Nominee by Default
- Wade
Fresh off of a whirlwind tour of beautiful Kirkland, Washington, I do have a travel question. When boarding begins, and the airport employee says "Now boarding rows 37-40 of flight blablabla," why is it that 150 people get in line? Mathematically, on a 757, only 24 people should be allowed to board. When it got down to my row (21) there were three people standing, left to board. Naturally there was no overheard bin room left for my carry-on. So, can you really board at any time? It didn't look like they were turning anyone away even though their row hadn't been called yet? Dumb question from a travel newbie who had no legroom on his flight home.
Anyways. I return home to discover that John Kerry has won two more states in the Democratic presidential primaries. The rest of the primary season is a formality, which is a tad unfortunate in that any momentum built up now will be lost by March. (And momentum is different than Joementum.) Kerry should clear his schedule for the rest of the year because he'll be battling George W.M.D. Bush for the office of President this fall.
Why?
Is it his leadership? His stances? His vision?
Nope. His electability.
Forty percent of Tuesday's voters said that electability was more important than issues after Tuesday's vote. So the Dems are using the Portland Trailblazer methodology of candidate selection: we don't care about the person, as long as he can win. This isn't to suggest that Damon Stoudamire passes the dutchie to Kerry, but the message is the same: we just care about winning, not about who's on the court.
Has the Democratic party really come to this? Bill Clinton was not the most electable in the 1992 primary (Paul Tsongas) but won over the electorate based on policy stances; as the primary season ran, Bubba picked up more believers and won the nomination. Since the DNC has moved up the primary schedule, candidates are given less of a chance to convince voters based on vision; the nominee will be picked based on momentum. How many primary voters will logically vote for someone other than Kerry at this point? He's been ordained as the nominee, only because he has the greatest chance to unseat Bush in the fall.
Good luck to him. I don't think Dubya needs to worry about packing up the White House anytime soon. Instead of a "gotta have" nominee, the Dems have a "well, he's got a better chance to win" nominee. And that just ain't gonna get the job done. Ask Rasheed Wallace.
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