The Limbaugh ploy

Ken Concannon
Published: March 7, 2008

Go Hillary!

From its onset, I have believed that this presidential election would be one for the books. It has proven to be even better than that.  Not since John Kennedy’s presidential march from nowhere in 1960 have politicians and political observers been forced to sit up, take notice and reconsider the ground rules for political success.

For those of us old enough to remember, John Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign rewrote the rule books, not so much because of what he did as the Democratic party’s presidential nominee, but what he did to become that nominee. Prior to 1960, presidential nominees for both major parties were decided at their conventions by the party leadership in smoke-filled rooms. A few candidates would announce their intention to “toss their hat in the ring” prior to the conventions, but nothing much happened until the party bosses sat down behind closed doors at the convention and picked someone they believed had the best chance to win the election.  Sometimes they picked a “dark horse,” someone who hadn’t announced and who was relatively unknown to the electorate.

Kennedy changed all that. He had to. His Catholicism, youth, and inexperience meant that his candidacy would never be considered by his party’s power brokers.  So he changed the ground rules.

Although he didn’t officially announce his intention to run for president until Jan. 2, 1960, Kennedy actually began his bid for the Democratic nomination nearly four years before that party’s convention, unheard of at that time.  He built political alliances with powerful Democrats by campaigning for them in their bids for re-election. Wherever he campaigned he left behind him “Kennedy for President” organizations, especially in those states that would run a presidential preference primary prior to the convention.

At that time most states didn’t run primaries and presidential hopefuls, knowing that their nomination dreams were most likely to be realized through the good offices of party bosses, not primary voters, spent little if any time courting primary voters. Many candidates weren’t even listed on primary ballots. Kennedy’s campaign team, on the other hand, realized that his only chance for nomination was through the primaries. He had to run in all of them and win the overwhelming majority of them — which he did, changing the ground rules forever.

Fast forward to the present.  presidential primaries are so important and abundant now that each party’s nominee is decided long before conventions begin.  Once a candidate has acquired, through his or her delegate count, enough delegates to ensure nomination on the convention’s first ballot, that party has its nominee.  Such is the case for the Republicans and their nominee John McCain, who hit the magic number Tuesday.

The Democrats, however, have not been so lucky. That party is still mired in an increasingly abrasive thugfest between former First Lady and present New York senator, Hillary Clinton, and freshman Illinois Senator Barack Obama.  Hillary, once considered to be a shoo-in for the nomination, is running on her “experience.” Obama, the new kid on the block, is running on what appears to be pure charisma.

Prior to Tuesday’s primaries in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont, many predicted the new kid, following a string of primary victories last month, would win in Texas, Ohio and Vermont, acquiring enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination and send Hillary packing. Enter conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh with a ploy that would make Niccolo Machiavelli sit up in his grave and take notice.

Many state primaries allow independents and voters from one party to vote in the primary of another party. It’s called “crossover” voting, and it’s something that, thanks to Mr. Limbaugh, the political geniuses may want to rethink.

Reasoning that a long, drawn out Democratic nomination brawl is good for Republicans and bad for Democrats, Limbaugh urged his vast radio audience of mostly conservative Republicans listening from Ohio and Texas to participate in the Democratic primaries in those states by voting for Hillary. Washington, D.C., based conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham did the same thing.  Their listeners crossed over, and Hillary won, in no small measure because of the crossover vote. 

The Limbaugh maneuver has left the Democrats without a nominee, forces Obama and Clinton to focus their attacks on each other instead of McCain and requires the Democrats to spend limited resources on intramural infighting. Machiavelli would be proud!

Ken Concannon is a resident of Prince William County. E-mail him at .