Ulysses Democrats – There May Actually Be A 2008 Presidential Contest
The New York Times has a very interesting article on the 2008 presidential race for tomorrow morning’s paper. It seems that, Barack Obama is the only candidate other than Hillary Clinton to be on the ballot in all of New York’s congressional districts, and that, in spite of Hillary Clinton’s representation of New York State in the Senate, Obama intends to make a contest in our state for the February 5th Super Tuesday primary.
The only lawn sign I’ve seen out for a presidential candidate so far in our town is one for John Edwards out on route 89. Hillary Clinton’s campaign may have assumed that there wouldn’t be much need for her to rally support in the state – thus the lack of signs. Maybe she really doesn’t need to worry here. New Hampshire’s results were a good lesson for us all not to make predictions.
However, Obama’s campaign intends to make a strong push in our state, and that’s something I wouldn’t have anticipated until a couple of weeks ago. It will be interesting to see which will perform strongly here in February.
Apparently the way it works is that in NY primaries it’s not a “winner takes all” situation with apportioning delegates to candidates. Clinton could get only some of the delegates and Obama the rest. It’s important that Obama supporters know to not be put off by that pie chart showing more support for Clinton. Your vote really does count here!!
Jon,
You’ve made me wonder how the decision is made as to which candidates appear on our ballots in NY. I went to the BOE website and looked at a sample ballot for Feb 5. We will chose between Clinton, Richardson, Biden, Edwards, Obama, or Kuchinich. Richardson and Biden have dropped out. Dodd dropped out within minutes of Biden – but he isn’t on our ballot. Gravel didn’t make it on. When you say “Barack Obama is the only candidate other than Hillary Clinton to be on the ballot in all of New York’s congressional districts” that seems unfair to say the least. That’s a major disadvantage to candidates such as Edwards. What’s up with that?
Speaking of Edwards, he isn’t mentioned in the NY Times article you sited. I’m feeling cheated by the process.
Allen, I think it’s up to grassroots Democrats to re-make the process if they don’t like the process. Of course, the time for getting a candidate on the ballot is long since past for this election, but whether a candidate gets on the ballot in a congressional district is up to the residents of that district. If they want to organize to get a candidate on the ballot, it’s up to them to get the adequate number of signatures.
If a candidate couldn’t get on the ballot, it’s not because of some kooky conspiracy against them. It’s because they couldn’t get organized enough or persuasive enough to get the sufficient number of signatures on ballot petitions.
I’m disappointed that more people didn’t rally behind Dodd, given his strong action in defense of the Bill of Rights, but I’m not feeling cheated.
It’s not just my election, after all. It’s everybody’s election – a collective decision. So, I can feel very disappointed in my fellow citizens for not making the choice I think they ought to make, but I can only be cheated in this election if someone deprives me of my right to participate.
I’m disappointed that such a large number of people are uninterested in becoming meaningfully involved in the political process, but I don’t feel cheated by it. Unfortunately, democracy means that if we live in a society of apathetic blobs, we’re going to get a government that reflects the values of apathetic blobs quite well.
I think grassroots Democrats SHOULD try to remake the process & the 1st step is getting informed. Most people have no idea how it works. It was quite enlightening to me, for instance that on Feb 5th we (the voters) choose only 151 of NY’s 271 delegates. The remaining 120 are chosen by the state Democratic party (Gee, I wonder who they’ll choose?!)
Yeah, the rather undemocratic nature of delegate selection is one of the great untold stories of the primary process.
Hillary Clinton is regarded as far, far ahead in the nomination, and not because she’s had a whole bunch more citizens vote for her, but because she has stronger insider connections at the top of the Democratic Party. Pay attention to the delegate count so far – it’s not just Iowa and New Hampshire.
The Democratic Party would go a long way to establishing more credibility with voters if it didn’t have so much consolidation of power at the top. Whose party is it?
On the other hand, if people want to reform the Democratic Party, then they do have the option of agitating from the bottom – they’ll just need to organize effectively in order to do so. For those Democrats interested in such an effort, the Progressive Democrats of America is a good place to start.
Oops, my mistake…it’s 281 total NY delegates with 151 chosen by voters & 130 chosen by the state party.