In states with open primaries, that allow any registered voter to vote in any party’s primary, but only one party’s primary each election cycle; it makes very good sense for voters to cross party lines and vote wherever their tiny little vote will be most effective. Virginia is one such state, and as a Virginia voter, I have personally done this many times. I do not blame any voter for trying to get the most out of their own vote, and I find it a reasonable thing to do.
If I were a rat-fink-bastard Republican (that is any Republican still willing to call themselves a Republican after the fiascos of the Reagan, Bush, and Bush II regimes), and I were voting in Ohio or Texas yesterday, I would certainly vote in the Democratic primary. Despite what the press is reporting, John McCain has had the Republican nomination locked up for weeks, it has been mathematically impossible for any other Republican to win. So my vote in a Republican primary is basically only adding support to a decision that has already been made. It makes far more sense to go mess with the other party.
In my hypothetical situation, at this point I can do one of two things: I can vote for the Democrat I like the most and still plan to vote for the rat-fink-bastard Republican in November, so at least if my Republican candidate loses, the Democrat I prefer will be the least annoying, or I can vote for the least electable Democrat in hopes this makes my rat-fink-bastard Republican more likely to win in November. Yesterday that was a pretty clear choice either way. Hillary Clinton is more in tune with Republican values (conglomerates and corporations over people, pro-War, pro defense budgets) and she is more likely to lose against McCain in November.
There are many, many former Republicans who have jumped out of the GOP as it evolved away from sanity. Many of them jumped out a decade or more ago (including me). Many who are just now jumping out because of the unparalleled disaster that is the Bush regime. Many former Republicans are voting for Obama in both the primary and the general election, because we want change.
Enough of that hypothetical situation: I am not a Republican and I don’t vote in Texas or Ohio. I was just using that point to illustrate why I have no problem with traditional Republicans (former or current) voting in the Democratic Primary in an open primary state.
Yesterday came down to two questions: Would Democrats vote for Hillary or Obama? Would the former Republicans or McCain supporters cross over and vote in the Democratic primary in greater numbers?
The answer is clear. Those who have decided to live their lives in fear and give there civil rights to the current regime mobilized and turned out and managed to vote in large enough numbers to make Hillary the apparent winner. Delegates, please take this into consideration when you decide the nominee.
Source for my last assertion:
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#OH
The counties that went for Clinton are the same counties that went for Bush in 2004.
There were twice as many “Democratic” voters as there were “Republican” voters – anyone want to cover my bet that in November there are suddenly nearly equal numbers of both?
Those same facts are eve more true in Texas:
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#TX
The counties that went for Clinton are the same counties that went for Bush in 2004.
There were three times as many “Democratic” voters as there were “Republican” voters – anyone want to cover my bet that in November will solidly go for McCain?
Update: One minor corrections to the Republican counties went for Hillary line of thought… South Texas. Kerry actually won South Texas, and Obama did not.
Very interesting…
Let’s be real. Hillary should drop out of the race, she will destroy the Democratic party.
I want to be clear, that given the current rules… those crossing party lines and voting in the opposition party’s primary are doing the reasonable thing. There vote is already of minimal value because of the corporate dollars that skew every campaign. It makes sense to get as much as you can out of the stupid two-party system we have.
Democrats should nominate Obama.
If Clinton is the nominee, McCain will probably be our next president, and the only bright side of that is that at least a Republican will be stuck “owning” the results of the perfect storm of financial disasters about to hit our country as a result of the Bush regime.
