Pennsylvania has long held its primary so late as to be nearly irrelevant in national politics at the primary level. By the time Pennsylvanians get around to voting, the pool of candidates has already been largely decided by other states. That’s why this quote from the Pennsylvania Republican Chair, Robert Gleason, pisses me off to no end:
With an older electorate, do we really want to force our voters out during conditions that could jeopardize their health and safety?
Are you serious? Look, I’m already quite sick of having to constantly bend over “for the children”, and my useless contributions to the various government run pyramid schemes social security systems annoys me enough as it is in regards to our “older electorate”, but this has to take the cake. Let’s make Pennsylvania relevant! We’re the 6th largest state in the union, and I think we should count for something.
All these primary date switches are unbelievably annoying. This game the states are playing will lead to chaos, because eventually we’ll be electing contenders in primaries more than a year before we actually vote in the general election. We’ve already had campaigning more than a year before some primaries…. if this pattern keeps up, presidential campaigns are going to look like construction zones on the Pennsylvania turnpike–10 miles of construction/campaigning, 0.3 miles of freedom and relaxation, 15 miles of construction/campaigning.
The states should come to a gentleman’s agreement that everyone has their primary on the same day, sometime in the spring. At some point, the madness has to end, and the best we can do is hope that somehow we find a solution that doesn’t involve a mandate from the federal government. Of course, that’s where the problem is starting, after all…. with the size of government exploding in the past few decades, the stakes are a lot higher now than they were before. Everyone wants a piece of the multi-trillion dollar pie.
I’m actually for a “National Primary Day”. I think both parties would be better off if we held primaries on the same day and the result actually meant something rather than just being a suggestion. For the Republicans, it means the south’s grip on the GOP is lessened. For the Democrats, the Far Left’s grip on the party is reduced – or maybe that might some wishful thinking on my part.
We have to be the only republic on the planet that holds primaries the way we do.