DLC Idea of the Week: Opening Up Primaries

[Mass]

I am not sure what to think of that, as it may in the case of contested Democratic Primary, lead to the absence of a Democratic candidate (even in safe states like Massachusetts) or rather reinforce the control of the big bosses by pushing candidates to withdraw for the better good.

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=131&subid=207&contentid=253640

he One Oregon, One Ballot initiative would shake things up by replacing the closed primaries with one open primary that any candidate, Democratic, Republican, Independent, Green, Whig, or whatever, could participate in, with the top two vote-getters proceeding to the general election. The party designation, if any, of each candidate would be controlled by the parties themselves, preserving their "branding" rights and preventing dishonest designations. And unlike Louisiana's open primary system, the two rounds of elections would be held on existing primary and general election dates, avoiding the potentially skewed turnouts that Louisiana's post-general-election runoffs sometimes produces.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

1. Leon Penetta has been pushing...

that crap here in CA for a few years now.

He actually stated his reason for persuing it was it might produce more "moderate" candidates -- be they Dems or GOP.

Using his logic/scenario, CA could lose one of the best Senators in the country.

Fuck Penetta. And fuck the DLC.

[wakeme2008]

2. Right the Repug's vote for the easiest to beat Dem....

Between Touchscreen magic and Repugs picking Dem canidates... :grr:

[Mass]

3. That is if there are Democratic candidates at all

With the Oregon method, you could easily imagine that the GE is between 2 Republican candidates. All that is necessary is that the Democrat vote is fragmented between several candidates.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

5. That is what was envisioned here in CA...

Senate and House races that didn't even have a Dem in the race, but two GOPers!

This is soooo fucking typical of the DLC...grrr. :mad:

[jsamuel]

4. This would make it harder for a Dem to challenge Lieberman in a Dem Primar

y

Or a Dem to challenge any incumbent in a Dem Primary.