Tuesday, September 11, 2007
The beauty of the one party system
I went and voted this morning in the mayoral primary. (The Baltimore mayor's race is an off year election for a reason that no one understands, and when they tried to change it, the Speaker of the House of Delegates wouldn't let them because he didn't like the then-mayor, now-governor, and so the primary was 14 months before the general election.) This being Baltimore, a city that hasn't had a single Republican councilman since the Depression, the primary is the de facto election. In fact, in the election coverage from the Sun, the profiles of the candidates only break them down by position (there are also the city council elections), not party. Because there's no coverage of the Republicans. Candidates' campaign literature doesn't even say their party affiliation, since it's already known. And this election is discussed like it's the general election, since that only exists as a formality. It just makes everything so much easier, since now all the campaigning is done. There will be a little bit of reminding people of there civic responsibility come November, but no campaigning. Everything's just done now, with little mess or fuss.
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2 comments:
It was essentially the same way in Seattle and in St. Louis city, both of which have long been completely dominated by Democrats (though Seattle has a few Greens). All the real decisions were made in the primary.
I kind of like it. Instead of just picking based on party, everyone has to actually think about the candidates, their qualifications, and the issues. And unlike most primaries, which are largely about electability in the general election, there effectively is no general election.
Uh, we already knew that about Baltimore because we watch The Wire. HBO has SO stolen the march on you. Or you're secretly an HBO show . . . or something.
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