Is the Democratic Party too hung up on tradition? (re: fight over the primary dates)

[journalist3072]

With all the recent drama between the national Democratic Party and the Florida Democrats over Florida's primary date, I think the question needs to be asked: is the Democratic Party too hung up on tradition?

I've actually been thinking about this since 2004. During the 2004 Presidential primary, D.C. Democrats wanted to bring national attention to the fact that D.C. residents lack voting representation in the U.S. Congress.

In order to help spotlight this issue, D.C. Democrats held a non-binding presidential primary before Iowa and New Hampshire, and then the binding primary was held as originally scheduled.

However, when it was announced that D.C. would have a (albeit non-binding) primary before Iowa and New Hampshire, five (5) of the Democrats running for President that year, wrote to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics and asked to have their names removed from the ballot. That decision, is a major part of the reason why I cannot support John Edwards this year. He was one of the Democrats who removed themself from the ballot.

Is the Democratic Party too focused on tradition? Why must Iowa and New Hamphsire be the "first in the nation?" And what can the Democratic Party do to avoid this in the future?

[Exiled in America]

That is the stupidest reason not to support someone I've ever heard.

Forget whether or not his policies would be best for the country. Forget what kind of leader he would be. He asked that his name be removed from a FAKE (i.e. "non-binding) "primary" list so you throw a hissy fit and won't vote for him. That's beautiful.

Jesus fucking Christ. No wonder this country is so fucked up. We get what we deserve :(

[journalist3072]

3. To a DC resident, that is NOT a stupid reason. It means that

John Edwards does not understand the importance of DC voting rights. He doesn't understand that DC residents are currently being taxed without representation. He doesn't understand how DC being denided voting representation in the Congress, goes against everything this country supposedly stands for.

So I don't think you have the right to tell me I'm stupid for not supporting John Edwards, because he obviously doesn't support my right to having voting representation in the US Congress.

This is THE most important issue to me.

[wellst0nev0ter]

1. Because Early Primaries Are Meaningless.

And as more and more states fight to become the first, the primaries will just devolve into glorified straw polls. And I think the rest of the country will not stand for permacampaigns either.

[hang a left]

2. This is the way I understand it....

This post explained the situation to me.

DNC to Florida Democrats: Not So Fast
By Jane Hamsher on Sat Aug 25, 2007 at 01:05 pm

florida-map.jpgThe DNC just voted to rap the knuckles of Florida Democrats by stripping all of their 185 delegates to the 2008 convention after they tried to move their primary up to January 29.

Adam B:

Basically, here’s what happened: last summer, the DNC approved a plan by which Iowa and New Hampshire remained in January, with Nevada and South Carolina also wedged into the early schedule to ensure that states in the South and West, with larger Black and Latino representation, had significance in the early primary process. (States had the ability to apply to the DNC to lobby for their selection as an early state; Florida did not seek such a move at the time.)

All the other states were told — and my understanding is that even Florida voted for this — that no one else got to hold a delegate-selecting primary before February 5. If they did, it would be mandatory and automatic that half their delegates would be eliminated from the Convention, with additional penalties possible including the loss of the entire delegation and — believe me when I tell you this is pretty serious — having the state bumped to the back of the Denver hotel selection pool.

Except Florida’s legislature wasn’t hearing that, and a bipartisan vote led to their attempts to claim a January 29 primary. So now Florida’s Democratic leaders have a choice: convince the legislature to move the date altogether; convert the primary from a meaningful delegate allocation process into a “straw poll” or “beauty contest”; or stay put and accept the consequences. (Oh, or sue the DNC. Great.)

As Bowers said at the time Florida made their move:

For a state that already has so much sway over presidential elections, and which has such a horrendous track record of verifiable electoral infrastructure, a decision to leap ahead of virtually all other states in the primary calendar can only be characterized as a power grab in the tradition of Bush, DeLay, and Gingrich. It is also almost certainly an attempt to stick it to Howard Dean of the DNC, whose new primary calendar finally allows minorities such as Latinos, African-Americans and union members to have a say in determining the next president, which is an anathema to Florida’s elites who have done everything in their power over the past decade to make sure that those groups are not even allowed to vote. The move is also a huge boon to the frontrunning campaigns of Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton, both of whom have tremendous advantages in Florida. If Florida is on January 29th, it will be extremely difficult to see a path for any other candidate as long as Clinton or Giuliani manage to come within a close second in New Hampshire. As I type this, that is a criteria both candidates meet quite easily.

snip>>

more here

http://www.firedoglake.com/category/democrats/

[1monster]

4. Here's the problem: The Democratic Party does not set the dates for the

Primaries. The State Legislature does.

The State Legislature in Florida is dominated by Republicans.

The Republicans in the Florida State Legislature have been bound and determined to make sure that Democrats in this state do not have a say in local, state, or federal elections.

At the local level, if one is not registered Republican, one often does not get any voice in deciding who will win an office because quite frequently the Repubican is running unapposed.

At the state level, there are more than a few voting districts that have the same problem.

It is in the Republicans' interest to disenfranchise the Democratic voting block and they have been openly doing so since 2000.

The Democrat voters are done further disservice when their own party are in a de facto way working with the Florida Republican Party to disenfranchise us.

And I'm not so sure why we should allow early states to choose our nominee for us.

I say everyone vote on the same day.

Then those who win will automatically go on to a second ballot, along with any of the ones (like Kucinich) who feel that they are contributing to the process and who may pick up more voters in a smaller field continue on to a second ballot.

The second ballot would determine the nominee or, if the margin were of the win were insignificant,the top two go to the convention where the final decision would be made.

And the first primary should be held no earlier than the Ides of March.