Texas Circus - Field Visit report

calmom
Thu, 06 Mar 2008 04:50:03 +0000

Well, I know in Texas they didn’t have to hang around-- they could just sign in and go home. I also know that if the only people who will vote for Clinton are die-hard Democrats, then she will lose to McCain in the fall. The Democrats will vote for Obama even if Clinton was their first choice. The candidate who can pull in the votes of independents in November will win.

I’m not an Obama supporter. I was an Edwards supporter, but one thing I learned from that experience was that there were a lot of Republicans who sincerely supported him – we got calls all the time. I even had a call from a young man in the military the day before the California primary who was tremendously upset that Edwards had pulled out – he and his whole family had always voted Republican but had all wanted to vote for Edwards.

I don’t know why Independents or Republicans might support Obama but there are a lot of possibilities: maybe they like his inclusive talk and his vision for America; maybe they are inspired by him. I do know that there are a lot of Republicans who are utterly disgusted with the current administration, particularly with the war and the economy – and they will be ready to vote for a Democrat in the fall. McCain supports the war and says he doesn’t know much about economics… not much of a pull for those disenchanted Republicans.

I agree in general that caucuses seem undemocratic – but then I see situations like Clinton’s fear-mongering tv ads, and I am not all that impressed with “democracy” – I think one argument in favor of caucuses is that they are more likely to be attended by more sophisticated/committed voters - the type who have thought through their reasons to support one candidate or another, rather than the ones who make up their mind at the last minute based on whichever side’s smear tactics against the other sways them.

The bottom line is that the nominating process is the time for each PARTY to select its nominee – it is meant to serve the Party’s interest, not necessarily to represent the popular will. Maybe it’s in the interest of the Democratic party to fully flesh out issues and vet their candidates – rather than rush to judgment early and then end up vulnerable to swift-boat type tactics in the fall – so a prolonged campaign may not be such a bad thing.