Word: processers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1980
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...outcome of this ever lengthening process were highly satisfactory, then it might be worth the effort. But there is growing unease over the kind of candidate who ultimately emerges. That he has been rigorously tested in some respects can hardly be denied. "The energy of the long distance runner is essential to the conduct of the presidency," says Leonard Garment, a New York attorney who used to be an aide to President Nixon. "It's a job that calls for that kind of stamina." Yet other qualities may be slighted by the primary process: experience, acumen, political leadership...
...candidate. Says Senator George McGovern, one of the chief authors of the nominating reforms: "The candidate isn't under the close personal scrutiny that a handful of bosses used to give him. I have to admit that the more primaries there are, the more difficult is the process." The winner of the 1976 marathon, Jimmy Carter, was not really much better known at the end of the campaign than he was at the beginning, and his stands on the issues remained murky-calculatedly...
...right or to the left. Writes Chicago Lawyer Newton Minow, former chairman of the FCC: "The current version of primaries turns the decision over to what, in a sense, is a new kind of political boss. A small handful of party activists dominate the primaries. The result is a process that tends to fragment rather than unify and to confuse rather than enlighten...
...newsletter, the Baron Report, in Washington, feels that Carter won "on the basis of being able to appeal successfully to individual voters, not on the basis of building coalitions and forging ties among various groups that are necessary for governing the country. We have divided the presidential election process from the governing process." Adds Chris Arterton, professor of political science at Yale and author of a forthcoming book on the nominating process: "It is somewhat troublesome to find a President coming to office who needs three or four years to figure out what his coalition is. Carter said...
Still, there is room for improvement without junking the present setup. For one thing, the process is too long. Great Britain's national election is disposed of in a mere three weeks. In the U.S., caucuses and primaries now stretch from January to June of election year and could be compressed. Democratic Congressman Morris Udall, who ran unsuccessfully in 1976, suggests limiting the contests to four dates: the first Tuesday of each month from March to June. "This would provide a smorgasbord of elections around the country instead of these overblown single primaries," he explains...