JUST WHEN you thought you'd had enough "exploratory committees," here comes another one: Virginia Sen. Emily Couric (D-Charlottesville) has announced she is considering a run for lieutenant governor. Not this year, though: The election isn't until November 2001. It seems like jumping the gun, but she's right on time. The advent of the perpetual campaign threatens our democratic system by stifling upstart candidates and rewarding individuals with a wealthy donor base.
Most voters are familiar with the astronomical amount of funds raised by Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R), but don't realize that the system in general has become more expensive and starts earlier than in the past. In the first six months of 1999, all presidential candidates raised $103 million, three times the amount raised at the same point in the last presidential election ("Presidential Bidding," The Nation, Aug. 23, 1999). About a third of that belongs to Bush, meaning that he raised nearly half of his current total a year before the primaries began.
Although the campaign finance system has many flaws that contribute to more expensive campaigns, candidates need money sooner to prepare for the earlier beginning to the primary season. Front-loading in the presidential contests isn't new: Super Tuesday has existed since 1988. But the problem exploded this year, with drastic changes such as the California primary's move from the traditional mid-June to March 7.
This rush to judgment requires candidates to raise money early or fold. For example, Elizabeth Dole had some interesting proposals rarely voiced by a Republican, including support for gun control. But her inability to beat out Bush for money forced her to drop her bid as early as last October, long before the first primary. Like McCain, she had great potential for crossover appeal that now we'll never know.
A front-loaded system also thwarts insurgent candidacies, because the need for wealthy connections favors individuals in major offices. For example, Bush has ready-made donors in his political appointees: Four Regents of the University of Texas are on his list of those raising $100,000 ("Pioneering for Dollars," The Daily Texan, July 22, 1999). By declaring his candidacy in March 1999, Bush preempted Elizabeth Dole's fundraising efforts. Clinton handsomely has rewarded Gore for his earlier support by fundraising for him. By contrast, Bill Bradley's retirement from the Senate left him disconnected from the donor base.
There are no quick fixes to the problem of the perpetual campaign, but some possibilities for avoiding short primary seasons exist. The Democrats took an important step this year by abolishing the winner-take-all primaries ("States Rush to Play Role in Nominating Process,"Houston Chronicle, March 15). The objective is to give delegates to challengers who capture a portion of the early primaries but don't win, helping them make a case to potential donors.
Unfortunately, Bradley's poor showing in New Hampshire prevented a full test of this idea, but the knowledge that they don't have to win everything up front may give potential Democratic candidates for 2004 more breathing room. Moreover, the Democrats did manage to avoid an even earlier stampede by threatening a delegate penalty of 25 percent on states violating primary rules.
Republicans, on the other hand, have done little to work against the tide of earlier delegate selection. Since most Republican primaries operate under the winner-take-all principle, McCain forfeited momentum from states where he came close to winning. Instead of telling state parties what to do, Republicans held out a 10-percent delegate bonus for states that decided to wait to hold their primaries later in the season. However, this provides little incentive for those states: Once the majority of delegates have been won, a few more votes cannot rescue a state from irrelevancy. Unless the Republican National Committee takes control of primary dates, says Chairman Jim Nicholson in the same article, "we're headed inexorably to a national primary day."
A system where most state primaries don't count, and insurgent candidates can't compete because they've missed the gravy train, only serves to increase apathy among American voters, especially the young. The candidacies of McCain and Bradley inspired many young people this year to believe that their vote actually might matter. These voters, however, missed the real election, where rich donors vote with their pocketbooks long before the official primaries. The national parties must solve this problem or risk losing the interest of America's youth.
(Elizabeth Managan is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.)
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