Presidential primaries
Mar. 2nd, 2004 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tigertoyAs I'm sitting here looking at LJ instead of working on my income taxes, I have the radio on and I'm listening with half an ear to the last serious challenger making what amounts to a concession speech and the pundits sealing the coronation of Kerry as the nominee.
I haven't yet really learned a lot about the candidates. Based on my casual impressions, Kerry seems like a pretty good candidate. Dean seemed interesting a couple of months ago, but I think that the way he pissed away so much money and got so few delegates from it demonstrates that he wasn't the right candidate. My impression of Edwards is very positive, but I really don't know any details about where he stands on the issues.
What really bothers me about the whole thing, though, is that because I live in Illinois, I don't get a say in this supposedly democratic process of selecting a candidate. The system that spreads the primaries out over months means that voters in the few states that vote early really matter, and the states that vote after Super Tuesday are just empty space forcing the candidates to fly farther between campaign stops until the general election campaign.
I feel disenfranchised.
I haven't yet really learned a lot about the candidates. Based on my casual impressions, Kerry seems like a pretty good candidate. Dean seemed interesting a couple of months ago, but I think that the way he pissed away so much money and got so few delegates from it demonstrates that he wasn't the right candidate. My impression of Edwards is very positive, but I really don't know any details about where he stands on the issues.
What really bothers me about the whole thing, though, is that because I live in Illinois, I don't get a say in this supposedly democratic process of selecting a candidate. The system that spreads the primaries out over months means that voters in the few states that vote early really matter, and the states that vote after Super Tuesday are just empty space forcing the candidates to fly farther between campaign stops until the general election campaign.
I feel disenfranchised.