Primary System
The proposed CityVote, together with the recent scrambling of many states to change their primary dates, are two indications that the current primary system is inadequate. The concerns and aspirations of the Iowa and New Hampshire voters vastly differ from those facing the rest of us. They do not have to address serious crime, illegal immigration and deterioration of public education. Neither did they have to adjust to the elimination of thousands of jobs by large corporations.
Still, the candidates skew their campaigns, since half of them drop out of the race after the caucus and the primary in Iowa and in New Hampshire. Such an anomaly might explain why neither George Bush nor Bill Clinton generated enthusiasm and excitement among the voters, even among their own parties. I suspect that we are going to face a similar reaction in 1996.
We should replace the individual primaries with five or six “super primaries” similar to the Southern “Super Tuesday.” Such a system would free the candidates from catering to a few ideologists irrelevant for the rest of us.
HANNA HILL
Irvine
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