Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Stormy Weather

I went to bed last night without checking in on the Texas and Ohio primary results, mainly because I just wasn't in the mood for Anderson Cooper. When tremendous thunderstorms awakened me around 4 this morning, for some reason I thought, "Hillary won. The primary is on." Although I wasn't glad to be up at 4 AM, I was happy to think that this primary will continue.

Presidential primaries have been decided earlier and earlier. Remember 1968, when Bobby Kennedy triumphed in California in June? I don't either, but the point is that would never happen now. I've always lived in states with primaries so late in the schedule that the race was decided, and it was looking as if that would be the case once again this year, with Pennsylvania not voting until April 22. I wanted Clinton to prevail simply because I wanted the race to last long enough for me to have a say.

It strikes me that a short primary season favors the wealthy candidates, and that also bothers me. A short primary season means that no one can come out of left field, build momentum, build a coalition, fundraise his or her way through it. A short season would seem to me to favor the front-runner, and in January the front-runner is the one with the bucks and therefore the profile. I liked that Huckabee refused to drop out just because he was losing. Why should he? Do we encourage sports teams to quit games at halftime if they're behind? Isn't democracy about having choices?

I honestly haven't been taken with any candidate of either party this year, and until yesterday I've watched the results at a remove. But I did care greatly about yesterday's results. I very much wanted Clinton to pull this off simply because I didn't want the whole thing to be decided on March 4. I don't know whether I'll vote for her or Obama in April, and I wanted the chance to weigh the options and make a decision. Thank you, Ohio and Texas voters, for giving me that chance, for allowing me to meaningfully participate in the presidential primary.

On the downside, I'm assuming the barrage of annoying ads will begin anon.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

bill clinton did not clinch until june also.it is more interesting when it goes down the wire.basketball games r much more interesting when it is a close game until the end.tunsie.tunsie.tunsie

Anonymous said...

were u afraid of the storm? when i was a child i would get afraid of the lightening not the thunder[which is really the angels bowling]because the whole room would light up,and i thought some of the monsters on tv would come and get me.tunsie.tunsie.tunsie

Anonymous said...

So you're looking forward to the political battle of words, are you? I'm getting pretty tired of it...

beths said...

No doubt we'll see candidates and spouses here in the LV. I for one would love to see Michelle Obama in person. What a woman.