Aren’t Primary Divisions Always A Bit Overblown?
Posted on May 7, 2008 at 7:09 amInstapundit on the division in the Democratic party:
Obama supporters really don’t like Clinton, and vice versa. Some of that will fade by election day, of course. But how much?
Every primary season this question is asked — how much of the discord in the contentious party primary will spill over into the general?
It happened with Republicans in the 2006 Senate race. Conservatives could not have been more vitriolic in expressing their disgust with Bob Corker. Many an activist pledged unending fealty to their chosen candidate and assured their friends and associates they would never vote for the opponent of their man in the general. Yet, in the end, Corker won, likely with the votes of those who so vigorously opposed him.
The main fact of the matter is Democrats and Democratic inclined independents are sick of George Bush. They are sick of Republicans and they are sick of this war. McCain can run away from his party ID and his president but in the end he is the candidate of the incumbent party and this war and this economy will be the great unifier for Democrats.
Yes, voters from one camp or the other in the Democratic party will be upset if their candidate doesn’t get the nomination but there is no great ideological cleavage between the two candidates and the two party system is strong in this country.
They may not be happy about it but the Democrats will unite in November — no matter what happens. Being out of power will do that. If we had just come out of eight years of a Democratic administration, Democrats might be have been inclined to indulge their misgivings about the party nominee like they did in 2000. But this is not 2000, this is 2008.
Comments
4 Responses to “Aren’t Primary Divisions Always A Bit Overblown?”
Why worry, Obama, Clinton, McCain - they are all the same.
[...] Posted in May 7th, 2008 by TNDP in Uncategorized Nashville Post Politics pundit A.C. Kleinheider offers this sobering analysis for Democrats who might be upset over their candidate’s loss in the presidential primary [...]
Of course Democrats will unite, generally, but presidential campaigns are about getting enough electoral votes. The difference between winning or losing a state will be a matter of swaying or persuading one or two people out of a hundred in some cases.
Yes, the Republican brand is tarnished, justifiably so. They didn’t control spending and must shoulder the lion’s share of the blame for getting us involved in a drawn out war… but it will be close at the presidential level.
Is Glenn still supporting that stupid war?
Seems his influence has really declined in the last couple of years.