The nature of candidates these days

[hammocksleeper]

The mayor of our little college town here in Virginia recently shared a theory of his with me:

Partisan redistricting over the last ten or twenty years has made party nomination, not election, the hardest and most important part for candidates.
The voters who participate in primaries are usually the most fervent for their party and thus at the extreme end.
Therefore in order to earn the endorsement of his party, a candidate must be very radical.

Then of course this radical gets elected, and we all know what happens after that.

[ScottieIWU]

Well to an extent, that's true. I remember my American Gov't class where the teacher pointed out that usually the person will moderate himself for the general elections in order to get the most support possible.

Plus, since partisan politics often win out over issue politics, the candidate will often get the votes of his party en masse simply because he is a Democrat or Republican.

More later...class now.

[Sargallikus]

I would say that theory is somewhat accurate, considering some major presidential primaries in recent years. John McCain can't win the Republican nomination because he's too 'liberal' of a conservative. Likewise, Joe Lieberman can't win the Democratic nod because he is too 'conservative' of a liberal. That is not to say that either one of these guys would surely win an election in the general public, rather, they have very little chance because the hardcore GOP and Dems generally won't nominate a guy who doesn't ride the hard edge of their ideology.

This is more clearly seen in large elections, but even in smaller elections, candidates, for the most part have to run to their base or face the consequences. After getting a nomintaion then they can run towards the middle to maximze their votes, but the less moderate they are during a primary the better off they often are.

[frazz]

That just goes to show. Good leaders don't get elected, good politicians do.
Plus, since partisan politics often win out over issue politics, the candidate will often get the votes of his party en masse simply because he is a Democrat or Republican.
The best thing you can do is convince some of the other party to vote for you. While not losing the support of your party.

[sweet8D]

Life Lesson: Polotics will forever be corrupt.

Instead of choosing the best person for the job, people are choosen the lesser of two evils.

Who says someone can't sit in the middle? TODAY'S GOVERNMENTS MAKE ME SICK!

[Modred]

Life Lesson: Polotics will forever be corrupt.
Radical ideas do not equate corruption. Please substantiate your logic.

[sweet8D]

Radical ideas do not equate corruption.

I'm not suggesting that it is the Radical ideas that are corrupt... It is corrupt when someone is not allowed, or selected, to run because they are not radical enough when there is no evidence that they are not the best person for the job.
Also from history we have seen that the groups that are the most radical are the ones that start wars and promote terrorism.
I just think that if there were more middle ground in government the world would be a better place.
All I am saying is that there will never be a corruption free government as long as extremists are the only ones allowed to exist in government.

[WeekendLazyness]

I'm just upset that in the commercials, the canidates just attack each other for their mistakes instead of focusing on their stance on the issues.

[sweet8D]

Hahaha. If anyone else is from Canada they will know about the Conservative commercial against the Liberals where it was this big huge ugly picture of Paul Martin with slogan's like: The Liberals are corrupt! Paul Martin SAYS he supports public health care WHEN HE HIMSELF GOES TO A PRIVATE CLINIC!!! Paul Martin once kissed a horse!!!

While the liberals showed pictures of Harper being friendly with American politicians saying: Harper is an American thinker, he will be friendly with Bush, he will change military treaties in the North, etc. etc. but the one thing that came out of these Liberal commercials was this: If you vote for Steven Harper, noone will be happy except George W. Bush.

The Liberals lost the election, and Paul Martin stepped down. It is said he opened a stable and his horses all attend private health clinics.