It's a shame

[GOPFlyer10]

It's really a shame that the rules of the primaries are not the same as the GE rules. Hillary would have ran away with this...

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's really a shame that the GE rules are not the same as the rules of the democratic primary.

[Hash]

All primaries should use real PR with a democratic threshold.

And no stupid caucuses.

[DariusNJ]

Hillary may have won, but she would have hardly "ran away with it".

And keep in mind that in the later primaries, Obama spent much more time running against McCain than running against Hillary, which probably cost him the state of South Dakota, and arguably Indiana, and the fact that he did very little campaigning in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, etc probably cost him votes in those states.

I think if it was all primaries, it would be a really sticky situation for the Democrats, because the delegates and vote totals would be really close. I'd pay to see a Democratic National Convention with that much drama.

[DariusNJ]

It's really a shame that the rules of the primaries are not the same as the GE rules. Hillary would have ran away with this...

Yeah, that's a large electoral college victory, but if these were the rules, Obama would have obviously campaigned differently than he did.

[12th Doctor]

It's really a shame that the GE rules are not the same as the rules of the democratic primary.

You mean weigh the numbers so that states with more democrats get more representation?

I always thought it was funny that Republicans are accused of being exclusionists who want to disenfranchise voters when it is our primary that just goes by the real population figures of a state, while the Democrats exclude more states where they lack strong majorities.

And no stupid caucuses.

I agree that caucuses are an absolute relic, weighed to appeal to the extreme and the able, and ought to be utterly abolished.

If you look at the 2008 map, if all the states had had real primaries, Hillary would have swept the nomination.  Awarding equal representation (using any basis) for states where only 10% of the people will show up (in a good year) is ridiculous.

[RI]

It's really a shame that the rules of the primaries are not the same as the GE rules. Hillary would have ran away with this...

btw, Alaska voted for Obama, not Clinton.

[Хahar 🤔]

It's really a shame that the GE rules are not the same as the rules of the democratic primary.

You mean weigh the numbers so that states with more democrats get more representation?

I always thought it was funny that Republicans are accused of being exclusionists who want to disenfranchise voters when it is our primary that just goes by the real population figures of a state, while the Democrats exclude more states where they lack strong majorities.

I see no reason to assume he meant that. Rather, he was referring to the proportionality of delegates.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's really a shame that the GE rules are not the same as the rules of the democratic primary.

You mean weigh the numbers so that states with more democrats get more representation?

I always thought it was funny that Republicans are accused of being exclusionists who want to disenfranchise voters when it is our primary that just goes by the real population figures of a state, while the Democrats exclude more states where they lack strong majorities.

I see no reason to assume he meant that. Rather, he was referring to the proportionality of delegates.

Obviously I did. Fortunately someone did understand what I meant...

[Husker]

I disagree that caucuses bring out the extremes. If anything, I think caucuses help prevent extremes on either side of the aisle. I believe Iowa has been a competitive state for so long because of their caucus system and not necessarily their ideological makeup (which is very similar to usually dead-red NE according to Exit Polls). Discussing the direction of your country with your neighbors and fellow precinct dwellers is not a bad thing. I know I enjoyed the debate and I think it makes voters more educated. Granted, there are definite disadvantages to a caucus and results from primaries are a better reflection of the state electorate. However, I will point out that in 3 caucus states: WA, ID, and NE, Obama won a caucus and a primary. Had more young people voted in NE's May 2008 primary, Obama would have won by a larger margin. The only question in my mind is would Obama have won caucuses in states like OH, PA, and IN.