Posted by
Ed Lilly on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 12:22:45 PM
My lovely wife, a lifelong Democrat, is having a tough time of it with the current primary battle. As a conservative who has never been much for party politics, I had never participated in a primary election before this year. When the New Jersey primary rolled around (and I have already forgotten when it was) Romney and McCain were still the main contenders for the Republican nomination.
Because New Jersey allows anyone to declare a party at the polling station, my wife requested that I vote in the Republican primary and cast a ballot for Mitt Romney. Being a good husband, and not really having a strong objection to Romney, I agreed to vote for him. And for what it's worth, not long after my vote was cast, Romney dropped out of the race. My record of backing long shots continues.
Still, did my beautiful bride make this suggestion because she wanted Romney to be a nominee or the president? No. She's still leaning toward Clinton as her candidate of choice, but in ranking the four leading contenders at the time of the NJ primary, she put McCain as her least favorite choice. So she wanted me to vote for Romney to prevent McCain from getting the nomination. Thus, she sought to manipulate the other party's nomination process.
So how did my wonderful wife react to my lifelong Republican father's crossover vote for Obama in Indiana's primary yesterday?
She decided this morning that it was ethically wrong for him to have done this, and that he should let the party members decide who the nominee will be.
When I reminded her of her own impassioned plea for me to do exactly the same thing, but in the Republican primary, she of course decided that was somehow different.
"You're SO a Republican," she explained.
"No, I'm a conservative, but I'm NOT a Republican," I pointed out.
I think she realized she wasn't going to get very far trying to parse a distinction that would sway me, but it didn't make her any happier with the thought of Republicans crossing over and mucking around in the Democrat primaries.
But it's an interesting question. Apparently my mother, also a long-time Republican voter, declined the opportunity to vote in the Democrat primary, and instead cast a ballot for Huckabee. She presumably thought it would be wrong to vote in the other party's primary.
Clearly, my father sees it differently, and I essentially agree with him in practice. My own reasoning is probably more cynical than his, in that I figure there's no ethics in politics anyway, so it's silly to cite a moral or ethical prohibition against such type of scheming with one's vote. His view was a more pragmatic one, seeking to put an end to the Clinton era once and for all by supporting a candidate who at least talks the talk of trying to bring people together to solve the country's problems. Of course, he's also enough of a realist to not have very high expectations that, should Obama actually take office, he will deliver anything near the unity and healing he has touted in the primaries.
And for what it's worth, in talking to my father this morning, he indicated that he thinks there must have been a huge crossover vote in the Democrat primary in my hometown county. He must have read the local papers already this morning, because he cited the following general numbers to indicate his point:
2004 presidential primary: 23,000 total votes / 15,000 Republican / 8,000 Democrat
2008 presidential primary: 43,500 total votes / 16,500 Republican / 27,000 Democrat
It's hard to know how much of the increase in turnout for the Democrat race is due to young, first-time voters and just generally higher interest, and how much may be Republicans crossing over. But the county as a whole has voted consistently Republican as far back as I can remember, so it would be hard to believe that in the last four years there has somehow been a demographic and/or political shift of such significance that it took a predominantly Republican county to an overwhelmingly Democrat one. Should be interesting to see what the vote totals show in the general election by way of comparison.
As for my wife's concern with crossover votes? I keep trying to tell her it's up to the parties to make the rules. If they want to only allow party members to vote and prevent voter shenanigans, they better change the rules rather than somehow try to deny human nature.