In Washington State Vote, Relevance Is an Issue

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

As many as 1.5 million votes are projected to be cast in Washington State’s presidential primary on Tuesday. The question is whether they will count.

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More problematic is that the state Democratic Party long ago said it would award its delegates based solely on the results of the statewide caucuses that were held on Feb. 9. The party says a record 250,000 people turned out for the caucuses, which Senator Barack Obama won by 36 percentage points.

So it appears that the primary, first approved in a 1988 referendum with the goal of giving greater voice to voters who might not be able or inclined to attend a party caucus, may have the distinction of being one of the few essentially irrelevant contests in a presidential race so fierce this year that even outposts like Idaho and Alaska have nudged their way into the national spotlight for a moment or two.

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Mr. Reed insists the primary remains important.

“If Hillary Clinton can come back and win the Democratic primary in the state of Washington after Obama won the caucuses, you’d better believe people will be talking about that for a long time as she looks for momentum going into Texas and Ohio,” he said.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/us/politics/18washington.html

[Barrymores Ghost]

1. Washington will go Obama....

...as a long-time resident and someone with a pretty decent feel for the pulse of the Democratic elctorate, I can say without equivocation that Hillary doesn't stand a chance of closing any gap here.

I hope the entire eligible electorate turns out, because I have no doubt that Obama will take the popular vote in a landslide.

[WCGreen]

2. Wow, that's really a stretch...

I live in Ohio and have been active in democratic politics since 1976 when I was a campus coordinator for Jimmy Carter...

I even served as an officer for the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party (8 years) and have worked on numerous statewide campaigns including one this year, not presidential...

I would never presume from my vantage point that I would have a clear feel for the pulse of the Democratic electorate throughout a state as wide and varied as Ohio...

I can tell you what might happen...

But I wold never presume to say that I have my finger on the pulse of the electorate...

You may very well be right...

But boy, that's amazing that you have that much confidence in your opinion to project Obama as a winner before even one vote has been counted...

[Mithreal]

3. Take a look at Washington state caucus results.

There is a reason Obama won every county in the state, he is overwhelmingly popular here. And Reed is a Republican Secretary of State that has shown little respect for caucuses, just take a look at the WA state voter's pamphlet this year.

[Barrymores Ghost]

5. I'm a delegate in one of the most white-bread precincts...

...in Pierce County, and I can assure you that, judging from the massive turnout and the 60-40 margin being the narrowest of all the caucus counts, it won't even be close come tomorrow.

[keopeli]

4. This is a spin from the Hillary campaign via the NYT

Fact: Everyone KNEW that Dems only count the caucuses. It's been all over the TV and papers. That's why the large turnout.

Fact: Not counting the primary vote will limit the number of Dem voters who vote in the primary.

Hillary is counting on her base to vote in the primary and the throngs for obama to ignore it.

My question: Why is Hillary trying so hard to break the rules: Michigan, Florida, now Washington? I don't think that makes her look very good.