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Post by PaulKay on Jan 17, 2024 9:49:45 GMT -5
Something is seriously wrong with how this country picks it's candidates.
That means Trump won the primary on the choice of 7.45% of registered Republicans, and 2.69% of all Iowa's registered voters.
I could show you similar ridiculous stats for the AZ's GOP representatives in the House.
I believe the survival of Democracy in America is at stake and we need to move to ranked choice voting and ditch primaries. If we did this we would have considerably more choices for candidates in a main election that everybody gets to vote in. Another Dem could run against Biden for example and Biden/Trump wouldn't be the only choice.
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Post by coachdoc on Jan 17, 2024 10:24:44 GMT -5
Would be beneficial. But to quote a character in Princess Bride, “Inconceivable.”
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Post by theevan on Jan 17, 2024 10:27:19 GMT -5
If we end up in the main election with Trump vs Biden again...WTF
We have open primaries (some call it guerilla voting) here in Louisiana. (Not for national elections) There's a lot crapola that ensues in that format as well.
Off the track a bit...I very much doubt Biden will be the democrat nominee. Not sure who it will be. Perhaps Michelle Obama. Or Gavin Newsom. Not sure who else. Sleepy Joe is so out of it. Makes me wonder who is pulling his puppet strings.
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Post by Marshall on Jan 17, 2024 10:38:45 GMT -5
Iowa can go back to sleep again for 4 years. Not to disparage good Iowans, but the whole media primary hoopla is so blown out of proportion. As PaulK points out, 2.69 % of Iowa voters gave Trump his triumph. And Evan is right too. The thought of Biden-Trump again saddens me so very much.
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Post by Marshall on Jan 17, 2024 10:42:37 GMT -5
According to the pundits (which I ALWAYS believe) Nikki Haley has to win New Hampshire or she's done.
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Post by Marshall on Jan 17, 2024 10:45:51 GMT -5
My hope is for Fareed Zakaria, as ePaul opines.
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Post by epaul on Jan 17, 2024 10:51:03 GMT -5
This probably wasn't the best year to use as a baseline for participation in Iowa's Republican primary. I personally know someone (Todd) who was as eager as a beaver to participate in his local Republican caucus, but he couldn't get out of his house. Snowed in and too drunk to walk.
I'm not disagreeing about anything being screwed up, everything is, but I strongly suspect that if 99% of Iowan Republicans had shown up, the results would have been about the same, Trump by a large margin.
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Post by Rob Hanesworth on Jan 17, 2024 10:56:53 GMT -5
My hope is for Fareed Zakaria, as ePaul opines. Zakaria is not constitutionally eligible, being a naturalized U.S. citizen born in India.
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Post by Marshall on Jan 17, 2024 10:58:24 GMT -5
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Post by epaul on Jan 17, 2024 11:05:33 GMT -5
To be clear, the Todd I was referring to was not our Todd. I have no idea what our Todd is. I know where he is, however. Stuck ass-deep in a snowbank.
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Post by majorminor on Jan 17, 2024 11:14:44 GMT -5
According to the pundits (which I ALWAYS believe) Nikki Haley has to win New Hampshire or she's done. I assume she and Desantis can see the writing on the wall as well as anybody and are simply hanging in so as to be in place if the "Bump Trump" thing happens or he somehow gets fitted for a cellmate before the election. Kinda looking like Trump's gonna make it through the gauntlet though. I wonder if in his acceptance speech he's gonna be the first president to flip the double bird on national TV or expose his ass to be kissed? As for Biden - surely on a yacht somewhere are some behind the scenes power broker dudes sipping Mimosas and trying to figure out how to get him shoved down a flight of stairs right?
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Post by aquaduct on Jan 17, 2024 12:32:26 GMT -5
That would seem to me to be roughly where the country is on the whole issue of voting in general. Even the actual Presidential elections tend not to draw a huge percentage participating.
But there's still a lot of time left and all kinds of things that can change.
Not too worried about it.
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Post by majorminor on Jan 17, 2024 13:00:10 GMT -5
Even the actual Presidential elections tend not to draw a huge percentage participating. What?! I thought Biden had a 147% turnout among registered Dem voters last time?
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Post by Hobson on Jan 17, 2024 13:09:16 GMT -5
A very high percentage of voters identify as independent. Let's say it's really 43%, as in this Gallup poll: news.gallup.com/poll/548459/independent-party-tied-high-democratic-new-low.aspxTo me that means that the more moderate voters who are willing to compromise don't belong to either of the two major parties. And they are forced to choose a presidential candidate that they didn't vote for in the primaries. I'm just sad that we may have to choose between the same two people again when it comes time for the general election.
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Post by Marshall on Jan 17, 2024 14:34:57 GMT -5
My hope is for Fareed Zakaria, as ePaul opines. Zakaria is not constitutionally eligible, being a naturalized U.S. citizen born in India. The reason I re-bring up Fareed is that his program in the link talks about how good the US is doing financially vs all other countries in the world. We still have the resources and financial where-with-all to compete with the world. Citizens of the rest of the world still look up to us for our economy and opportunity. So what I’m saying (hoping) is that it matters little what Bozo gets to wear the crown.
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Post by RickW on Jan 17, 2024 14:59:19 GMT -5
To be honest, how else are you going to select candidates? It’s much the same in Canada, it’s the members of the party who get to vote on that. Political parties, in theory, are groups of like minded people with common goals. They vote for candidates who they feel align with their goals. Being people, everyone is subject to influences of all kinds, and lots of folks may not agree with the results, but are you going to demand that every candidate get a certain percentage of their parties votes? Kind of gets rid of independant candidates. Also would guarantee that the agony would go on for even longer than it does now, as they went through rounds of voting.
As to Biden, haven’t the Dems kind of screwed themselves on that point, by not having a likely successor to take over? It would look like panic mode now if they pull someone out of a hat. You could say the same about the Republicans — is Trump electable? I guess we’re going to find the answers to all of this soon enough. It feels like time for some turnover, when you have a couple of decrepit old men vying to hopefully live long enough to lead the most powerful country in the world to the next election.
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Post by Marshall on Jan 17, 2024 18:28:35 GMT -5
I'm looking forward to 2028. The old Bozos will be gone.
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Post by aquaduct on Jan 17, 2024 18:40:20 GMT -5
Even the actual Presidential elections tend not to draw a huge percentage participating. What?! I thought Biden had a 147% turnout among registered Dem voters last time? Only 147%? Obviously they weren't really trying last time. I think this time's goal is 652%. You know, just to be safe. Those pesky Trump voters just won't go away quietly.
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Post by Village Idiot on Jan 17, 2024 20:17:32 GMT -5
The whole election cycle is stuck at the high school kid running for student body president stage. "If I'm elected there will be pizza for lunch every day". Both parties are in that rut, and we as a country have got to get beyond that. The election is serious business, and it's being treated like a popularity contest.
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Post by drlj on Jan 17, 2024 20:20:57 GMT -5
The whole election cycle is stuck at the high school kid running for student body president stage. "If I'm elected there will be pizza for lunch every day". Both parties are in that rut, and we as a country have got to get beyond that. The election is serious business, and it's being treated like a popularity contest. Wow! Pizza for lunch every day? Whoever said that has my vote.
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