Thursday, February 07, 2008
Editorial: It's next Tuesday; be sure to vote
Virginia's Democratic and Republican party faithful will have a say in the presidential nominations.
From the RoundTable blog
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If the turnout in Virginia for this week's Super Tuesday primaries is any indication, voter interest should be heavy next Tuesday -- when the Old Dominion actually holds its vote.
The State Board of Elections reports more than 700 calls Tuesday from people eager to vote and wanting to know why their polling places weren't open.
The outcome of primaries in the 24 states that did vote this week wasn't decisive for either major party's presidential nomination. So Virginia's Feb. 12, post-Super Tuesday primary election isn't looking irrelevant, as once was feared.
The state's Democratic Party leaders are saying Virginia could be crucial in the still-heated race between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And though Republican Sen. John McCain has taken a more commanding lead in the GOP contest, state party officials Wednesday were not counting either of his main challengers out: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Virginians can expect to get a little more attention this week from the various campaigns. And as prospective voters are wooed, they should resist the often misleading boilerplate that campaign strategists regularly churn out.
Voters know what issues have bestirred them enough that they plan to make it to the polls. Before they arrive, they should put aside marketing-created perceptions and look at what the candidates actually propose about the critical issues of the day -- minus the cycle through partisan spin machines.
The Internet offers fast and easy access to research by nonpartisan political watchdogs that vet what politicians say. Two we are familiar with are factcheck.org and politifact.com. The former is a nonpartisan, nonprofit project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The latter is a project of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly.
Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia all will be voting next Tuesday in what is dubbed the Potomac primary. It is voters' chance to affect who will be on the presidential ballot in November, in the hope they won't be left with "none of the above." They should make the chance count.
