The first primary of 2012 in New Hampshire went as most people expected with Mitt Romney winning with a double digit margin of victory. Not a surprise, since he has lived in New Hampshire for awhile and was Governor of bordering state Massachusetts. The surprise was the fact that Ron Paul finished second and Jon Huntsman finished third. Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich finished virtually tied for fourth with 10% each. Rick Perry received less than 1% after skipping the state.
What is beginning to infuriate me is the fact that there seems to be so much emphasis being placed on the early states picking their choices. Why Iowa and New Hampshire? Do they represent the views and values of the rest of America? Are they the pulse of the Republican Party?
Why is it that two states that have traditionally been “blue states” get to have such an impact on picking who the rest of the country will get to vote on for their nominee? Iowa has 7 delegates and has only gone Republican once (2004) since Reagan was President. New Hampshire has 4 delegates and has gone Republican twice (1988 and 2000) since Reagan. In 1988 they picked George H.W. Bush, who won in a landslide against Michael Dukakis. In 2000 they surprisingly picked George W. Bush over Al Gore, but didn’t vote to re-elect him in 2004.
Not only that, Iowa allows voters to register and participate in their caucus the day of voting. New Hampshire allows Independents and Democrats to vote in their primary. Many pundits use these facts to explain how Ron Paul did so well in both of these states. We aren’t even sure what percentage of the voters were registered Republicans. Is that fair to the people in the “red states” that actually are?
Why can’t all primaries be on the same day? Let’s stop all this nonsense and overspending of money and resources on a few people in a couple of small states that aren’t even solid Republican voters. If candidates didn’t have to put so much focus on the early races they might be able to stay in the race long enough to garner the support they need to make a viable run at the office. Divide up the delegates based on the percentage of votes and see who gets the most in ALL of the states combined.
We have already seen Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain exit the race due to the results of the primary process in Iowa. They were probably the two most conservative candidates in the race. It’s not fair that the early states get to have such a large impact on picking who the rest of us will get to vote for on Super Tuesday? Who will be left on the ballot by then?
South Carolina and Florida are next up. South Carolina is the first “red state” to have its primary and should be the first true barometer for where the constituency is leaning. Florida has always been a swing state and with 25 delegates is the fourth largest state in electoral votes. With the momentum from “sweeping” the first two contests to carry him into these primaries it is possible that Mitt Romney may have successfully run off all challengers by the time Super Tuesday arrives. I don’t know about you but that possibility makes me feel like a disenfranchised un-picker, since I may not have any say as to who the nominee is. This system needs to change so that the “true voice” of the people can be heard.
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