Reply #11: The early primary in Pres year is bad advice

[Rauterkus]

Hi All,

I don't like the idea of an early election in the primary of presidential years. This could be bad for a few reasons.

First of all -- snow. We in PA should vote on a day when we are sure to get to the polls. To have our vote NOT count, hold it on a day when there is snow or a bad cold spell. We have winters. We can't ignore the facts of life.

I don't want people to risk their lives trying to fight the ice and cold to due their duty that could be done in a warmer month.

But, in Iowa, critics will say, it is cold too. However, they have more of an agie life and in the winter they don't do much else. They don't want to vote in the spring when there is other work to do.

An early vote puts petitions and political meetings in the darkness of the holidays. Try putting a round peg in a square hole. We gear up for elections after the first of the year, and for good habits and good reasons.

Furthermore, those in NH and Iowa take their time and duties with more seriousness than we would. They can do retail politics where that approach would fail in our larger state. I agree that they have a heavy burden -- but -- IMHO, they handle it well. If those in PA want to help, they can get out and go help there, or send the $ there. Then the PA folks can come home and work the PA race. We are not marginalized just because we don't vote then.

Finally, we get to be a heavy influence when it matters -- as the end nears. Look at DEAN as an example. He blew up. Others are sure to do the same in other years. If a fraud was to win the early races, and PA was in that early wave -- we'd be an aid to the foolery. I'd much rather have the tipping point go to the back end of the election cycle and not to the front. When PA votes late, we become that knock out punch in the time when it matters greatly.

To Rendell, I'd ask him, would he rather win a pre-season game or the Super Bowl?

Please, think again.

Ta.