In the April 4th Kuna Melba News, Steven Ricks reported on the Republican caucus. He observed that three presidential candidates actually came to Idaho for the first time in, well, forever.
His tepid review of those events (“tedious and entirely uninspiring”) implied that he didn’t come to any of the packed, enthusiastic Ron Paul appearances. My wife and I did, and regardless of the Republican delegate results, we are grateful to have experienced one of those in our lifetimes.
As I vicariously watch the Ron Paul campaign hop-scotch across the USA, I have a sense of the enthusiasm represented from the photos of the packed houses his supporters create coast to coast. I, for one, am glad the Republican leadership gave all of Idaho a chance to taste this excitement. I know many like me who “crossed party lines” for the experience and would gladly cross party lines to vote that man into the presidency.
Back to The Ricks Report: Steven laments that of the hundreds of thousands of registered voters in Idaho, fewer than 45,000 Republicans attended the caucuses and Romney won with less than 28,000 votes. How many, he wonders, “were deprived of that right because of the caucus system?”
I ask “How many of us never get a say because Democrat and Republican candidate selection never puts somebody we can vote for on the ballot – and nobody else has a chance?” Head-to-head, none of those selected by the Republican leadership have a statistical advantage over Obama… EXCEPT Ron Paul who the pollsters say would CRUSH Obama.
Clearly a Republican win isn’t the only important factor here. The more people who recognize that, and seek the answer to “Then what is?”, the better off we all will be.