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 North Carolina Needs a Voice
by Tom Campbell
January 9, 2008
Iowa and New Hampshire should not be deciding who will be presidential nominees for their respective political parties. Iowa is a Midwestern state with very little influence shaping public policy, while New Hampshire has slightly more than one million residents. Neither can be said to be ideal representatives of this country’s populous, yet they hold a disproportionate influence in who will ultimately win the party nominations. Collectively, they amount to less than one-half of one percent of the electorate in the United States. North Carolina has almost nine times more population than New Hampshire, yet in the game of selecting a president we are not even suited up to play.
Many remember the days when national political conventions were high drama. One by one, the roll call of states revealed each delegation’s choice and commentators kept careful tabs on vote totals for the various contenders. Being pretty far down the alphabetical list of states sometimes allowed a candidate to garner the required number of delegates before our state was called, but more often than not North Carolina’s votes counted. Under the current system, the nominations are fixed long before our May primary. None of the potential nominees even ventures into our state because we don’t matter. Come November we get to vote for one of two people. Even then the two finalists seldom come to our state to campaign, at best making only brief appearances to raise money. No wonder our electorate doesn’t get excited about elections.
State leaders are correct in saying it is hard to justify spending three million dollars to hold a separate election, just to have a say in choosing respective standard bearers, however other states do so. Neighboring South Carolina holds a vote for Republicans one week and Democrats the next. In this high tech, super-electronic, over-polled environment we liked the grass-roots feel to the Iowa caucuses where real people gathered to hash out their opinions and settle on each precinct’s choice. It truly felt like “we the people” reaching consensus and it surely energized voters to become more involved and learn more about the candidates.
Between now and February fifth, when more than twenty other states will vote in “Super Tuesday” primaries, the nomination process will be all but over before almost one-half of the states have any input. Clearly this is a process in need of overhaul. Whether the best solution is a series of regional “Super Tuesday” events, a nationwide caucus, like Iowa’s, or some other system, North Carolina needs to get in the game, even if it means joining in the current disorganized circus in a timely manner. As the ninth most populous state we need a voice in the selection of party nominees. |
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