Posted on 01/11/2005 5:30:24 AM PST by crushkerry
THE quadrennial effort to usurp New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary status has begun, this time with the official stamp of a Democratic National Committee nomination calendar commission. The commission is headed by former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman and Rep. David Price, D-N.C. Their commission is charged with drafting a new election calendar that would punish the citizens of New Hampshire.
While the effort is headed up by the Democratic establishment in big states that seek to dominate the nomination process, it has lately been encouraged by the so-called “reform” movement within the Democrat Party. After the frustrating loss of their candidate Howard Dean in the primary, and another frustrating loss in the general election, this “reform” element has made changing the election calendar a top priority. But the term “reform” flatters the members of this cabal and dissimulates their motives. For this movement is peopled by a radicalized element of ideologues that pledges its allegiance first to irresponsible auxiliary organizations such as MoveOn.org and Americans Coming Together (ACT).
This element’s considerable political weight is a greater threat to New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary status than even powerhouse states like Michigan.
If you’re convinced this element is committed to something short of complete Democrat domination, consider thatEli Pariser, the head of MoveOn.org recently boasted in an e-mail to his members, “We bought it. We own it. And we’re taking it back.” The “it” in his e-mail refers to the entire Democrat Party.
“No DNC (chairman) candidate can claim the ‘reform’ label without tackling New Hampshire and Iowa head on,” writes the highly influential left-wing blogger Markos Moulitsas of The Daily Kos. Meanwhile, ACT CEO Steve Rosenthal is floating a plan that would create simultaneous primaries in five states with the closest electoral margins in the most recent general election. Under Rosenthal’s plan, New Hampshire would remain one of five first-in-the-nation primary states in 2008, but only by happy coincidence. Other “reform” plans would simply place other state primaries before New Hampshire on the election calendar, with the most aggressive threat coming from Michigan.
“Reform” ought to carry with it a sense of cleanliness, fairness and a level playing field for the little guy. But these efforts to reform the nomination process will force candidates to compete in more states conterminously, thereby driving up the cost of running for President. And the fringe elements behind such plans know that they can dominate the entire nomination process by driving up the cost of running for the Democrat nomination. The dirty little secret is that by the time the first votes were cast in Dixville Notch, Howard Dean – the clear favorite of the fringies — was the big money player in the primary; John Kerry merely the upstart.
Since McCain-Feingold, the 527s that “bought” and “own” the today’s Democratic Party control the purse strings of the Left. Whereas the party proper is prohibited from accepting unlimited “soft money” contributions, no such ban exists for MoveOn, ACT and the other extreme players in the election process. With a broad-based primary the costs of advertising, direct mail and voter mobilization will make candidates more dependent on these well-heeled, largely unregulated groups.
Rosenthal all but admits as much, telling the Wall Street Journal he would like to make ACT a “permanent fixture” in American politics.
Standing in New Hampshire’s defense on the DNC’s nomination calendar commission is former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and former ambassador Terry Shumaker. And of course New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Kathy Sullivan and Gov. John Lynch bear special responsibility for protecting New Hampshire’s primary status from intra-party piracy.
In the past, Sullivan, Shaheen and Shumaker have been unwavering in their commitment to work with other Democrats and even Republicans to protect New Hampshire’s status. Their bipartisan cooperation on this front cannot be faulted. Indeed, it would be unfair to suggest Kathy Sullivan and company might welcome the loss of New Hampshire’s primary status. Of course they would not. But a legitimate question arises as to whether Sullivan, Lynch, Shaheen and Shumaker have the clout and political stamina to stand up to the radical elements that seek to punish New Hampshire.
Patrick Hynes is a senior account executive with the Republican consulting firm Marsh Copsey and Scott. He is also the proprietor of the Web sites www.crushkerry.com and www.passionforfairness.com. He is a former political director of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee.
Freeper Op Ed Ping.
New Hampshire is a blue state. Do they beat their children for their own failures?
Let's hope New Hampshire remains the number one primary. New Hampshire Democrats tend to vote for Northeastern, neighboring state Libs such as John Kerry and Mike Dukakis, who are the "kiss of death" to the Heartland.
This is the first time NH has been a "blue state" in as long as I can remember. We have always been a "red island" in the sea of the remaining "blue" New England states.
Except ... we went for Clinton twice.
In the primaries, maybe. Not in the general, IIRC.
Nope. 1992 and 1996. Clinton Country.
Let the Dems do it. I love to see them moving in the opposite direction of the solution to their problem. If they wanted real reform, they'd have a national primary on a single day so that no state had disproportionate influence, and no state was politically neutered by the process.
A compromise would be to select the states at random and put them in order from 1 to 50. A primary schedule could be set with 5 primary days, (such as every other Tuesday for 10 weeks.) Approximately 20% of the population of the country would hold a primary each Tuesday starting at the top of the list.) The schedule would change each election year.
BTW, the caucuses and straw polls would still be important.....
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