If Kansans want a presidential primary in 2008, they had better say so — and fast. Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh notes that the public so far hasn’t had much to say about the Legislature’s refusal to spend $1.6 million on a primary next year. And with the wrap-up session under way, time is short to save the primary. “At some point, you have to decide that elections and democracy are important,” Thornburgh said. True, but this may not be that point, because the presidential selection system is so money-driven and front-loaded as to make Republican Kansas irrelevant.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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9 Comments
Unity08
The name of the Kansas elective position of “Secretary of State” should be changed to “State Scribe” which would more accurately describe the duties of the position. And the Secretary of State position along with the State Insurance Commissioner, State Treasurer, State Printer and Attorney General positions should be make appointive rather than elective.
Elective officers are only minimally supervised by our legislators which does not provide any meaningful supervision.
The state-wide visibility of these offices does give these mostly mediocre office holders a step up on running for Governor of Kansas. Having watched a few candidates try to oppose these incumbent office holders shows the difficulty of electioneering in a large sparsely settled state like Kansas. So once in, they mostly continue in until they choose to quit.
In regard to holding a state-wide presidential primary election, Secretary of State Thornburgh has a vested interest. That is, it would give him a pre-election boost in free newspaper/TV/radio publicity for supervising the election through his 105 county election commissioners.
He would receive invaluable name indentification in a run for Kansas Governor. My observation for years is that the worst possible source of Kansas Governors has been from these elected state-wide administrative positions.
SO, LET’S USE THE POLITICAL CONVENTION/CAUCUS SYSTEM USING ELECTED PRECINCT COMMITTEE PEOPLE TO NAME THE KANSAS POLITICAL PARTY CHOICES FOR PRESIDENT. AND FORGET THE EXPENSIVE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY.
http://www.unity08.com/
I like the idea.
Our primary process is idiotic. It allows the party activists (and all too often although not all the time fanatics) a ridiculous amount of influence in picking presidential nominees.
Personally, I would be in favor of having a national primary, with all registered voters able to vote for both (or even all party’s) candidates. That would force the candidates to start a campaign by trying to appeal to the electorate as a whole, rather than to the more consistent supporters within their own party. It would also shorten the presidential race, and possibly increase interest in the race as a whole.
JWink – the caucuses do not need to be restricted to precinct committee people. They can be open to all registered voters. Still at no cost to the taxpayers.
“At some point, you have to decide that elections and democracy are important,”
Yet we all seem happy to remain tightly controlled by a two-party system. The leadership of both major parties is distinctly out of touch with America as a whole. Bush does not represent a typical republican any more than Edwards is a typical democrat.
Democratic elections would be better served if the presidential debates were simply open to all candidates who were on enough state ballots to win the electorial college. In 2004 I believe there was at least three so-called minor party candidates who would have qualified. However they were denied the FREE media exposure given to the Ds & Rs.
Ben, et al: I am hazy on how this presidential caucus works.
I assumed Sedgwick County precinct committee men and women from each political party would meet here in Sedgwick County to elect representatives. These representatives would then meet/caucus in Topeka with representatives from all other counties to vote on their political party presidential candidates.
Is this essentially correct?
At what point would non-elected precinct people get to participate in this caucus presidential selection process?
I personally lean towards this system because of the idea that its from these precinct committee organizations that creates that idea that politics in America springs upward from the grassroots or the people. I estimate we have 10,000 or more precinct committee men and women from all political parties in Kansas who are intently interested in our political system. This is a chance to let them do some creative work.
Actually, if we had leadership in the Democratic Party who actually wanted to do something besides raise money, we could have a caucus whenever we wanted…say the Saturday after New Hampshire. But then, they’d actually have to do something…
This morning’s EAGLE says “House OK’s Presidential Primary.” I normally agree with State Representative Tom Sawyer, my legislator here in Delano, but don’t agree on this one. Of course, our Kansas state senators still must weigh in on this issue. I suspect some horse trading will take place before this decision is made.
It seems to me, given the limited population of the state, and hence the influence of the state in either party’s national convention, having a presidential primary in Kansas is an irrelevancy.