CALIFORNIA TOP TWO OPEN PRIMARY
- Craig Huey’s #2 Showing In CD36 … Not an Upset or a Surprise. (By Allan Hoffenblum, Fox & Hounds Daily) This was CA's first congressional special election that was run under the new "Top Two Open Primary" law, with all sixteen candidates appearing on the same ballot and the top two vote getters, regardless of party, going against each other in a July 17 Runoff election.
- How Did a Conservative Finish as One of Top-Two Vote-Getters in the Liberal 36th Congressional District? (by Jessica Levinson, KCET) The May 17th primary election was one of the first elections held under California's new open primary, top-two election system. Indeed it was the first such race for federal office. Under the new law, any voter can vote for any candidate in the primary election, and the top-two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation proceed to the general election. Hence general elections could see competitions between members of the same party. Such an election was expected to occur between Hahn and Bowen, both Democrats.
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Do CA Progressives Need the Democratic Party?
That’s the real question here.
Progressive Dems squabbled with the Dem Establishment over whom to run as an official “Dem” – Hahn, Bowen, or Winograd. While all the egos clashed on the left over use of the party label, the Tea Partiers in the district got behind their guy and pushed him into the top two. The Dems are so divided that the progressives, like PDA, might be more successful if they form their own “unofficial” party, and break away from the Dem Establishment.
As this special election shows, primaries are going to count big under Prop 14. Huey is in the top two, in part, because a small group of committed supporters stayed with him to the end. That’s the lesson for progressives. Under Prop 14, being in a so-called “qualified” party no longer guarantees an advantage. Smaller informal party organizations, w/o state recognition, can beat official parties, if they pick their fights well – district by district. Although Huey is an insider Repub, having served in their state Central Committee, he got into the run-off because of his small dedicated group in the district.
Under Prop 14, any individual can get on the ballot. All a candidate needs is a dedicated group of supporters. The advantages of official party status no longer exist in CA. Call yourselves the Unofficial Progressives Dems, give all your support to one candidate per district, and you won’t have to be losers anymore.
William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.
(Follow me on Twitter: wjkno1)
PS
Since its his 70th B-day, check out this great post of Bob Dylan recent performance of Visions of Johanna
http://youdopia.tumblr.com/post/5822530998/this-is-perhaps-the-greatest-song-ever-happy
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