January 19, 2004
For those about to caucus, we salute you
I swear, this Iowa/New Hampshire ritual we go through every four years is absolutely bizarre. I understand primaries, and I like the concept of building up an organization and going state-by-state marshalling support from his own party before going on the larger battle. It lets party voters get to know the candidates and pick out the ones with the fatal flaws (Gary Hart, Ted Kennedy) before it becomes a general election blowout, which is probably good for general national stability.
Still, why should we care what two small and unrepresentative states have to say? More importantly, why is it always the same two states? Even worse, why do candidates have to pay a price for criticizing the status quo? Why should a national candidate get handicapped early in the campaign for hurting the feelings of a small number of people with a totally undeserved influence?
No matter what I think, the show is set to begin tomorrow. For those of us who have been following the campaign for over a year, it's finally a concrete result to compare to months of guessing and second-guessing, scenario-making and poll-extrapolating. If only I had a vote that mattered. Ever.
Posted by rj3 at January 19, 2004 1:29 AM
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