Revenge of the Primary Voter

~ Laura

I've got five minutes before I dash out the door —  time enough to write a typo-filled blog post. Yay for instant publishing. 

When the alarm clock went off, I reached over for my glasses and the iPad. (Yes, I'm a politics junky. I probably need medical help.) And I quickly found out that Santorum won the Minnesota and Colorado. I banged on the bathroom door to tell Steve. (Yes, he's a politics junky and needs medical help.) 

Why did this happen? Is it a rebellion against party elites? Mormon hatred? Dog lovers?

No, it's probably the more simple explanation that primary voters are ALWAYS more extreme than November voters. Democratic primary voters are more liberal, and Republican primary voters are more conservative. The candidates know that and make extreme promises that they have to take back after they get the nomination. Clearly, Republican primary voters don't think Romney is conservative enough for them. 

Some think we should revamp the primary system, so we end up with candidates that November voters will like. I'm not sure how to do that. 

Published by Laura

7 thoughts on “Revenge of the Primary Voter”

  1. The iPhone sits next to the bed. I don’t even bother with glasses, I just zoom on the articles and Twitter.
    Romney the nominee and Santorum VP? My husband predicted that last fall.

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  3. MH,I’ll bet you aren’t as old as I am. I’ve now reached the bifocals stage. It’s actually easier to read up close without glasses than it is with glasses or contacts.
    I have to wear readers with my contacts.

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  4. I have just started to have to take my glasses off to read my iPhone. And, I’m blind as a bat, so that means that I have a depth of field of about .5 inches (i.e. the iPhone must be exactly 5.5 inches from my eyes. Actually I should measure).
    I am not a politics junky, so I’m going to wait for the results of all the elections before I decide who is going to win. At that point I might or might not care about why.

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  5. I’ve been farsighted (in that I have hyperopia, not great wisdom) since before I started school. I used to be able to squint and decipher letters, but I haven’t been able to read anything smaller than a street sign without my glasses for over ten years.

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  6. On Santorum, I wonder if some of his recent success isn’t because of a priming effect. Between the Komen-PP thing and the birth-control mandate, the news might be bringing those views to the front of peoples’ minds.

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  7. I’m kind of the opposite of a political junkie. I didn’t even know they were having elections yesterday. Aren’t these actually caucuses anyway? I’m not sure what they mean. Anyway, I would not change the system based on one day’s results. There’s always a lot of sound and fury in the daily news, but most of it signifies nothing.

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