As I mentioned yesterday, I seriously question the value of the new Primary System developed by the DNC then jumped on by other states. Feb 5 2008 looms large as a result of these changes.
Yesterday David Brooks had a column about the advice he had for Republican candidates. It was his contention that all the primaries on Feb. 5, 2008 wouldn't be the decisive ones. He still thought the traditional first three primaries would set the media tone. And he thought the Media tone would set the race on the first Tuesday of Feb.
While I don't agree that the first three primaries will decide the race I think he is absolutely right about a slightly different topic: Media Tone
Think of the situation today as seen in the daily papers and on the news programs. According to them there are only 3 real candidates in the race: Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and John Edwards...and John Edwards is coming in a weak third in terms of media coverage.
This is the real problem.
A few candidates are sucking the Media Oxygen out of the atmosphere and leaving other truly qualified candidates without the 'free' media (news) that they need to become more widely known. If this is happening to John Edwards think of the others.
Think of Joe Biden or Chris Dodd. Whether they are your favorites or not they deserve to be heard and considered. Each of them has substantive experience and each is just as substantive as Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.
(Sorry folks I don't think Obama as shown any substance at all at this point. He has an eloquent voice and a middle of the road message on the stump...yet I've heard nothing of substance. I do not believe his stance on the Senate resolution in 2002 when he wasn't in the Senate and had absolutely nothing to lose and NO pressure on him is a valuable point of reference. I'm a lonely voice at this point but we'll see when he's willing to compete on the same stage as the others.
More on this topic another time: Rhetoric vs Substance in the Election of 2008. )
Will candidates that aren't getting the 'free' media of the Clinton's etc., have even a fighting chance in 2008? Will they be able to raise the $25-$40Million they need by the fall? If they can't will this silence voices that should be heard?
I think this season that forshortens the race does the country and the party a diservice. Now we have a Primary already in progress with people being labeled winners and losers....and it's all in the media's programming.
Being without substance this Primary, since it's all in the Media and nowhere else, I call it 'The Invisible Primary'. And that Invisible Primary is in full swing.
I despair that we will again nominate people who seem great in short primary seasons, ( Gore who was annointed and Kerry who came from nowhere), and then see that they don't have an authentic voice on the campaign trail!
I believe that the American people hunger for an Authentic Voice, not the politicians mask that so many wear and use to speak, an authentic voice that is backed by large scale experience and augmented by roadmaps to tangible goals with benchmarks built in to those roadmaps.
Rhetoric, however seductive, will not win.
This is Part 1 of more to come on 'The Invisible Primary'.
