A NEW TWIST

According to The Boston Globe this morning, the Republicans, under the urging of Rush Limbaugh, have discovered an interesting campaign strategy. Since their primaries are over and their candidate selected, they are requesting that registered Republicans vote for Hillary Clinton in the democratic primaries in those states where cross-over voting is allowed. Apparently 12% of the votes for winner Clinton in Mississippi came from registered Republicans. The idea is to keep Obama and Clinton tearing each other apart so McCain doesn’t have to.

At the same time, Nancy Pelosi has said that it would be a bad thing if the "super delegates" were to decide the eventual Democratic candidate. I disagree. The Democratic nominee should be selected by members of the party, and at least the "super delegates" are that. It is a subversion of the process for the nomination to be affected in any way by those outside the party ranks, including independents.

I think a case can be made for the fact that McCain was, in fact, selected by independents voting in Republican primaries. This is why the conservative wing of the party was not thrilled by that outcome.

The entire process by which the United States "selects" candidates to run for the presidency has become a too-long, and too-expensive, farce. Maybe it’s time to follow the rest of the civilized world and let anyone run during a limited period before the election, with preferential voting or run-offs if necessary.