It’s increasingly clear that the jarring decision by the Colorado Republican executive committee to dump a presidential poll at caucuses next year and thus give up any role in selecting the eventual nominee may have had a consciously elitist motivation.
When the committee voted last month against a poll, the excuse given was a new rule by the Republican National Committee that such polls are binding on a state’s convention delegation. Even that was a weak reason to put Colorado on the sidelines in one of the most exciting and wide-open contests for the nomination in many years.
After all, it’s been four decades since the eventual GOP nominee wasn’t already decided before the summer convention, so it probably won’t matter if state delegates are free to vote for anyone at that time.
And in the unlikely event that the 2016 nomination isn’t settled, why shouldn’t state delegates support the candidate chosen at the caucuses — so long as that individual is still in the race?
It turns out, however, that another reason GOP officials dispensed with a poll is that at least some want to keep caucus attendance down. If that sounds too bizarre to be true, consider what party chairman Steve House said on “The Craig Silverman Show” on 710-KNUS radio Saturday.
House began by explaining that when a presidential poll is held at party caucuses, “instead of having 50 people show up you have 500 people show up.”
And that would be a good thing for the party, right? It seems not.
“When you add in the straw poll during that [caucus] experience it inflates the number of people who come by a dramatic amount and all kinds of problems have ensued,” House said. “And I think that’s part of the reason why the county chairs on the executive committee especially were very opposed to doing it this way because they believe it will disrupt the overall process and won’t gain us that much.”
It won’t benefit the state party much?
How about more attention by the candidates and the national media?
How about real influence in who gets the nomination?
How about getting more people active in the party?
Those things aren’t important to the county chairs?
Both the Colorado Republican and Democratic parties should have a voice in the selection of a nominee during the primary season when those voices actually count. It’s sad GOP leaders would deliberately give up such influence out of fear that their caucuses might be popular.
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