We’re still more than a year away from the 2016 general election and the vote for our next president, yet already we’ve had two Republican debates. So, yes, the presidential campaign season is too long.
For contrast, consider the campaign for the Canadian federal election now underway, in which Canadians will choose a prime minister and members of Parliament and the House of Commons. The Canadian campaign will be the longest in that nation’s history: all of 11 weeks.
Imagine an 11-week presidential campaign. What would the news networks fill their time with?
The American political calendar of caucuses and primaries that choose each party’s nominees has crept up week by week over the years. Iowa and New Hampshire get the first shot in early February, followed before the end of March by more than 25 other states. Washington, unless a special committee agrees to move up the date, will have its presidential primary as scheduled on May 24, when it’s possible several candidates will have dropped from the race.
And, with some wistful longing for Canadian brevity, we’ve joined the call made by others to move Washington state’s presidential primary to March 8.
Washington has had a mixed record on when, and if, it holds those primaries. They were suspended in 2004 and again in 2012 as a cost-saving measure, but in other years moved up to February or March.
Earlier this year it looked like we might skip the primary, instead allowing the Democratic and Republican party to use their caucuses to allocate delegates for candidates for the national conventions. Legislation failed that sought reforms to the primary system that would have required the parties to allocate at least some of their delegates to the convention based on the results of the primary. At the same time, however, the Legislature set aside $11.5 million in the budget to run the primary.
Secretary of State Kim Wyman, pulling back from an earlier threat to cancel the primary unless the legislation passed, sought the approval of a bipartisan committee in August to move the primary to March 8. Democrats on the committee declined to move the primary or agree to allocate even one of their delegates based on primary results.
The state Republican Party is backing the March 8 primary, and recently announced that it will use the results of the primary to select all its delegates for the convention.
The state Democratic party, protecting what it believes is an important party process is holding fast to the caucus system to select its delegates and its nominee. We disagree that use of the primary to choose at least a portion of their delegates threatens the caucus system, but that’s the party’s decision to make.
But we will join with others in asking the state Democratic Party to back the primary’s move to March 8. A decision must be made by the end of the month.
For Republicans, the earlier primary allows state residents to participate in the process when most candidates still will be in the running. For those voting for a Democrat, the March 8 primary will be only a beauty contest, but it will not interfere with the party’s March 26 caucuses and might even boost caucus turnout. Waiting for May benefits no one.
Until we can pare the campaign to 11 weeks, hold the primary when it still has some meaning.
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