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Converted from paper version of the Broad Ripple Gazette (v05n01)
Tammy's Take - by Tammy Lieber
posted: Jan. 04, 2008

Tammy's Take header

Enveloped in an eggnog fog, I turned my attention to Iowa in the past few weeks.
It was hard not to, given that the national media was there watching the every move of a crowded field of presidential candidates in advance of the January Iowa caucuses.
It was also hard to get excited about it, knowing that we Hoosiers won't have the chance to voice our opinion on the vast majority of those candidates.
By the time our primary elections roll around in May, the tulips will be blooming, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be open and the presidential nominations for each party will be all but locked up. Only five states, plus Puerto Rico, will hold their primaries after Indiana this year.
Voters in more than half the country will have voted for a presidential candidate by this time next month. A handful of Hoosiers work in other states on behalf of candidates in an effort to make their voices heard. For the rest of us, though, we'll just sit back and wait for the rest of the country to pick a new president for us.
This is democracy? No wonder Hoosiers have a hard time making it to the polls.
Nationally, there's growing recognition that the presidential primary system is a joke. Various groups have proposed alternatives, but none have gained much traction.
One of the most prominent alternatives was proposed by the National Association of Secretaries of State in February 2007. This group of state election officials proposed a system of rotating regional primaries, with states grouped into four regions.
In this system (full details at www.nass.org), Indiana would be grouped with 10 other Midwestern states who would all hold their presidential primaries on the same day. The four regions would take turns voting first, so that every 16 years, the Midwest would be the first group of states to vote.
It's a great starting point, but getting 50 states and their state political parties to discuss, much less adopt, the proposal won't be easy.
For candidates and the parties who back them, it's easier to concentrate resources and expensive campaigns in the states that really matter. National media organizations have much the same incentive to keep the status quo. And states that currently have a voice in the presidential primaries aren't eager to share the spotlight.
Last summer, Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita was elected president of NASS. In November, Rokita issued a press release calling for Indiana to consider the NASS proposal.
"Whatever plan Indiana ultimately adopts has yet to be determined," Rokita said in the release. "The point is Hoosiers want to have the primary moved forward in order to have an equal voice and I agree."
Sounds great, but is that just lip service? You won't find anything about primary election reform on the websites of either the state Republican or Democratic parties. You also won't find it among the bills proposed for this session of the General Assembly, which, admittedly, has its hands full this year with property tax reform.
A friend of mine recently proposed an alternative to presidential primary elections, in which candidates would be thrown into a bullfighting ring. Whoever came out alive would win the nomination.
It looks like her plan has about as much of a chance of being adopted as NASS', at least in the near future.
The good news, I suppose, is that Hoosiers for once have a good excuse for their "Who cares?" attitude toward national politics for at least a few more months. Bring on the eggnog.



Tammy Lieber is a freelance writer who lives in Meridian Kessler, otherwise known as SoBro. A former reporter at the Indianapolis Business Journal, she now writes journalism and marketing pieces when she's not fixing up her house or enjoying the company of friends over a pint of Guinness. Her favorite spectator sport is politics, except on Sundays during football season. Email her at tammy@broadripplegazette.com




tammy@broadripplegazette.com
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