By Whitney Cheshire
Is there such a thing as patriotic politics?
Welcome to your special Fourth of July edition of the Wednesday Morning Quarterback.
If you’re reading this column on our great day of independence, you probably have the same incurable political bug that we do. Which means that, at some point in the last month, you’ve probably had a conversation about the presidential race that started out with a prediction of victory for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton (sorry Bill) in the Democratic primary and ended in something like, “But by golly, what the heck is going to happen with the Republicans?”
The Democratic contest is solidified. The frontrunners are the frontrunners and it’s highly unlikely that anything will upset that multi-million dollar boat.
And most Democratic donors, clear about their field of choice, are placing their bets and buying in.
Big time.
But the Republican game is messy, quirky and highly uncertain. R’s are giving money to their picks, but the support is wavering and not overly committed. That’s what it feels like, anyway.
If you’ve missed pollingreport.com, you should check it out. Right now, you can view the results from five nationwide polls that have been taken since the middle of June. Even though Rudy Giuliani and John McCain came up tied for first at 20 percent in the Cook Political Report survey, the other four polls show Giuliani with a fairly strong lead over the rest of the pack.
All of this needs to be taken with a grain of salt because four of the five polls, in order to get results, surveyed both registered Republicans and voters who merely “lean” Republican. That doesn’t mean the people answering the surveys will actually cast a vote in their states’ primaries, nor does it mean that those surveyed reside in early primary states where their votes will have the biggest effect.
According to pollingreport.com, only one of the five polls claims to have surveyed Republican primary voters specifically, and that was the CBS News poll conducted June 26-28.
The result? Giuliani with a sizeable lead at 34 percent, the unannounced Fred Thompson at 22 percent, McCain at 21 percent and Mitt Romney at 6 percent.
Republicans are still waiting
But even more interesting than the candidate survey was the result of this question: “Are you generally satisfied with the candidates now running for the Republican nomination for president, or do you wish there were more choices?”
In mid-May, 38 percent of the respondents were satisfied. One month later, that number had dropped to 30 percent.
Aye, aye, aye…
Those results, coupled with the fact that Thompson landed 12 points behind Giuliani even though he’s not an official candidate, have to make you wonder whether Thompson is the man everyone is waiting for.
OK, this is just one poll, and it’s early, and most voters don’t really know much about any of these candidates yet, and on and on.
In a nutshell?
The R’s are waiting for someone, but they don’t know who. Maybe they’re just waiting to find out that their field of candidates is solidified before they pay their money and take their choice.
But what does this all mean for
It means there’s very little activity. New Mexico Republicans can talk, and wait, because what else can they do?
Get involved now
Here’s the skinny, and our Fourth of July call to service.
Do some research. Quit waiting. Find campaign contacts online. Pick your candidate and figure out what you can do to help. All of these candidates need money. They will all benefit from door-to-door grassroots contact. They all need letters to the editor and radio-show call-ins.
And they all need their supporters to show up for the GOP county conventions that begin next February.
What are we talking about?
New Mexico Republicans will hold their presidential primary in June. But before that happens, candidates for president have to get qualified to be on the ballot. They may have to collect petition signatures, or they may not, depending on their “national” status. But either way, when the New Mexico GOP holds its pre-primary convention in March of next year, the delegates will vote on their choice for president. The results from that vote will dictate the order in which the names appear on the ballot for the June primary.
If the field is still wide open in June (and that’s a big “if”), these little things can make a huge difference.
But in order to vote at the pre-primary convention in March, delegates have to be chosen from their county conventions in February. It’s not hard. Any registered Republican can show up and be elected.
Too often, Republicans complain about their candidate choices after the cards have been played. This year, R’s ought to view the uncertainty as an opportunity, and dig in to make their voices heard.
So on this Fourth of July, if you are a fence-sitter, a wait-and-seer, a show-me-the-money-er, consider stepping up and practicing some patriotic politics.
Get involved. The field is not likely to change much before the end of the year. You’re probably going to have to pick from the names you already know.
So go ahead and pick before someone else picks for you.
It’s quite American, after all.