Super Tuesday - Note To Dems: Don't Panic!

Go out and vote today.

There's this strange idea out there that has seemingly come out of nowhere overnight, that if the Democratic nominee isn't decided upon fairly soon, the appearance of a fractured party going into the convention will shift the tectonic plates, cause the earth to rotate off its axis, followed by disatrous earthquakes and cataclysmal tsunamis and give John McCain a victory in the general election in November.

Paul Krugman: Via Duncan Black, Clinton’s people think this might go to the convention. I hate this thought. I feel obliged to write about the Dem horserace because there are real policy issues at stake, and I think it’s important to highlight those issues. But I hate doing it; I hate the whole nastiness between people who should be able to realize that they’re fundamentally on the same side. I really really want this thing to be over.

Calm down, Paul. Nastiness? Yes, there are substantive policy issues between Barack and Hillary, but they were playing pattycake at the California Debate compared to the McCain-Romney slugfest on the other side.

Call me naïve, but wasn't this the the original intent of primaries and caucuses? Now that the ordinary people, the plebians, are speaking out and making this a real horse race between Clinton and Obama, the pundits are getting all nervous about it. Isn't this the way it's supposed work?

I don't remember ever being engaged enough in previous primaries to care to vote because our candidates were basically chosen for us ahead of time, so why bother? But now the unfounded threat of a Democratic Party with no candidate by February 5, nine months before the general election, is supposed to propel McCain? I don't buy it.