Election Aftermath

Faulty Republican
Primary System

Posted on Nov 09, 2012

It has been two days since the election now. For those two days I have listened to Republicans crying and giving the reasons for Romney's defeat. But where were these people when it mattered - like before the election?

First, a word about our candidate, Mitt Romney. Romney is, first and foremost, a decent and honorable man. He exudes decency. Any other behavior would be an anathema to him. Do I think Romney would have made a great President? Sure, if he could be elected; he would do us proud and probably even pull off most of his campaign promises. But, in Romney's real life, he is a like a Clark Kent; quiet, unassuming, and a person who keeps a frugal string on his money. It is those qualities that make it impossible for him to unseat an incumbent president. In a short summation of the description, he is bland.

I have no doubt that Romney ran the best campaign he was capable of. What Romney lacked was the passion to make the sale to the electorate. The simple point that Romney is not a fiery and passionate orator defeats him. No matter the quality of what Romney was saying, he did not inspire people. Without the ability to make the sale, any candidate would lose.

Romney 's comfort zone was in looking presidential and being a nice, decent person as opposed to a bare knuckles brawler who would dare to unseat a sitting president. He wasn't comfortable being the attacker.

I'm sure you have all heard the excuses why Romney lost, and this article will not rehash those. But what you may not have heard is any criticism of how we end up with a candidate that most of the Republican base is not happy with.

The way we select our nominee is faulty. The Republican primary process, as constituted today, chooses our candidate with only a small number of states (usually no more than 3). By the time the primary system extends to the vast majority of Republicans, it is too late because most candidates that entered the fray are out of money. They yield to the candidate presumed to be the front runner. It is a travesty that must be corrected. The whole system needs to be revised so that all states have a say in the candidate selection process. Do not fall for the argument about all states having a say the way we do it now. The states in the later primaries can only deal with the left-over's from the first 3-4 states primaries. The system is grossly unfair to the candidates who would put themselves out there to strive for the nomination.

I leave you with these thoughts about establishing a new primary system:

• Each state Republican party will vet on a preliminary basis, any prospective candidate from that state.
• Each state approved candidate will then have to undergo a vigorous vetting process from a special committee set up by the National Republican Party apparatus.
• Once all candidates have been vetted, a series of nationally held televised debates would follow. Favoritism to any candidate would be denied by dividing the candidates into groups of 5. The time would be equally allocated for each group. Candidates would have to be in a different group at each debate.
• Candidates would be allowed to spend their campaign money in any legal way they want.
• Instead of a state-by-state primary, all states will hold their primary election on the same day, voting for the ballot qualifiers of each state.
• The rules must be changed to allow distribution of electors by popularity of the primaries to reflect the votes won by each candidate – no more winner-take-all.
• Run-offs to be determined by the top three candidates with the most electors as determined by the national totals.
• The runoff winner will have to survive the Republican convention selection process.

The above are only ideas, but changes have to be made with our candidate selection process if we are determined to make the process of selecting a candidate open to everyone.

End Part One of 2
Cheers,
-Robert-

Robert welcomes your comment to this or any other of my commentaries.

-Privacy Policy-

Robfg.com does not share any personal information about its readers. Email addresses, or other personal information is strictly confidential.

Unique Visitors