Reply #60: Primaries or caucuses (or something else)? [View All]

[wpelb]

The Iowa caucus system helped Kerry leapfrog ahead of Dean literally overnight. Did the Democrats really want Kerry to be the standard-bearer? Who knows? Because of the surprise win, he was able to waltz to the nomination. (Dean's rally speech, which the Republicans were able to use to make fun of him, also helped Kerry.) Once the Republicans saw that Kerry's nomination was all but assured (long before the convention), they had plenty of time to prepare attack ads, which they used to re-elect you-know-who.

Had there been a long string of primaries, with no candidate getting too much momentum after just a victory or two, the primaries would have become an endurance race--a marathon rather than a sprint, if you will--and the race for the general election would have been contested with a stronger nominee. Any candidate who was vulnerable (as Kerry was, even if the Swift Boat ads were completely false) would have been weeded out in the primaries by other members of the party.

Caucuses and a short primary season allow a small number of people to choose who will be the party's nominee. That's not democracy.