2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: A candidate that gets "damaged" by a primary run has no business anywhere near the GE. [View all]LonePirate
(13,806 posts)Funny how nobody was complaining about closed primaries or competitive candidates in 2008.
Then again, maybe open primaries are the way to go. After all, look at the results from these open primaries all held March 1 or earlier:
South Carolina: Clinton 73%, Sanders 26%
Alabama: Clinton 78%, Sanders 19%
Arkansas: Clinton 66%, Sanders 30%
Georgia: Clinton 71%, Sanders 28%
Tennessee: Clinton 66%, Sanders 32%
Texas: Clinton 65%, Sanders 33%
Vermont: Clinton 14%, Sanders 86%
Virginia: Clinton 64%, Sanders 35%
If anyone wants to know how or why Clinton won the primaries and Sanders lost the primaries, it's because Clinton dominated the South. When one candidate wins 2/3 of the vote from a region that supplies about 1/3 of the total delegates - and does so via open primaries, then the problem is not open primaries or the winning candidate.