Analysis of the 2004 Democratic Primaries
Uploaded by spootyhead on Feb 19, 2007
Analysis of the 2004 Democratic Primaries
The primaries are a set of elections in our country that determine the two candidates for the presidential election. Each state holds its own elections for the registered voters, and the candidates from each party are selected. Some states have different primary elections whether they are “open” or “closed.” These two terms apply to what kind of voter participation is allowed. Closed primaries allow registered party voters to participate in that party’s election whereas the open ones allow any registered voter to participate in one of the elections. This election year the democratic candidates are battling for the primaries with the hope of running against incumbent George W. Bush for the presidency. At this point it is hard to say who is truly ahead in campaigning for the democrats. A good start is often helpful to a particular candidate but as George Bush showed us last election, it isn’t everything.
As of now four democratic candidates stick out as strong contenders. In terms of polling, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, John Kerry, and Dick Gephardt stand in the lead thus far, with Joe Lieberman a close competitor. The polls, however, are all from different sources, including the Associated Press poll, a CNN/Times poll and some others, and the true leader will not be evident until the election is complete. When examining what is going on here in terms of political analysis we must look at the lenses as we learned them from Lowi this semester. They are based on five simple principles: The Rationality Principle, the Collective Action Principle, the Institution Principle, the Policy Principle and the History Principle. By using these “lenses” se can look at the primaries in a way that can answer questions and explain what the election is really about and how it works so that we may all be more educated voters next term.
This analysis brings up questions on the issues that the candidates stand for and how they will play out in the election. Each politician has their own goals in mind at the top of everything, and the rules that they have to play by shape the election until the voters, as best we can, choose our favorite candidate in terms of who meets our own interests best. So what are the interests of the individual candidates? What do they want and how can they make an appeal to...