bultza
01-12-2012, 06:42 AM
www.sos.nh.gov/presprim2012/DemSummaryPres.htm (http://www.sos.nh.gov/presprim2012/DemSummaryPres.htm)
New Hampshire Results Point to Democratic Enthusiasm Gap
John Nichols on January 11, 2012 - 11:43pm ET
Almost one in five New Hampshire Democratic primary voters cast their ballots Tuesday for someone other than Barack Obama.
The president still won the primary with a handsome majority: 81.9 percent of the vote.
But the fact that more than 18 percent of New Hampshire voters who took Democratic primary ballots chose to write in the name of another candidate—anti-war Republican Ron Paul was the second-place finisher in the primary with 2,273 write-ins—or to vote for one of the little-known contenders whose names were on the ballot with Obama’s begs a question: What if a prominent progressive had mounted a primary challenge to the president?
Consumer activist Ralph Nader, scholar Cornel West and others argued for such a challenge last year. And Senator Bernie Sanders, Congressman Peter DeFazio and Congressman Dennis Kucinich were among the Capitol Hill progressives who suggested it would be good for the party and the president to face a meaningful primary test. While inside-the-party wrangling might be messy, the argument went, Democrats would ultimately be well served by an airing of the issues and a pressuring of the president to focus and intensify his outreach to the party's base voters.....
www.thenation.com/blog/165602/new-hampshire-results-point-democratic-enthusiasm-gap (http://www.thenation.com/blog/165602/new-hampshire-results-point-democratic-enthusiasm-gap)
New Hampshire Results Point to Democratic Enthusiasm Gap
John Nichols on January 11, 2012 - 11:43pm ET
Almost one in five New Hampshire Democratic primary voters cast their ballots Tuesday for someone other than Barack Obama.
The president still won the primary with a handsome majority: 81.9 percent of the vote.
But the fact that more than 18 percent of New Hampshire voters who took Democratic primary ballots chose to write in the name of another candidate—anti-war Republican Ron Paul was the second-place finisher in the primary with 2,273 write-ins—or to vote for one of the little-known contenders whose names were on the ballot with Obama’s begs a question: What if a prominent progressive had mounted a primary challenge to the president?
Consumer activist Ralph Nader, scholar Cornel West and others argued for such a challenge last year. And Senator Bernie Sanders, Congressman Peter DeFazio and Congressman Dennis Kucinich were among the Capitol Hill progressives who suggested it would be good for the party and the president to face a meaningful primary test. While inside-the-party wrangling might be messy, the argument went, Democrats would ultimately be well served by an airing of the issues and a pressuring of the president to focus and intensify his outreach to the party's base voters.....
www.thenation.com/blog/165602/new-hampshire-results-point-democratic-enthusiasm-gap (http://www.thenation.com/blog/165602/new-hampshire-results-point-democratic-enthusiasm-gap)