PRIMARIES: A MATTER OF PUBLIC RECORD

The difference between the ways a candidate campaigns between for a Republican primary and campaigns for a general election is well known; Republican against Republican verses Republican against Democrat. There is great difference in the GOP but not for the Democrats. The common explanation is that they are campaigning for “their base” in a primary, the segment of the Party that turns out for the election. This is true and is good politics for them; however, it tells us something.

What is enlightening is that it is during the primaries where we hear all the radical Tea Party talk, the stuff that Republican really believes and most voters don’t. We all know and accept that if the Republicans campaigned in the same way in the general election as they do in Republican primaries, voters would never elect a Republican. Let me restate that; if a Republican told the general electorate what he or she really believes and stands for in government the voters would never vote for them; the infamous Romney 47% statement was an example. When they admit that they campaign differently for primaries verses general elections they are saying, admitting really, that they are not telling the truth during one or the other of the elections. All the voters can do is guess which way they will govern once elected. People pretty much know how they will vote by knowing their party platform. It is the party platform is constructed by primary votes, which strongly suggest the way they campaign for the primaries is the way the will govern.

This creates the paradox; if a Democrat wants to win, all he has to do is tell the voters how his Republican opponent campaigned in the primaries; it is a matter of public record and would be devastating for them.     

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