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novapsychePrimary Miniseason Won't Serve Party Well
John Kerry has been considered the presumptive Democratic nominee ever since his comeback wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, and the primaries in the states that followed have been treated like formalities.
The media, constitutionally incapable of coping with complexity, has created a curious electoral tautology; Kerry wins because he is the front-runner.
[...] Kerry is racking up the endorsements from politicians who want to rally around the front-runner (or assure their place in a Kerry administration), and his victory is seen as inevitable well before Democratic voters in most states have had their say.
But this early certainty is exactly what Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe had hoped for. There used to be a six-week break between Iowa and New Hampshire and the rest of the primaries; time for any irrational exuberance from wins in those states to be contained, and time for other candidates to mount their stands. But McAuliffe didn't want the Democratic candidate broke and broken before the battle against Bush even begun, so he "front-loaded" the primaries to ensure a quick and easy victory for one candidate -- any candidate.
[...] This drive toward an early coronation belies the entire point of the primary process, which is to pick the man who would be both the best nominee and the best president. Instead, we have picked the man who ran the best race in Iowa, which is hardly the same thing.
For [those] who believe that our economy, civil rights and national security depend on the ouster of George W. Bush and his extraordinarily radical administration, all we can do is hope that John Edwards can keep the fight alive, or that the voters of Iowa really knew what they were doing.
John Kerry has been considered the presumptive Democratic nominee ever since his comeback wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, and the primaries in the states that followed have been treated like formalities.
The media, constitutionally incapable of coping with complexity, has created a curious electoral tautology; Kerry wins because he is the front-runner.
[...] Kerry is racking up the endorsements from politicians who want to rally around the front-runner (or assure their place in a Kerry administration), and his victory is seen as inevitable well before Democratic voters in most states have had their say.
But this early certainty is exactly what Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe had hoped for. There used to be a six-week break between Iowa and New Hampshire and the rest of the primaries; time for any irrational exuberance from wins in those states to be contained, and time for other candidates to mount their stands. But McAuliffe didn't want the Democratic candidate broke and broken before the battle against Bush even begun, so he "front-loaded" the primaries to ensure a quick and easy victory for one candidate -- any candidate.
[...] This drive toward an early coronation belies the entire point of the primary process, which is to pick the man who would be both the best nominee and the best president. Instead, we have picked the man who ran the best race in Iowa, which is hardly the same thing.
For [those] who believe that our economy, civil rights and national security depend on the ouster of George W. Bush and his extraordinarily radical administration, all we can do is hope that John Edwards can keep the fight alive, or that the voters of Iowa really knew what they were doing.