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CNN Live Sunday
Do Primaries Really Matter?
Aired November 23, 2003 - 18:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now would you really notice if your state cancelled its political primary next year? For many people, including some state leaders the answer is no. A handful of states are already pulling the plug on the longstanding political tradition and many people wonder if things in politics will ever be the same.
Ken Rudin is a political reporter for National Public Radio and he joins us now from Washington to talk a little bit about that. Hi there, Ken.
KEN RUDIN, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Hi, Carol.
LIN: Which of the states considering this dropping their primaries?
RUDIN: Well there may be as many as ten and so far it's Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Maine, New Mexico, at least those states so far and most of the reasons or at least the officials reasons is money that it cost four or five million dollars to run a primary and a lot of these states are in deep deficit.
LIN: Well, explain to the audience, which is not perhaps the traditional political audience, why this is so and how the primary and electoral votes get to be so frontloaded in the process.
RUDIN: Well, see here's what happened. I mean the early states are going to decide, many of the early states will decide who will be the Democratic nominee for president.
Iowa starts the ball rolling on January 19th, followed by New Hampshire on January 27th and there are a handful of states on February 3rd. Now, a lot of states like, for example, California and New York who used to have the primaries in June they said well wait a second.
The primary process, the nominee will be decided by June. Let's move all the way up to early March or late February, so a lot of states moved up but because there are so many states having primaries at the same time, for example on March 2nd you have eleven states including New York, California, Florida, Ohio, Texas, you need a lot of money to run a national TV blitz and the door-to-door campaigns will not happen in these states.
So, for example, I'm trying to make this clear, a state like Kansas which has its primary on April 6, well the nominee will be decided by then.
LIN: Right.
RUDIN: Republican leaders in Kansas say why hold the primary.
LIN: Right.
RUDIN: Why spend $4 million because it will be over by then.
LIN: Well, why not? I mean why not just throw the whole primary system out and just have a general campaign and have an election day and then just have whoever gets the popular vote win? I mean just like they do in high school, Ken.
RUDIN: Well, sometimes people feel that's the exact way to do it because the way in the old days if you go back to like '68 or 1972, even as late as 1980, look at 1980 for example. President Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy his challenger, went from March to the end of June and July to the convention fighting it out.
But Democratic leaders said no, we don't want to spend all this money on inter-party rivalry and anger. Let's have it all frontloaded early but by doing that you could have a nominee before anybody has voted. So, for example, if it's Howard Dean and Howard Dean seems to have the momentum now he gets the nomination sewn up by the end of February, early March.
LIN: Right.
RUDIN: There's no time for voter remorse.
LIN: So what do you think is going to happen? Can it be fixed? Should it be fixed?
RUDIN: It should be fixed but, you know, the thing is everybody has this parochial interest. One plan was to have like in the month of March only East Coast states have the primary in April, the Midwest, but Iowa is not going to give up its first in the nation Caucus.
New Hampshire is not going to give up its first in the nation primary so they have these such parochial interests and such anger and insisting that they go first and they don't lose their early place they're not going to get together on this though.
LIN: So, are there going to be primaries then?
RUDIN: Well, there will be primaries. I mean we are really basically talking about a half a dozen primaries which are later in the process, which are taking place too late to really make any matter and states that are really hurting.
LIN: So then it really (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
RUDIN: Right.
LIN: Thanks so much, Ken, Ken Rudin.
RUDIN: Thank you, Carol.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 23, 2003 - 18:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now would you really notice if your state cancelled its political primary next year? For many people, including some state leaders the answer is no. A handful of states are already pulling the plug on the longstanding political tradition and many people wonder if things in politics will ever be the same.
Ken Rudin is a political reporter for National Public Radio and he joins us now from Washington to talk a little bit about that. Hi there, Ken.
KEN RUDIN, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Hi, Carol.
LIN: Which of the states considering this dropping their primaries?
RUDIN: Well there may be as many as ten and so far it's Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Maine, New Mexico, at least those states so far and most of the reasons or at least the officials reasons is money that it cost four or five million dollars to run a primary and a lot of these states are in deep deficit.
LIN: Well, explain to the audience, which is not perhaps the traditional political audience, why this is so and how the primary and electoral votes get to be so frontloaded in the process.
RUDIN: Well, see here's what happened. I mean the early states are going to decide, many of the early states will decide who will be the Democratic nominee for president.
Iowa starts the ball rolling on January 19th, followed by New Hampshire on January 27th and there are a handful of states on February 3rd. Now, a lot of states like, for example, California and New York who used to have the primaries in June they said well wait a second.
The primary process, the nominee will be decided by June. Let's move all the way up to early March or late February, so a lot of states moved up but because there are so many states having primaries at the same time, for example on March 2nd you have eleven states including New York, California, Florida, Ohio, Texas, you need a lot of money to run a national TV blitz and the door-to-door campaigns will not happen in these states.
So, for example, I'm trying to make this clear, a state like Kansas which has its primary on April 6, well the nominee will be decided by then.
LIN: Right.
RUDIN: Republican leaders in Kansas say why hold the primary.
LIN: Right.
RUDIN: Why spend $4 million because it will be over by then.
LIN: Well, why not? I mean why not just throw the whole primary system out and just have a general campaign and have an election day and then just have whoever gets the popular vote win? I mean just like they do in high school, Ken.
RUDIN: Well, sometimes people feel that's the exact way to do it because the way in the old days if you go back to like '68 or 1972, even as late as 1980, look at 1980 for example. President Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy his challenger, went from March to the end of June and July to the convention fighting it out.
But Democratic leaders said no, we don't want to spend all this money on inter-party rivalry and anger. Let's have it all frontloaded early but by doing that you could have a nominee before anybody has voted. So, for example, if it's Howard Dean and Howard Dean seems to have the momentum now he gets the nomination sewn up by the end of February, early March.
LIN: Right.
RUDIN: There's no time for voter remorse.
LIN: So what do you think is going to happen? Can it be fixed? Should it be fixed?
RUDIN: It should be fixed but, you know, the thing is everybody has this parochial interest. One plan was to have like in the month of March only East Coast states have the primary in April, the Midwest, but Iowa is not going to give up its first in the nation Caucus.
New Hampshire is not going to give up its first in the nation primary so they have these such parochial interests and such anger and insisting that they go first and they don't lose their early place they're not going to get together on this though.
LIN: So, are there going to be primaries then?
RUDIN: Well, there will be primaries. I mean we are really basically talking about a half a dozen primaries which are later in the process, which are taking place too late to really make any matter and states that are really hurting.
LIN: So then it really (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
RUDIN: Right.
LIN: Thanks so much, Ken, Ken Rudin.
RUDIN: Thank you, Carol.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
