I was really disappointed by how this primary went

[Nikia]

I haven't been in this forum much so perhaps this has already been discussed, but I was really disappointed how the primary has been decided quickly. As soon as Kerry won in Iowa, it seemed as he became "the nominee". Dean instantly became the disappointing loser. Everyone bandwagoned around Kerry. The media seemed to tell us to bandwagon around Kerry.
I suppose that maybe, there will be a come from behind suprise for Edwards. That would make it so much more entertaining for the media but I think that Kerry has been chosen as the candidate by the powers that be. Of course I say "Anyone but Bush" but of the candidates, he really is the big money insider that would be least damaging to the staus quo.
He was declared the winner by winning the first couple states. Bandwagoning ensued and was supported by the media.
I just don't know what to say. I am disappointed that the nominee was decided by a couple states and the media.

[Frederic Bastiat]

1. The nominee was decided by voters

Hard to fathom but it's the truth.

[LuLu550]

4. well, not exactly

the nominee was decided by voters in a couple of teeny states. California and New York never got a chance to vote for Dean or Clark.

[bigwillq]

7. True True

But if Dean or Clark are still on the ballot in your state, feel free to vote for them. I will.

[Nikia]

6. In a couple of states

Then it suddenly was Kerry is the big winner and front runner. He is going to be the nominee. Support the nominee. Let's stop opposing one another.
Maybe, I'd rather there be a National primary held on the same day.

[bigwillq]

9. I would support a National Primary Day

But then we wouldn't have six months of this fun stuff!

Seriously, a NPD would be the best option.

[greatauntoftriplets]

12. Illinois hasn't voted yet.

Nor has 75 percent of the country. The presumptive nominee was decided by 25 percent of the electorate.

[mlawson]

14. But not necessarily the same type of voters in the November GE.

And that is the problem. Primary voters are almost all informed, motivated, political people. They may be idealogues, and they vote on ISSUES, and/or electability.

But 10 to 20% of the general election voters are none of the above; they vote for whom they LIKE. Simplistic as that. They want a president who they think connects with them at a very personal level. Someone who has the 'common touch', as did Clinton. Or someone they THINK understands them, like Ronnie. Or GWB.

Is Kerry that person?

[Deansspecialinterest]

20. Yes, it was... literally dozens of them n/t

[molly]

2. The media didn't TELL anyone to do ANYTHING

this is a free society - Dean lost because he didn't appeal to most voters - period - the END.

[KissMyAsscroft]

5. Hmmm...

So playing "the scream" 6 million times had no effect?

Please...

[Nikia]

8. That was way overdone

There was no reason that had to be big news, no reason at all. There was absolutely no reason that it had to continue to be big news.

[mydawgmax]

11. The scream came after he placed a surprising 3rd in Iowa.

Without the scream his campaign had still take a pretty big hit with the third place Iowa loss. Sure the scream being replayed ad naseum was unfair and didn't help, but there were other dynamics at play.

[janx]

13. It also came after the Osama ad--

which owed its existence to Dems behind the campaigns of Gephardt and Kerry.

[BL_Zebub]

Or Media whores yelling "He's UNELECTABLE!!"

666 times an hour, 666 hours a day for months.

[Goldom]

3. I never got to vote

:eyes: something about how it wasn't an important "waste of money" for Colorado to vote in the primary? I'll argue with anyone who says "the media did it", they were just as against Kerry, but it was not the voters of the country - it was the voters of a FEW states.

[mlawson]

15. Neither did I. I will never forgive the NC Dem party,

for scheduling our primary for MAY 5TH!!! WTF difference will it make, then??

[Kool Kitty]

35. You're lucky you don't live in New Jersey.

We get to vote in June. And how many choices do you think I'll have then? It's not fair.

[Kanary]

19. I'm going to my CO caucus and push for Dennis

Call me... whatever.... but, I figure it's my vote, and I'm a-gonna use it.

Maybe I'll even convince a few along with me...

Caucus, caucus, caucus...

Yup, it's a funny word.

I'll be there.

Kanary

[Crunchy Frog]

31. I'm in Colorado too

I might like to caucus for DK, since I probably won't be able to for Clark, but I don't know anything about how the caucus system works. It seems like you can only really caucus for someone who is getting at least 15% in your district.

I'm really not that interested in caucusing for either of the major candidates at this time. I would be interested in finding out more about how to successfully caucus for DK.

You can PM me if you have any useful info.

[diamondsoul]

37. Here, crunchy-

a few tips on caucusing from the Kucinich supporter messageboard-

http://us.denniskucinich.us/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3505

[Crunchy Frog]

39. Thanks! I'll take a look at it.

:)

[RichM]

10. I'm disappointed too. It demonstrates the failure of the Democratic Party.

The big party power brokers couldn't tolerate Dean, even though he was a quite conventional candidate in most ways. However, here and there, and sometimes almost half by accident, he threatened to take power away from the Democratic Establishment, & to behave unpredictably. Sometimes, he blurted out important truths, which were uncomfortable for the powers that be. The big guys couldn't accept that, & had to destroy him. Combined with his own plentiful shortcomings, this turned out to be easy to do.

NONE of the existing powers - the media or the Dem Party bigshots - even dared cast a single ray of light on Dennis Kucinich, whose program was (is) by far the most intelligent and progressive, and corresponds most closely to what masses of people really want: less war & Pentagon spending, less shipping jobs to China, a protected environment, & universal health care.

