Posted on 06/01/2010 8:10:25 AM PDT by markomalley
While publicly denouncing the open primary initiative on the June 8 ballot as wrongheaded and anti-democratic, the California Republican Party quietly four months ago adopted a contingency plan.
If the measure passes, the GOP will deploy a primary caucus nomination system in which assigned delegates will select the party's nominees for Congress, statewide offices, the Board of Equalization and the Legislature.
Proposition 14 would replace the state's primary system with one that sends the top two primary vote-getters to the general election regardless of party registration. All voters can also select among all the candidates without regard to party affiliation.
The shift would represent a major philosophical shift in a political organization that has assiduously stayed out of primary battles, at least in public.
If the caucus were in place today, the GOP would have sided with either Meg Whitman or Steve Poizner, and stated its preference in the hotly contested four-way Republican primary race in the 11th Congressional District.
"Did people think parties would fold up their tents and go away?" said California GOP Chairman Ron Nehring. "The central role of political parties is the nomination of candidates, and if the primary no longer serves that purpose, then parties need an alternative method to see which candidates the party backs."
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Good idea. Will prevent the Dems from sabotaging our primaries.
It will then become the ONLY RINO’S ALLOWED Party
How does it get around the proposition?
Only the establishment RINO candidates will be on the ballot.
By not having primaries.
Not necessarily true. But it will take a lot more commitment than just simply casting a vote to get a non establishment candidate on the ballot.
The proposition places only the two top vote recipients from the primary on the ballot. I did not think there was another way to get on the ballot in this case.
What the ‘rats are attempting to do is shift from a being a majority-party in a state, to morphing it into a one-party state where they plan to be that one party.
What a load of...
Essentially, that means the Democrats would be able to field two candidates, who could come # 1 and # 2 in this open-to-anyone primaries, then send their two Democrats to face off in the general elections, with no Republicans represented at all. That Proposition 14 is the most anti democracy act since Stalin.
Funny how this is CA....
and RINO Romney lives in CA now...
Romney packed the caucuses in 2008 with his bused in followers...
Although this new policy doesnt seem to include POTUS candidates, look for Romney to line up his favors and endorsements...
Well we need to get our troops to the caucuses like they did in Utah.
I hate the the thought of Democrats messing around in our primaries.
As opposed to letting their enemies pick their candidates?
It's still a slight improvement.
How about a campaign against prop 14??
They would be branded as anti-democracy.
And the voters would buy it.
[Posted from the land of Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, Henry Waxman and Maxine Waters]
No, this doesn't get around Prop 14, and there will still be a primary election to select the top two candidates for the general election.
This is just an attempt to give a boost to the Republicans who are endorsed by the caucus, both to discourage other Republicans from getting into a primary battle and to give money and a branding advantage to the endorsed candidates. This would reduce the chances of a bunch of Republicans battling it out in the primary and splitting the vote so that two Democrats end up as the top vote-getters on the November ballot.
But there's nothing which legally prevents other Republican candidates from ignoring the caucus endorsement and running in the primary anyway.
Tea Party Types need to get involved with the GOP on every level
It's happening already, but we need to do it MORE!
Oh, there will still be primaries, but they will serve the only legitimate purpose of a taxpayer-funded election....to reduce the field to two candidates for the general election.
Despite protestations from the 'Pubbies, Dems, and Libertarians, "open primaries" are GREAT for representational government.
Funny, it didn't work that way in Louisiana. Switching to an "open primary" ("top two" actually) brought the Republican party into state elective offices for the first time in a century.
Not necessarily. The open primary system would be far worse, forcing us to get RINOs that Dems selected for us. The caucus system would let dedicated conservatives work hard to get control of the party. Look at what just happened in Utah.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.