The Altair has Landed

Quadibloc wrote:

:On Jan 4, 1:26 am, wrote:
:
: Has anyone noticed that ever since Nixon penetrated the Democratic
: National HQ back in the days of Watergate, the Democrats have
: ROUTINELY nominated their weakest candidates?
:
:But the Republicans are doing the same thing, so I blame a polarized
:and divided electorate. Also, since the U.S. uses something called
:"open primaries", I'm not sure who the Republicans could infiltrate.
:

You're mistaken. The US doesn't use 'open primaries'. Some states
within the United States do. This varies on a state by state basis.

:
:But that reminds me: if the political primaries are forced by LAW to
:have open primaries,
:

Wrong assumption.

:
:... then how on Earth can the Democratic national
:headquarters say to Florida, sorry, your primary won't count because
:we don't want you to have it this early? (They did this in several
ther states too, and the Republicans did it in some states as well.)
:

Quite easily, since it is up to the PARTY which delegates do and do
not get seated at the Convention.

Hint: Primaries are a *PARTY* function and not a government mandated
or sponsored function. That's why some states have 'caucuses', some
states have 'open primaries', some states have 'closed primaries', and
different parties *MAY* (in some states) have their primaries by
different methods on different days or may not have a primary at all.

:
:I would have thought they would be breaking the law doing this, as
:supposedly open primaries were brought in to correct the abuses of
:"machine politics". Or are open primaries just a gentleman's agreement
:between the Democrats and the Republicans? (If so, I suppose it's a
:good thing they can't be prosecuted for antitrust violations...)
:

None of the preceding paragraph is operative because your basic
assumption ('open primaries' are required by US Federal law) is
incorrect.


--
"It's always different. It's always complex. But at some point,
somebody has to draw the line. And that somebody is always me....
I am the law."
-- Buffy, The Vampire Slayer