Make Missouri's GOP primary count
Missourians can be forgiven for harboring a twinge of jealousy toward their fellow Americans in New Hampshire this week. And toward South Carolinians. And Floridians.
All those states have meaningful presidential primaries.
Not so in Missouri this year. Yes, there will be a primary. It will take place Feb. 7 and cost taxpayers several million dollars. (The state’s 2008 presidential primary cost $7 million.)
But the results of the Republican primary — the only one with any suspense — won’t play a role in how the Missouri Republican Party selects delegates to attend the nominating convention in Tampa. That will be determined in a party caucus scheduled March 17.
How Missouri worked its way into this predicament is a long story. It begins with the Republican National Committee telling states they would lose half their delegates if they selected them too early. The tale continues with the bumbling inability of Missouri’s Republican-controlled legislature and Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon to change a state statute and schedule the state primary on a date that meets RNC approval.
At this point the Missouri Republican Party controls the story line. The state cannot cancel its legally required primary. Ballots already are being printed. The party, however, could change its mind and announce that the primary’s results will determine delegate selection.
The Republican National Committee insists it will stand by its promise to cut the delegate count in half for states that select delegates in early primaries. “Rules are rules,” a spokesman said.
But losing half of their delegates doesn’t seem to bother New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina, Michigan and Arizona. Those states intend to select delegates based on the results of primaries scheduled in violation of RNC rules.
Missouri selects 52 GOP delegates out of a total of 2,286 at the national convention. A candidate needs 1,144 delegates to become the party’s nominee. Clearly, the course of history will not be altered if Missouri’s delegate count is cut to 26.
“The party has made keeping a full delegate strength at the national convention a priority,” said Jonathon Prouty, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party, defending the caucus approach.
They’ll be the ones waving flags and wearing funny hats at the convention. And the taxpayers of Missouri will pay plenty for the fun.
Kent Mueller
1 year, 4 months agoSomehow the Star seems to be blaming the Republican National Committee and/or the Missouri Republican Party for the cost of the Missouri primary election.
Hello, Star. The Republican Party is a political party just like the Democratic Party. They can choose their candidates any way they wish. It is entirely reasonable for the RNC to place limits on the timing of the member states’ party primaries. We all know, whether it would be contested Republican or Democratic primaries, that states would “one up” each other to ridiculous levels. Isn’t the usual complaint that the campaign season is too long?
The RNC has made rules on how delegates are to be selected. Rules are a good thing. It allows there to be a process absent chaos. If the Star wants to blame someone for the cost of a meaningless primary, then go after the state legislature and the governor. The editorial started there, but then morphed to where it must be the fault of the RNC and MRP.
And it is amazing that the Star sees no problem with representation being cut in half. “Clearly, the course of history will not be altered if Missouri’s delegate count os cut to 26.” Wow. I thought the Star was in favor of our participatory demographic republic. If those 26 votes are so meaningless, how about we randomly select 26 Star employees and prevent them from voting in the general election. It’s only 26 votes, and apparently, the Star would agree that “the course of history will not be altered”.
And you had to demean the Republicans with your cute reference to the “funny hats”? The Democrats wear funny hats, too, don’t they? But I doubt if we ever hear about that in a derogatory tone.