Instead, we get a choice between Bush, and 2 Democrats who voted with Bush on some of his worst initiatives - & were otherwise quiet as churchmice during the raping & looting of the last 3 years.

How can one not be disappointed with this result?

[Freddie Stubbs]

16. Kucinich had plenty of light shed on him by the media and 'party bigshots'

He has been permitted to participate in countless televised debates, despite his abysmal standing the the polls (and his failure to earn one single delegate in the primaries and caucuses).

[ShimokitaJer]

18. "permitted" to take part in debates?

How kind of the Democratic Party leadership to "permit" participation by a Democratic candidate in the debates. How magnanimous of them.

Talk like that is only going to highlight the impression that certain candidates were portrayed as "entitled" and others were not. This is the attitude the poster was objecting to, and you've only managed to confirm it.

[sangh0]

32. Yes "permitted"

Shocking though it may be, the Democrats get to decide who they are going to debate. Believe it or not, no one is required to debate and no candidate is entitled to participation in a debate. The oarty decides, and if you don't like that, you can form your own party

[THUNDER HANDS]

17. yeah I'm upset Kerry didn't wrap it up faster

Shape up John, you're slipping. :D

[Scott Lee]

40. He needed time to rip off Deans positions

That is not something done quickly or easily.

[Donna Zen]

21. Okay, just imagine

that the winner in Iowa was Dennis, is there anyone here who believes that the media and McAuliffe would have fallen to their collective K-street knees to acknowledge him the winner? Huh?

So now what are our choices? Have we ever had any choices? What will the media get up to as soon as a Dem. nom is chosen?

With all of the money raised by anti-war grassrooters, what did we get?

Why are people who are against the war voting for someone who thinks that 911=Saddam? (that question really gets me!)

Participating in this primary is like have a wet sock stuffed down ones throat. 6% of Iowa's voters get to decide not with a ballot but a caucus.

....back to William Gibson

[GodHelpUsAll2]

27. Correction

1%. Iowa only has a 1% turnout for caucus. That is sad. 100,000-150,000 people state wide. That's it.

[Eloriel]

22. You'd be even more disappointed to know about all

the dirty tricks that went on to manipulate the outcome so that Kerry could "win."

[sangh0]

24. O-o-o-h-h!! Please tell us the secrets

that only you are privy to

[maxanne]

25. or not

many don't seem to care.

[WI_DEM]

23. Kerry was annointed by the media

and in the days after Iowa the media went after Howard Dean on a daily basis regarding the irrelevent "scream speech" which was later found by ABC News to have been distorted by the media. But no matter, the media won.

[Freddie Stubbs]

36. Dean fell in the polls BEFORE Iowa

He was behind in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Dean actually rose in the NH polls after the 'scream' speech, finishing higher than he was polling prior to Iowa.

[katieforeman]

26. Don't give into despair.

I'm still working like crazy for John Edwards because I believe in him and think he can beat Bush.

To keep this primary going and to give the rest of us a chance to vote, please go to www.johnedwards.com. Get involved or make a donation. This is the best way to send a message to the powers that be.

[molly]

28. Chosen as the candidate by the powers that be

you mean the American voting public?

[julialnyc]

29. The media never left Iowa

The media treated evey day like the day after Iowa, not giving anyone a chance!!

[Crunchy Frog]

30. I was really dissappointed too

Terry McAwful deliberately front loaded the primaries so that Iowa and NH would pretty much pick the nominee. They were designed so that there would be nothing to break any momentum after it started, and no real time between primaries for candidates to regroup and voters to reexamine.

I think it's a terrible way to choose a nominee, and most likely to produce one that will be very difficult to get elected. If the primaries had been arranged like this in '92, Bill Clinton would probably never have gotten the nomination, and the Democrats would have probably lost another election.

The influence of the media has also been terrible. They seem almost monolithic now, and do almost no real coverage of the candidates and issues. It feels like they are choosing our nominee. They pick and choose who to cover, who not to cover, and whether that coverage will be positive or negative according to their own agenda rather than any kind of objective criteria.

I feel bad that my guy lost, but it would feel better if I felt he had lost fair and square. I don't feel like he was operating on a level playing field because the media did everything it could to marginalize his campaign by either ignoring him, or attacking him.

[Kat45]

33. Kennedy campaigning for/with Kerry had a lot to do with Iowa win

At least that's my opinion. C'mon, Kennedy is "the man" in the Democratic party, and I would think the caucus would probably be attended by more party regulars. As soon as I saw Kennedy with him on the news a few days before the caucus, I knew that would help Kerry a lot, though I wasn't ready for what ensued.

[democratreformed]

38. That is my opinion too n/t

[Kat45]

34. Me too. I feel that most of our votes don't count any more.

I vote on Super Tuesday, which is supposed to be a big deal voting day, yet I only have a few candidates to choose from because the nomination was considered decided long before my primary day. Candidates had to drop out due to perceptions that they couldn't win, enforced strongly by the drying up of donations to all but the perceived winner(s).

Being in Kerry's home territory devalues my vote even more. I assume Clark's name is on the ballot, and he is the man I will cast my vote for. At the very least, I can make a point by acknowledging the candidate who I believe to be the best man for the job.

[GreenPartyVoter]

41. Same thing happened in 2000

I wonder how many voters stayed home on election day because states kept being declared blue or red??

We need to find a balance between free press and a dictatorial press. Right now it's the second masquerading as the first.