Too bad Bryan Baird (Another Baird) was too young to run for the WA 3rd Congressional seat. His candidacy would have shown how mindlessly people vote. Because so many would have thought they were voting for the original Baird. And, more importantly, it shows how misguided is the interplay of the top two primary system with the two party system. The “Bryan Baird” dilutes votes for Heck because so many of the low information sheeple mistakenly end up voting for the long-time incumbent even if he/she is no longer running. That in turn makes it harder for Heck to win and easier for Castillo and Herrera to advance to the general election.
I can see it now. People changing their names to the names of retiring politicians and being paid by authentic candidates to enter races just so they can dilute the vote thereby making it easier for the other party’s candidate to win in the primary.
What a great system
“Top 2″ is now the law in California. As goes California, so goes the nation…
It is notable that the top 2 system in California does not allow political parties to nominate a candidate, something that is screwing up the WA State process.
The “top 2″ system is great provided there are no political parties to mess things up. Make it illegal for a candidate to declare a party affiliation. May the best person win. So far my experience of how it is working in the real world is that it is limiting rather than expanding voter choices by pushing candidates to withdraw before the primary even happens. How is that a good thing?
You are a case in point. Were it not for “top 2″, I might be calling you “Senator” today.
No system is perfect but we can do much better than this.
There’s now a new political term for this: “pull an Alvin Greene.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/us/politics/12greene.html