Primaries?

[EgwaTlvdatsi]

In doing some reading to understand the political processes, and what not, I come across primaries and quite frankly it's got me comfuddled.
I did read that there are different kinds of primaries, but a lot of it is rather confusing as if only 'If it is written that you have permission to choose then speak, if not shut up.'

Democrats and Republicans can vote in the primaries, and independants can not vote? Well, if that's the case why isn't there a selection on the registration that states a person is for all parties or offiliates himself with the best choice rather than have to be stuck with dumb and dumber, or even being told to stay quiet (such as independants not allowed to vote in certain primaries)...

Can someone explain this a little better than wiki could? Is a primary an important event or is it just for fun? If it's important sounds a little odd and bizaar that 'we' are not allowed to have an oppinion...

I have read something about how it pertains to those particular to the parties, but still the same question pops in my mind is 'Why is this necessary?'

Thanks...
Charles

Edit:

Ok, I read through it about 20 times, and have at least gathered an idea of what it is, but yet find it perplexing. Why is there a need to 'weed out' down to only two candidates or just one for each party? Why not 5 or 10? I'm sure that if there's 5,000 people trying to run for the presidency at least 10 of them are worth while enough to try. However, this might have something to do with the media not giving the public the chance to know who all is running. Then again, even if this is to 'weed out' the undesirables, wouldn't the entire city/county/district/state have the choice to say who is going on or should it remain in the hands of a select few?

[Mr. Coolidge]

bump

Okay, I guess the place to start is to stop thinking of the Primaries in the way you think of the November election (General Election). The trick is not to think of the parties as parts of the government. They are pushing people to gain government positions, but they are not themselves part of the gov't...

The decision that John McCain should be the Republican Party candidate in the 2008 election was supposed to be a decision made by and within the Republican Party. If we wanted to contribute for or against that decision, we had to be part of the Republican Party. And some states let any voters decide in their party primaries, as long as they don't also decide in their competitor's primary. Like in Georgia, you don't have to register Republican to decide in the Republican primaries--but you can't decide in the Democratic primaries that same election season.

Hope someone else explains it more clearly.

[Mr. Coolidge]

bump

Let's see if we can get a better explanation...

[Zippyjuan]

It is up to the state parties to set the rules for selecting their delegates to the convention. Some state parties (usually the Democrats more than the Republicans) allow independents to participate. They believe that this will result in a candidate which will have more broad appeal in the general election than one exclusively chosen by members of the party- who would more likely be more to the middle of their party politically instead of the middle of the general population politically). Some states us a caucus system which has some different rules and can be confusing. There are a couple of states like Texas which use both a primary and caucuses. Ron Paul and Barak Obama did better in Causus states because they reflect more the intensity and organization skills than general support.

[EgwaTlvdatsi]

I can understand not voting for both parties, such as someone voting democrat then later on Republican, but I still don't quite comprehend why others should be dissallowed to view their opinions openly by voting within a primary.

But before I ask any more questions about this, is a primary important? Such as, if someone is running for president and he/she/it happens to be the best choice in the minds of independants, but not so much for Republicans and Democrats, would that person be allowed to continue his/her/its campaign?

[Zippyjuan]

The primary/ caucus system was designed by the parties themselves to help decide who will be their party nominee. Not winning your party's nomination does not mean that you cannot run in the main election- in 1912 Teddy Roosevelt lost the Republican nomination to William Howard Taft and ran on his own under the Progressive or Bull Moose party. This split the Republican vote and gave the presidency to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.