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Monday, January 21, 2008

Primaries--Glad They Are Not Settled

As discussed, I am no fan of front-loading the presidential primary schedule. So I am very glad to see that the first 4-5 primaries have really decided very little, and it all seems to come down to super-Tuesday. (I'm not glad that it ALL has to come down to super-Tuesday, but that's better than having it all settled by Iowa and New Hampshire.)

2 comments:

  1. Why don't theyu hold the primaries all on the same day and avoid the "group think" mentality? Let everyone make up their own mind without the influence of all of the other "minds"?

    Polls should be outlawed as well as they contribute to group think and reduce involvement as folks think it's already decided.

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  2. I think primaries on the same day defeats the idea of the emergent candidate (Jimmy Carter maybe being the classic example). It's a variation on the tragedy of the commons problem--every state wants to early, when they think they will have the most influence.

    I read of one interesting proposal...keep Iowa and NH at the front (probably because they will collectively cry and hold their breath at the idea that they would not continue to enjoy "taking their politics retial. Then divide the rest of the country into 4 regional primaries, and take turns as to which region goes first.

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