Thursday, March 06, 2008

The Primary Process is Okay

Digby on the primary: "One of the most pernicious things the media did in 2000 was constantly evoke the hysterical notion that if the election wasn't decided immediately that the streets would run with blood and the nation would fall into chaos. It ended up creating the illusion that deadlines were more important than the principle of counting all the votes and influenced the legal cases that eventually decided the outcome. There is no reason to panic about elections.

Humans are still voting and the party as an institution hasn't made up its mind. There is no shortage of money, both candidates provide some fascination to the media and until the party decides, they will remain moving targets for the Republicans. After all, they can't settle on a narrative until one of the candidates is chosen. One of the upsides of the two candidates we have is that while they are very similar on policy, traditional GOP attacks will have to be tailored differently. If McCain is forced to campaign against them on the issues, which is what they have in common, he loses. On the issues, Democrats win."

I think it's interesting that Michigan and Florida lost their delegates because they were concerned that they were voting too late for their votes to matter and yet if they had waited their votes would have been significant. It used to be the case that the nominee wasn't decided until the convention, it's perfectly fine. It's not like half the party will rebel and vote for McCain. It would also be good if the election season was shorter. Finally, I like the point that the delay this year, forces the Republicans to develop two strategies and not just one.

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