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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, April 13, 2008 Democrats try to make best of 'top two' primary By Jerry Cornfield Herald Writer In a perfect world by Washington state Democratic Party standards, this is how a primary election would run: Democrats would get ballots with only the names of Democratic candidates, Republicans, Libertarians and so on would be similarly limited. No crossover and no confusion. Each party's top vote-getter in the preliminaries of partisan races earns a spot in the final round in November. We don't live in that perfect world. We live in Washington, where the two candidates with the most votes in the August primary races advance to the general election without regard to political affiliations, that of the candidate or the voter. This is what the electorate wanted when it passed Initiative 872. The U.S. Supreme Court recently said it is legal and fair and does no harm to the political parties. At least, justices pointed out, there is no evidence to prove otherwise because the "top two" primary has never been tried. Frustrated state Democratic Party leaders are looking to build a good case for injury this election cycle. At the same time they are determined the party makes it clear to voters who are its torchbearers for office. To do that, nominating conventions will be convened. These will put an official stamp of Democratic Party approval on one candidate in county, legislative and congressional races. Elected and appointed precinct committee officers -- they know who they are though most everyone else doesn't -- will do the stamping. In Snohomish County, it will be pretty simple since nearly every partisan race has only one declared Democratic candidate. Not so in the 10th Legislative District, where Democrats Patricia Terry and Ann McDonald both want to unseat incumbent Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor. In a perfect Democratic world, whichever of the two candidates is not nominated will drop out and unite behind the other. Don't bet on it happening. Terry and McDonald are confident they can win in November and see no reason to shut down their campaigns because of what a few party insiders think. And both said if they get the nomination, they don't care if the other one stays in the race because competition is the essence of democracy. "If this really represented the will of all the people, that is one thing," McDonald said. "It is the opinion of a small number of people." The worth of a nomination is hard to assess. If Terry and McDonald keep running, nothing on the ballot will make it known who got the party's stamp. Campaign literature and the voter's pamphlet will be the only means of spreading the word. Terry said the nomination "holds the same value that all endorsements do. It's another layer of information to help voters make decisions." Party leaders like to think it is worth much more. This isn't a perfect world. Political reporter Jerry Cornfield's blog is at www.heraldnet.com. He can be heard at 8 a.m. Mondays on "The Morning Show" on KSER (90.7 FM); 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.

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