Primary day
Yesterday was our primary election here in Kentucky. For Presidential races, everything is typically decided by the time May rolls around, and this year was no exception. Mitt Romney has emerged as the likely nominee for the GOP, and no one has opposed Obama on the Democrat side. What's funny to me is how all the GOP big shots waited until all Romney's challengers had quit before they endorsed him, including Ron Paul. With one horse left in the race, Boehner, McConnell, a bunch of GOP governors, and even a few of his former challengers all placed their bets on Romney. I think this is representative of how divided the GOP is these days. They can't even agree with themselves.
Kentucky has a closed primary, and I'm still on the rolls as a Republican, so I voted for Gingrich, who ended up getting 6% of the KY GOP vote. Romney took 66% (again, this is a 1-horse race in a state known for horse racing), but Ron Paul actually came in 2nd, getting over 12%. His son is our Senator of course, and we also have a lot of nut jobs here who are "Libertarians" until that philosophy interferes with their ability to push their religious beliefs onto others.
To be clear, I am not a fan of the two party "system." I think using the word system gives it too much credit. We have two parties, and the only thing the two of them can agree on these days is that they don't want a 3rd party to emerge because it would likely steal voters (and more importantly lobbyists, and their cash) away from both of them. Indiana just replaced an experienced, sane Senator with a wack-job who explicitly stated he had no intention of working collaboratively with Democrats. We'll see how that works out for the great Hoosier state.
Kentucky has a closed primary, and I'm still on the rolls as a Republican, so I voted for Gingrich, who ended up getting 6% of the KY GOP vote. Romney took 66% (again, this is a 1-horse race in a state known for horse racing), but Ron Paul actually came in 2nd, getting over 12%. His son is our Senator of course, and we also have a lot of nut jobs here who are "Libertarians" until that philosophy interferes with their ability to push their religious beliefs onto others.
To be clear, I am not a fan of the two party "system." I think using the word system gives it too much credit. We have two parties, and the only thing the two of them can agree on these days is that they don't want a 3rd party to emerge because it would likely steal voters (and more importantly lobbyists, and their cash) away from both of them. Indiana just replaced an experienced, sane Senator with a wack-job who explicitly stated he had no intention of working collaboratively with Democrats. We'll see how that works out for the great Hoosier state.