives, as described in a New York Times op-ed today. With voters and the press fixated on the fiercest presidential race in decades, scant attention has been paid to a political revolution erupting on the West Coast - one that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California gave his support to this week. On Nov. 2, voters in Washington State and California are expected to approve initiatives to abolish the political party primary as we know it. Voters in Oregon may well pass a similar measure by 2006. . . Excellent. Posted by Todd Pearson at October 20, 2004 12:57 PMComments
I recognize the potential benefits, but I'm not sure they outweigh the costs. This essentially undermines the parties and I'm not sure that's a good idea. I think people that self-identify themselves as Dems or Repubs should have the right to determine who their nominee will be. And I think its good that the parties are distinctive; this system will create incentives to blur any distinctions. Posted by: MWS at October 21, 2004 09:39 AMI've never been a fan of open primaries. Primaries are the function of the parties and they should decide their own affairs. If we want real reform, make the general elections more open and allow third parties to participate in debates etc. Also, proportional representation would go along way too. Posted by: Donald at October 21, 2004 11:10 AMI live in Louisiana, where we've had open primaries for over 20 years. While I like the idea, and the past 3 elections or so they've worked pretty well for our gubernatorial campaigns, they have their drawbacks as well. In 1991, they led to the infamous Edwin Edwards vs. David Duke race, where we had the slogan "Vote for the crook, it's important." Open primaries are no cure-all for avoiding extreme ideologues. Very often the extremes command a highly-dedicated 20-25% of the vote. If there are 2 extreme candidates on either side of the political spectrum and several middle-of-the-road candidates, then it's all too easy for one or both idealogues to make it into the run-off, as the 50-60% in the middle is split evenly between the center candidates. Posted by: Patrick Martin at October 22, 2004 12:06 AM |
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