Mad Voter: Extended primary season gives West a say

The Democratic presidential primary feels like it's been going on forever, and it's making the people who spend far too much time and energy focusing on politics just a little bit cranky about the whole thing. But with Oregon and Montana actually having a chance to make a difference in this race, what's the rush in having it end?

Robert Struckman reports here at New West on Montana's new political prominence in choosing a Democratic nominee for president. He describes this week's ground zero for politicos, the annual Yellowstone County Truman dinner.

"This dinner was held in the gussied-up cafeteria of the University of Montana-Billings. There was neither a silent auction nor speeches by local candidates. After the meal, everyone trooped over to the college athletic center, where Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota gave a polished pitch for a Democratic surge across the High Plains and the West. A parade of major speakers followed, and clips of rock music blared in the interludes. The speakers’ images appeared superhuman on massive screens alongside the stage. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal leaned on the podium and delivered a subtle and folksy endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nominee. The crowd rose to its feet, campaign signs waving. A wall of Obama fans in the bleachers cheered and stomped. Then former President Bill Clinton took the stage like a superstar.

“This is the darnedest election I’ve ever been in in my life,” Clinton said.

A few months ago, Craig Wilson, one of Montana’s most prominent nonpartisan students of politics, predicted that Montana’s Democratic primary would garner little if any national attention and few ad dollars. Montana’s never really in play, he argued. The real story of a close primary would be the super-delegates, he said.

“We’re in the wrong hinterlands,” Wilson added. Small states like New Hampshire staked out important primary territory long ago. Montana has more of a lame duck status, he said, holding its primary long after other contests have decided the winner. “We’ll be lucky if somebody is flying over from Chicago to Seattle and parachutes into Missoula or Billings for an hour campaign appearance.”

While the hyperpartisan blogosphere and the more rabid surrogates deep in the bowels of the party have been calling for Clinton to leave the race for weeks now, I say more power to the Clinton campaign for giving Montana the chance to have a say. Particularly since it's so unlikely that Montana is going to be showing her much love in June.

There's a very positive side to this primary that a traditional media who loves any opportunity to push their tried-and-true Democrats in Disarray theme won't report on. Rank and file Democrats basically like the idea of everybody getting to have a say. And the polls say so--both the actual election polls, where Democrats have been turning out in phenomenal numbers, and the kind the pollsters do.

Look at the last primary, Indiana's, where turnout for Democrats was record-breaking. In that primary, over 1.25 million Indianans voted for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary. And more than 1.1 million Indianans voted in the downticket race for Governor of Indiana. Why is that so remarkable? In 2004, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry received 969,000 votes in the state of Indiana . . . in the general election. Those are some motivated voters.

The folks in Indiana sure didn't resent having a competitive primary race to have a say in. And the rest of the country seems to agree with them, if you can believe the latest ABC/Washington Post Poll:

"Pushing back against political punditry, more than six in 10 Democrats say there's no rush for Hillary Clinton to leave the presidential race – even as Barack Obama consolidates his support for the nomination and scores solidly in general-election tests.
Joan McCarter is a contributing editor of DailyKos.com and a researcher of Western politics

Despite Obama's advantage in delegates and popular vote, 64 percent of Democrats in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll say Clinton should remain in the race. Even among Obama's supporters, 42 percent say so."

While Obama still has a 12 point margin in the head-to-head against Clinton in this poll, the large majority of Democrats are just fine with her staying in until the end.

Which brings us back to the West, where Oregon and Montana, for the first time in a couple of decades, are actually going to get to have a say. It will be a critical say for Obama, where the West has been hugely friendly to him, and where he can look for electoral gold in November. Colorado, Nevada, maybe New Mexico, and possibly even Montana have the potential to help populate the networks' election night maps in blue. If extending this primary means Obama can finish off his big win in the West, in Oregon and Montana with his opponent still in the race, then why give Hillary the bum's rush?

Let Oregon and Montana have the excitement that Wyoming and Idaho and Utah and New Mexico and Colorado and Washington have all had. Let them have a say in this primary. It's what the people want.

Editor’s note: Joan McCarter's weekly blogs are part of a feature on PoliticsWest called "Diary of a Mad Voter." The group blog, published in partnership with NewWest.Net/Politics, is intended to give a glimpse into the hearts and minds of several independent-minded voters and thinkers in the Rocky Mountain West in the 2008 election year.

Bookmark/Search this post with: