The Online Reflector

By Dr. Stephen Graham
Guest Writer
Political Science Professor

Will you vote for Hillary Clinton for president because she almost collapsed in tears on television? Will the fact that Barack Obama may be the first African American presidential candidate nominated by a major political party influence your vote? Does Romney’s Mormon faith disqualify him as a serious presidential contender?

I hope your answer to each of these questions is an unqualified and emphatic “no!” But the media, especially television coverage of the presidential campaign, focuses on nothing except these irrelevant questions.

Moreover, despite the media hype for nearly the past year suggesting that the selection of Democratic and Republican presidential candidates is imminent, the two major parties will not nominate their respective candidates for the November general election until the end of August (Democrats) and the first of September (Republicans).

According to the Jan. 17 article in the IndyStar, from Aug. 25-28 in Denver, 2,025 delegates will vote in the Democratic National Convention to select their party’s candidate for president in November. Also, from Sept. 1-4, 1,191 Republican delegates will met in Minneapolis to select their party’s nominee.

The purpose of the primaries and caucuses beginning in Iowa is for the Democrats and Republicans in each state to decide which candidate their delegates to the national convention will support.

In primaries, all party members vote to nominate their party’s candidate to run in the general election.

In caucuses, a smaller number of party activists meet to discuss the candidates and the issues and vote on which candidate to nominate for the general election.

Only when a Democratic candidate wins at least 1,013—50 percent plus 1—delegates among the states in the primaries and caucuses will he or she win the party nomination for president in Denver.

Also, only when a Republican candidate wins at least 596 —50 percent plus 1—delegates in the state primaries and caucuses will he win the party nomination for president in Minneapolis.

Political pundits and commentators headline which candidate is leading in the race for delegates. Obama and Huckabee won in Iowa, but Clinton and McCain won in New Hampshire.

Who will win in the 22 states that hold primaries on Feb. 5? (Indiana’s primary is not until May 6, almost certainly too late to affect the presidential race.)

Will any Republican after Feb. 5 have at least 596 delegates to win the nomination in Minneapolis? Will any Democrat have at least 1,013 delegates to win in Denver?
The answers to these questions will only tell us which candidates run the best campaigns. They do not tell us who will be the best president.

If you are registered to vote and want to make an informed choice in November, you must first decide what issues are most important for the country.

What should we do about Iraq? How will we know when we have “succeeded” and when American troops can come home? What economic policies are best for the nation?

If there is a recession, what, if anything, should the federal government do? How should government respond to the health care crisis?
Does global warming require more decisive and forthright action by our nation? Should we hold employers accountable for hiring illegal immigrants?

Once you make the moral choice of how the United States should respond to these issues, then you must compare the positions of the presidential candidates on these issues. Which candidate comes closest to your position on the most important issues?

Unfortunately, cable and network news are not issue-oriented. The presidential “debates” are a good example.
Although issues are discussed, the candidates are primed with carefully scripted, made-for-television sound bites. The candidate who “wins” a debate is not the man or woman with the most thoughtful and persuasive position on foreign policy or health care. It is the candidate with the most engaging personality or the one whose poll numbers rise most dramatically immediately after the debate.

To discover a candidate’s position on issues, turn off the television and forget YouTube. If you take your responsibility to vote seriously, you must look at other media, like candidates’ Web sites or newspapers and magazines that explore issues in more depth.

Or, in the case of current or former members of Congress running for president, you can research their voting records on the Web site http://www.cqpolitics.com.

Only after taking time to decide what is most important about the future direction of our country are you in a position to compare and evaluate the candidates.

Then and only then can you vote responsibly and make a difference in the policies of our national government.
Only in this way will government be accountable to you. Only through your informed choice as a voter will democracy survive.