that the democratic party does not currently function democratically? (i would argue that this is true of the american political process as a whole, but that's a separate argument). the whole point of the primary process is to maximize voters' exposure to the candidates in each state. but over time, this has been attacked from numerous directions. the first two primaries, er, the first caucus and first primary, are open to voting by independents, which means that the first and most talked-about decision process is not even carried out by the party's registered voters. these states, like every other individual state, are unrepresentative of the whole US, and their privileged status as first-voting states is protected by the national party for no stated reasons. most of the other states have moved their primaries to early february, which makes it impossible for voters in these states to get much actual exposure to the candidates. the national party defends this system because a bad system is better than no system. individual states, like FL and MI, have tried to increase their own importance by moving up their primaries, which makes sense for their own sake but would further screw every other state that isn't IA or NH.

my point is that even if we ignore the hundreds of millions of dollars that go into advertising (advertising, by its nature, tries to convince people to believe in things they wouldn't otherwise believe in), we still have a system in which 'fairness' to the democratic voters of america doesn't enter into the picture.

i agree with you, but so what?

outfoxed Obama by not removing her name in Michigan, I think the Obama supporters never saw that coming and wished they would have thought of the possible outcomes. I stopped listening to delegate counts, everyone seems to have their own version of new math when counting them up.

Actually, I'm gonna say that Obama outfoxed Hillary by pandering to the Iowans. Without that win, he wouldn't be where he is today - and it was very unclear that he would receive so much support in Iowa.

Also, as you can see by Don's grumblings - there is going to be trouble if Hillary only wins by including Michigan and/or Florida delegates.

Guess we'll see what happens in TX, OH, WI and PA.

or they could just be sending a message

If they want to send a message they could vote for Reagan!

Because they have the time to go to these things? But aren't they in the evening? Can you explain? :)

if you figure that out, you've discovered the flaw in american democracy. it clearly does favor upper income - check out voting rates between income quintiles, it's not even close to being even, and i think it's even worse for caucuses. the why has stumped far greater minds than i - engels and lenin skirted the issue in all of the snippets that i've read. my guess is that it's about empowerment - if you're poor, you're focused on scraping by the little you can, and nobody is going to teach you that the big picture (i.e. politics) is important to your survival. there's a big body of sociology research that points to greater amounts of fatalism in the poor. by contrast, my parents, family, and family friends have been getting me to look at the big picture since i was in diapers. part of it is having the time to show up to vote, more of it is having the time to follow current events, and even more of it is feeling like i (and other middle class and wealthy people who are likely to vote) have some level of effect on the world, as a protagonist instead of an object.

See if you can figure it out without my help...here's some clues:

Yesterday:

I had to attend a trade show in Vancouver BC, to represent my product for my best customer. Had I not done so the cost me could have been as high 5,000.00 USD/year...that's a pretty high poll tax.

Friend #1 Was sick with flu and did not attend. Should have gone though and made hundreds sick...

Friend #2 Was working her police Job, could not attend.

Friend #3 Was relocating his mother in Texas. His mother had a stroke.

Posted by S Brennan | February 10, 2008 3:10 PM