Published: May 17, 2008 10:23 pm            

Column: Clearly, the system needs to be fixed

LOGANSPORT, Ind. — The Democratic Party’s effort to choose a presidential candidate has been a bit of a train wreck.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. It’s been fun. But is it democracy?

Before I get too far into this dissertation, I should acknowledge that I didn’t vote for either of the candidates in the Democratic presidential race. As I usually do, I voted in the primary with the largest number of contests, and in Cass County this year, that was the Republican primary.

Still, like many Americans, I’ve been following the Democratic contest with great interest.

I was particularly fascinated by the reports that followed last week’s West Virginia primary. Hillary Clinton literally trounced Barack Obama, and yet no one seems to give her even the slightest chance of winning the nomination.

The numbers don’t add up, they say. It’s all over but the shouting.

Maybe so.

I’ll be honest and say that I don’t really understand the Democratic Party’s process for selecting a presidential candidate.

Some states have primaries. Others have caucuses. Texas has both.

And in some cases, one candidate can win the statewide primary by a wide margin only to wind up splitting the delegates.

Some states have a system that gives more delegates to congressional districts with a history of voting for Democrats. Where’s the fairness in that?

And what’s the deal with these superdelegates?

Party leaders apparently put the superdelegates in place to protect the voters from themselves. In case a candidate emerged from the primaries with no real chance of getting elected, the party leaders wanted a system in place that would give them a chance to ride to the rescue.

Obviously, that was a flawed concept.

No party leader in this election wants to be seen as bucking the will of the voters, and yet, here in Indiana, most of the 13 superdelegates are backing Obama, even though Clinton won the primary.

Among the Obama supporters is Joe Donnelly, our own 2nd district congressman. Donnelly had said that he would factor in the district’s vote in deciding which candidate to support, but he announced last week that he had decided to go with Obama.

Clinton’s campaign still insists she has a chance of winning the popular vote, but Obama’s campaign questions the calculation. She’s counting Florida and Michigan, they say, and those states don’t count.

And why is that, you might ask. Florida and Michigan had their primaries too early, the party says, and as a result, the status of their delegates has been a subject of negotiation.

Clinton won both states, but the wins carry an asterisk. Both candidates were on the ballot in Florida, but neither really campaigned. Only Clinton was on the ballot in Michigan.

Of course, the Clinton campaign now says the reason Obama didn’t contest those states was because he knew he couldn’t win.

The indications now are that this long fight will come to an end in the next few weeks. Party leaders are supposed to decide late this month what to do about Florida and Michigan, and the last of the primaries will be in the first week of June.

The smart money is riding on Obama.

Still, I’m left feeling there has to be a better way. The whole process has been evidence of the need for Congress to step in a bring some sense of reason to the presidential primaries.

Part of the problem, I’ll admit, might be the national media, which is constantly trying to declare a winner. In the weeks and months leading up to our own primary, folks in Indiana cringed when the commentators suggested that the campaign had gone on too long.

Keep it going, we said. This is our first chance to make a difference in 40 years.

I don’t think we want to go back to the days when our presidential candidates were picked for us by folks in Iowa and New Hampshire. We liked the attention we got, and we want to keep it coming.

To be honest, I think we’d like to have a voice in the selection of the candidates from both major parties.

I see the answer as a shorter primary season. Maybe even one huge Super Tuesday where everyone votes on the same day.

And let’s get rid of the superdelegates and these weighted district. Every state ought to have a chance to vote. And every vote ought to count the same.



Kelly Hawes writes for The Pharos-Tribune in Logansport, Ind. He can be reached at kelly.hawes@pharostribune.com

        

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