You need to do a lot more than collect signatures to win an election. Specifically, you need to raise millions and millions of dollars. If your political party is so big that it sucks all the air out of any room it’s in, it’s also going to dominate the fundraising cycle as well as the news cycle. While the Labor Party is out getting 50 signatures from each county for a statewide election, the GOP or DNC is throwing $10,000 a plate dinners and getting bulk deals on prime time commercial spots.
When I was growing up there were no primaries. State parties chose their delegations to the national conventions by whatever means they wanted. The conventions met in mid-summer and chose a slate and then campaigning began. The public paid little or no attention till that point.
Then came the primaries. Theoretically this was an increase in democracy. If only. But few people vote in primaries and this contributes to choice of the most extreme candidates since it is generally the most committed who vote. It also stretches out the election season.
As to goverminting, that is not a politician’s job; getting elected is. And raising money. I remember reading one congressmen’s lament on this. He said that in order to fund his reelection campaign, he had to raise $30,000 a week. This week, next week, the week after. And if he took a vacation one week, he had to raise $60,000 the week after. It was relentless. He couldn’t possibly think about goverminting while doing that. Why anyone would want to do it is beyond me.
I assume you mean Gary Hart’s Monkey Business? Both look awfully quaint compared to Trump. Oh yeah - and Howard Dean yelled funny!
I think it is just an opportunity to try to make mountains out of molehills.
Sure, no limit on fundraising and campaigning, but IMO it would be nice if the first primaries were not held earlier than - say - May or June. But would require legislation in the various states…
Yes. By definition, campaigning, including such activities as meant to position yourself for the candidacy and to “seed” your platform in the public awareness, is under US jurisprudence an exercise of free political speech with the highest level of protection against legislative or regulatory abridgement.
The front-loading of the presidential primaries (a lot of regular state and congressional primaries wait until Summer to happen) comes from a combination of (a) how the date for those is entirely up to the state parties and legislatures who will very promptly remind you they are NOT subordinates of the National Committees or of Congress, respectively, thankyouverymuch, plus (b) the way our news media just goes looneytunes over who wins Iowa or New Hampshire, those two places oh so representative of the whole of the nation, because (c) the donor classes will shut down support really quickly if you are not being impressive in January, since they want to be done with the primary ASAP so the money can be all used for the general.
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Another element that favors the “permanent campaign” is the closely staggered elections at the different levels – the whole of the federal House of Representatives and a third of the Senate goes before the voters every two years. In most states, their own gubernatorial and legislative elections happen simultaneously with one of those biennial events (and often also stagger-split between one and the other). Plus some states like NJ and VA go for the odd years, and so do a lot of major municipalities like New York City. So when in a given location you may have an election of one kind or another 3 out of every 4 years, or even 4 out of 4, the people who make a living off of campaigning or fundraising have a goodly incentive to keep it going as a continuing project.
Sure, this was so anyway in the Age Before Primaries, but as mentioned the difference is that in those times the candidates would be chosen internally and aspirants to different offices would have to either work their way up gaining the favor of the party elders and faithful from the inside, or be “drafted” by an impressed party organization or faction thereof. So it resembled more how other Western countries work.
So very true.
And agreements.