I seems we’re left with more questions than answers after the May 18th primaries in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Arkansas & Oregon.
1) Arlen Specter was defeated in his Democratic Primary. Was this due to “anti-incumbent” fervor or did the Democratic Party Primary voters simply reject Specter’s involvement in their party?
2) Rand Paul handily won the Republican Party nomination for Senate in Kentucky, out-polling Party insider Trey Grayson. For the general election will we see Rand Paul speak more libertarian, as he has in the past, or will he continue to sound “conservative”?
3) Why do some States require a run-off if no candidate receives a majority while others do not?
Democratic Party voters in Arkansas will have a run-off election on June 8th between incumbent Blanche Lincoln & Lt. Governor Bill Halter; while in Pennsylvania the Democratic Party nominees for Governor (Dan Onorato 45%) & Lt. Governor (Scott Conklin 35.4%) both failed to receive a majority, as did the Republican nominee for Lt. Governor (Jim Cawley 26.3%) and Oregon Republican Party nominees for Governor (Chris Dudley 40%) & US Senate (Jim Huffman (R) 42%).
4) Why do some people still say that “minor party candidates/members” need to join either the Republican or Democratic Party to win? That theory didn’t work so well for former Constitution Party (Peg Luksik) & Libertarian Party (Russ Diamond) candidates in Pennsylvania. Peg Luksik was defeated by Pat Toomey in the GOP Primary for US Senate (81.5% – 18.5%) and Russ Diamond was defeated in his bid to be the GOP nominee for Lt. Governor.
And the most important question of all
5) Why are taxpayers forced to pay for (some) political parties to decide their nominees? Would it not make more sense (and save money) to ease ballot access laws and allow candidates to run via non-partisan elections?