The fight over canceling the 2012 presidential primary in Washington State has been like an episode of the Twilight Zone. Partisans who once hated it now favor it, state officials who once favored it now hate it, and those who lobbied hardest this year to keep it now stand to benefit the most from its demise.
A brief overview:
Republican secretary of state Sam Reed used to love, love, love an expensive presidential primary, because these late-winter primaries draw 10 times as many voters as the cheaper, more-chaotic party caucus system. But now Reed wants to scrap the presidential primary in 2012, saving the state $10 million. “We’re well aware of the irony,” says Reed spokesperson David Ammons. “It’s strictly a budgetary concern.”
On the other side is state Democratic Party chair Dwight Pelz, who spent a lot of time praising the caucus process in 2008, back when caucuses were the darlings of the Obama campaign (and the death knell for the Hillary Clinton for president effort). This year, Pelz has been trying—unsuccessfully—to get legislators not to cancel the 2012 primary election. “I’m a convert,” he admits, now criticizing caucuses as too unruly and too unfriendly to voters who can’t get off work that day. (The Washington State Republican Party didn’t respond to requests for comment.)
Now the legislature and governor seem poised to move ahead with plans to cancel the 2012 primary, tossing aside their old high-minded arguments about what’s best for democracy because of a $5.1 billion budget shortfall. And, even though this is not what state Democrats officially wanted, it should be good for them.
Picture it: President Obama will likely sail through Washington’s Democratic caucuses as the clear front-runner. Meanwhile, the far-right fringe of Republican caucus-goers will tangle with a clown car of Republican candidates, putting the party’s extremists front and center (and on camera) as kingmakers. Remember, these are the same sort of people who picked Pat Robertson as their man in 1988. Should be a great show. 
I’m fine with that as long as the legislature reverses course after 2012 and we really do have a primary. I’ve attended caucuses for many years, but the 2008 one was a mess. A lot of people (especially old people) couldn’t get in at mine. It was hardly democratic. A lot of people can’t get off work at the time, etc. (the story has been told plenty of times). It doesn’t matter much if the race is over by the time it hits Washington (which is usually the case) but if it is close (as it was last time) then it is a mess.
We should have a primary where most (if not all) of the delegates are chosen along with a caucus where the party business can be done.