With over a year to go until the 2009 elections, there is already some concerned hand-wringing over how Democrats are going to have a primary for governor next year--however, many are convinced that this would harm or eventual nominee. That's wrong--especially because, not in spite of, the fact that Republicans have an uncontested primary race. When only one party in an open race (like all gubernatorial races are in Virginia because of the one-term limit) has a primary, the party with the primary benefits. A primary between Brian Moran and Creigh Deeds against an uncontested Bob McDonnell is the best electability aid the Democrats could possibly hope for, and blogs do a great disservice to themselves and to the public by scaling back the discussion.
I've just returned from the Netroots Nation conference, where over 2,000 of the nation's progressive bloggers gathered. What the convention represented was how bloggers were democratizing media, opening up previously closed political processes, and crashing the gate of American politics. Blogs are an incredibly useful tool for primary campaigns because they take a process previously dominated by party insiders, in a contest that receives little public and press attention. In fact, this primary is likely to be undercovered by traditional media, and bloggers have a responsibility to fill the void. We have worked hard to democratize media coverage. Why would we, the very people fighting to give more attention to politics in the media, try to push off coverage of important campaigns because it's "too soon"? It is clear that news is happening now, and we are the people who need to cover it at this early stage. If blogs do not step up to talk about this primary now, we defeat ourselves by allowing the discussion to be controlled by party insiders and the traditional media, who will happily dictate when the race will be talked about, at their convenience.
Democrats have a stragetic advantage because they already know who they will be fighting against, while Republicans will remain in the dark until June 2009. This gives us an opportunity for an unbridled free-for-all to soften Republican candidate Bob McDonnell ahead of the general election. Both Del. Moran and Sen. Deeds will have months of coverage leading up to the primary while Attorney Gen. McDonnell will be left behind because he will not be generating news. Democrats get a head start defining the Republican candidate even before we know who ours will be. Look at the long Obama-Clinton primary. By taking it to every state, Obama and Clinton caused Democrats to win the media battle for weeks on end. John McCain effectively disappeared into the ether after he sealed up the nomination early while Obama and Clinton slugged it out. It is undoubtable in my mind that this fight has done wonders for Obama. Trawl the archives of the Project for Excellence in Jornalism Campaign Converage Index and you'll see how the Obama-Clinton fight caused Democrats to consistently win the media war. No matter who wins the primary, our candidate will benefit from being talked about and turned over like an interesting pebble for months on end while McDonnell struggles for coverage.
Most importantly of all, a long primary allows our nominee to build up statewide campaign infrastructure, and have even more ready-made infrastructure transferred in once the primary is over. Since Barack Obama was forced to organize in every state for a primary fight, he has already had infrastructure in place everywhere. By forcing our candidates to compete everywhere early, we give them an advantage once the primary is over. Our candidates will receive more face time in the local media, have more time to build connections with community leaders, and bring early interest to the Democratic Party. A competitive primary sparks interest which drives up the demand for campaign organization.
I love a good primary. Admit it, it's at least just a little exciting. Primaries give Democrats a chance to question their candidates before setting them loose on the general public. Have faith in our primary electorate that they will make the right decision--otherwise, what's the point of elections?
If anything, there should be more primaries, because primaries are the most open way to choose a nominee short of a radical change in our electoral system (for instance, a switch to a jungle primary or instant runoff system). Fellow Democrats, it's going to be a long ride, and maybe you'll get caught up in the excitement too.
[I'm a Brian Moran supporter. Just letting you know.]
Remember, a convention in 2006 would have given us Harris Miller as our Senate nominee.
And look what happened to the Republicans ... instead of Tom Davis they got Jim Gilmore.
I'm supporting Creigh, but I'm also interested in using the primary process to reform the party and eliminate some antiquated or unethical practices. That's why I'm criticizing Delegate Spruill for accepting $7,500 a month from Brian Moran for "outreach": http://www.raisingkaine.com/sh...
I hope you agree, Kenton, that Moran's money could be better spent elsewhere.