Eyeing Newt
I am glad Former Speaker Newt Gingrich won in SC.
Not that I like him or ever plan on voting for him myself. On the surface, yes, it's because the Republican race was looking too close to being all sewn up, and I would like to see them draw down their coffers now so they don't have as much to spend against President Obama. It's also nice that they will have less time to devote to attacks on Obama, and more time to attack each other.
First and foremost, however, I don't think it's good for democracy as a whole that no one West of the Rockies gets a hand in deciding who is on the ballot for President. Granted, many extreme conservatives would prefer the West Coast was excluded entirely from both the Primaries and the General Election.
What is really frightening to me, and what exposes how our election system is terribly broken is that many sources wanted to call the entire election on the basis of the extraordinarily undemocratic Iowa Caucuses. An early declaration of a candidate is what the 1% wants, though. Once the Primaries are open to larger states, the more likely it is that the GOP will be exposed as unpopular. If a candidate is selected early, they can blame low turnout on lack of interest. But if the candidacy is still up for grabs when states like California have their day, low voter turnout will mean that the GOP is losing its base.
It is sad, though, that even more obscene amounts of money will now go for horrific attack ads. Newt proved that negative ads work in this election cycle. I'm really glad I have a DVR.
And democracy will take a bigger blow once again when the whole ballgame is decided by the Electoral College.
Not that I like him or ever plan on voting for him myself. On the surface, yes, it's because the Republican race was looking too close to being all sewn up, and I would like to see them draw down their coffers now so they don't have as much to spend against President Obama. It's also nice that they will have less time to devote to attacks on Obama, and more time to attack each other.
First and foremost, however, I don't think it's good for democracy as a whole that no one West of the Rockies gets a hand in deciding who is on the ballot for President. Granted, many extreme conservatives would prefer the West Coast was excluded entirely from both the Primaries and the General Election.
What is really frightening to me, and what exposes how our election system is terribly broken is that many sources wanted to call the entire election on the basis of the extraordinarily undemocratic Iowa Caucuses. An early declaration of a candidate is what the 1% wants, though. Once the Primaries are open to larger states, the more likely it is that the GOP will be exposed as unpopular. If a candidate is selected early, they can blame low turnout on lack of interest. But if the candidacy is still up for grabs when states like California have their day, low voter turnout will mean that the GOP is losing its base.
It is sad, though, that even more obscene amounts of money will now go for horrific attack ads. Newt proved that negative ads work in this election cycle. I'm really glad I have a DVR.
And democracy will take a bigger blow once again when the whole ballgame is decided by the Electoral College.