Rep. Sam Hunt and the Democrats want to cancel the Presidential preference primary.
The Appropriations committee hearing is live on TVW at this moment. A representative from the League of Women Voters just testified and boy was she pissed.
Sam Reed and former Secretary of State Ralph Munro also testified against as did a number of citizens activists and a few county auditors. There was no pro- testimony while I was tuned in.
This state doesn't have any clout with it's megar eleven electoral votes. Most of the time the party winner has already been picked before the primary reaches our state.
Both major parties can permit all, part, or none of their state's delegates to be selected by the Presidential Primary.
The Presidential Primary statute allows the Secretary of State to call a committee to move the date. Secretary Reed has sent out the inivitations for that meeting -- which will be a public meeting. We may be recommending a primary date around February so our state is in the mix of states that will have timely and meaningful results.
To date, neither major party has decided how many, if any, delegates they will permit to be selected by the Presidential Primary.
Steve Excell
Assistant Secretary of State
Email: SExcell@secstate.wa.gov
Instead of cancelling our primaries, why not just move the Washington State date up to be about the same time as those in Vermont, etc.?
Posted by: Ragnar on March 15, 2007 05:38 PMBoth caucuses and primaries have the pros and cons, but one is enough.
I do like the idea of moving it to Feb should it occur. Personally I wish they rotated though the States so that each State would, at some point, get to be one of the first, without playing leap frog.
Posted by: Giffy on March 15, 2007 05:51 PMAnd who'll decide who among us are "active in their party," DiFranco? You?
I'll have to introduce you to Sam Hunt and Hans Dunshee. You'd get on famously.
Posted by: ram on March 15, 2007 08:40 PMExtremely cost effective -- only $600,000 for each Republican delegate allocated.
In 2008, the cost is estimated to be $9 million, since it is significantly more expensive to conduct all-mail balloting. Maybe we can get close to $1 million per GOP delegate allocated next year.
Just think -- $9 million. That is more money than we pay all the members of the King County Clowncil and Seattle City Clowncil put together -- during the entire four year terms they are elected to.
I have a more reasonable proposal -- let the each political party use whatever method it desires to select national convention delegates, and have each party pay all the costs of its own delegate selection process.
Posted by: Richard Pope on March 15, 2007 08:43 PMMark my words, we will have Jugo Chavez running against Barbara Boxer with Al Gore as the far right canditate.
Posted by: Elaine on March 15, 2007 10:29 PMAnd would it really matter? No.
Nominating conventions today are nothing like they were in the 60's & 70's when the people on the floor actually mattered. Today's conventions are big expensive candidate love fests. It's already known who the party's candidate is because they were chosen by a handful of states six months prior.
Maybe we should think about ditching Washington's primary. The whole nominating process will be over come mid-February. It's extremely unlikely that we will even have a choice of candidates by the time the May primary rolls around.