Thinking About It
March 16, 2007
Governor Schwarzenegger: It was not a good idea to move the California primary from June to February next year.
This is another example of everyone from the pundits to the candidates trying to take the fun out of campaigns.
Lighten up everyone. Certainly these are very serious times with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the ever present threats of terrorism and the shaky stock market but everyone needs to stop trying to make politics into a science. It isn’t a science it is an art. It is spontaneity. It is trying to perfect one’s campaign speech before diverse crowds during the so-called spring training of the campaign.
Now we will know our presidential candidates of both political parties by this time next year with this crazy condensed schedule of primaries and caucuses.
The whole purpose of a lengthier primary/caucus season is to get the kinks out of the campaign and the campaign speech. The purpose is to see how a candidate responds to losing a primary and how he or she bounces back by offering new ideas to the voters. The purpose of a longer primary season is to have time to meet voters and not be running back and forth between twenty states and stopping only at airports for brief talks.
Why is there such a rush to have our candidates known by next March? We will all be tired of both of the candidates by April and be looking for new and fresh faces. And, new candidates will most likely enter the race as independents sometime after next March. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg or Senator Joe Lieberman to name a couple of possible candidates could emerge.
By moving all the primaries up to the front of the 2008 calendar the game will be over before it even begins for most voters. Voters need time to get to know the candidates and to hear their views and to see what makes each candidate unique and worthy of our votes.
The parties, the state legislatures, the political consultants and everyone involved in this ridiculous attempt to short circuit the 2008 presidential campaign season should be ashamed of themselves.
The American voter values the contest, the campaign, the caucuses and primaries as much as the final outcome. Who needs to know the winners by March? What do the winners do between March and the conventions in August and September?
Moving up the primaries is a bad idea. It definitely hurts the voter. Just as they are getting ready to get involved in the political process it is pretty much over.
We should be extending the primary/caucus process instead of shortening it.
True, the issues are serious but there is still room and time to have our candidates for president show what they are made of – how they handle defeat, how they handle a scandal, how they handle a poorly delivered speech and how they relate to different audiences across the fifty states.
What good is a blur of candidates going to over twenty states for a single day primary in February?
Governor Schwarzenegger – a very poor idea to move up your primary. It could have had a bigger impact staying where it was in June. What is the rush to find out our presidential nominees? It is better for all of us for them to make their mistakes before taking office before they have the massive responsibilities of the presidency.
Ask yourself: Would we better off if we knew more about our current president before we elected and re-elected him? Of course.
So let’s all step back and ask ourselves: What is the rush to pick our candidates for president?
Stop tinkering with the primary process unless we decide to make it longer and not shorter. What is the point of speeding up this process? We need more – not less-time to meet our future leaders.
By spending more time examining the candidates maybe we will find someone who is not as flawed as our current and previous president. Let’s take more time in 2008 during the primary/caucus season to get to know the presidential candidates and choose a leader we can all respect.
Robert J. Guttman
Founder and Director, CPFR
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