Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Ohio GOP's sights on 2016 presidential primary

HOPEFUL OF being first in something other than alligators and flesh-eating beach flies, Florida's Republicans defied the fates and advanced the party's presidential primary to Jan. 31 from Mar. 6. That's next year, of course. The frantic response from other political futurists has been something less than kind.

Hopeful of being first in something other than secession, South Carolina promptly responded by moving up its primary to Jan. 21 and crossed its fingers that there would be no pro football playoffs that week to distract the party's voters.

Not so fast, aggrieved Republican loyalists in other states huffed. There is deep thought in New Hampshire for a possible December primary date. Nevada, possibly concerned with the state's time difference with the eastern media, may schedule a vote between midnight and dawn in November to make the important morning TV talk shows on the outcome.

And there is Iowa, which has a drawn-out layered caucus scheme with roots in the fussy election of a new Venetian doge. Iowa couldn't possibly leapfrog any of the other states unless it began its noble pursuit of respectful public notice on Halloween.

That leaves, I'm sorry to report, 45 other states to figure out their best chances for distinctive national electoral glory.

There are rumors hereabouts that Ohio's deep-thinking Republicans are trying to come up with a plan for a 2016 presidential primary to be held immediately after the OSU game with Michigan in November. Nice try, I suppose, inasmuch as there is little for the state to crow about these days, Gov. Kasich's boasts notwithstanding.

*******

It didn't take more than a minute after Chris Christie's Sherman-like decline of a presidential candidacy to bestir the national analysts to begin probing a post-Cristie era in the Republican field. Much of the Christie story was media driven from the outset despite his repeated denials of interest. It made for millions of analytical comments and kept on the front-burner speculation that surrounds national politics today by the talking heads.

Among Christie's many suitors were media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Henry Kissinger, pundit William Kristol and Gov. Kasich. Maybe the New Jersey governor was aware that with baggage like those guys would add to a campaign, he didn't need the inconvenience. So that chapter should end, but not before Mitt Romney and Rick Perry award Christie the game ball.







2 comments:

JLM said...

Damn.....all those unused fat jokes.

David Hess said...

Since we're now in the agonizing throes of four-year presidential election campaigns, why not just hold a nationwide primary election for presidential candidates on the same day four years before the general election for president. Thus, we could determine in 2012 who the respective party candidates would be in 2016. It would save a lot of money both for taxpayers (who'd avoid having to pay for multiple election costs and for candidates who have to go into the pockets of the special interests that finance the profusion of individual campaigns).