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Primary one-upmanship

As you might have heard, the state of Michigan might not have any say in the nomination of the Democratic candidate for president at the Democrats’ convention in August because the state tried to increase its impact and visibility by moving its primary up from February 5 to January 15. According to an Associated Press article,

Democratic leaders voted Saturday to strip Michigan of all its delegates to the national convention next year as punishment for scheduling an early presidential primary in violation of party rules.

In spite of the vote, some party leaders and officials said they believed the delegates would eventually be seated at the convention.

Now, while I don’t understand why Michigan didn’t just go all-out and follow Rhode Island’s example by moving its primaries to April 2007, I think it’s fine to punish them for their one-upmanship. Why doesn’t everybody just try to improve their impact and visibility by moving their primaries ever-earlier and earlier?

I personally think it’s idiotic to give so much attention to the obviously retarded states of Iowa and New Hampshire, and I wish every state held its nomination process (caucus or primary) on the same day. Who could argue with that, with any rationale other than “it’s always been that way so we should keep doing it”?

Posted in Rants