Peggy Noonan Comes Around To My Way of Thinking

Peggy Noonan's weekend Wall Street Journal editorial is largely about the Wednesday evening CNBC GOP candidates' event. I wrote my initial reactions about the event here.

Noonan begins with a humorous send up of manic, maniacal Jim Cramer's performance, as well as Maria Bartiromo's. On these we agree. She then meanders through the rest of her half-page piece to arrive at two succinct paragraphs,

"Republicans should sober up. They should be thinking not about what the Republican at the local GOP meeting is thinking, but what the independent across the street is thinking. He's catching the Cain story on TV and thinking: "This guy may have a problem. I want more evidence, but if it's true, then man, we don't need to go there again."

That independent is a pretty important guy. The GOP better start doing a better job of considering how he sees things. He doesn't live in Republo-world, but he's right across the street, and he votes. He's going to pick the next president."

Which is exactly what I've been contending for many months. Only I would go, and have gone, further. I think the GOP should be making sure, if among the publicly-available polls, none does this, of providing timely poll numbers, before each major primary event for the major candidates, for independents' preferences among the GOP candidates.

That's all that will matter, so there's really no point being concerned about who registered Republicans favor. With only about 25% of the voting public registered with a major party, that leaves the 50-60% of independents as far more important than the registered Republicans will be in electing a president next year.

I endorsed Cain prior the recent sexual harassment allegations. But the truth is, no matter who I'd like to see nominated by the GOP, I'll vote for the candidate on the ballot who has the highest poll numbers among independents, assuming I can learn who that is by the day of my state's primary election.

If by referring to "the GOP better start doing a better job of considering how he (independents) see things," Noonan means party officials, she's being opaque. She should explicitly counsel the RNC to publicize the GOP candidates' poll numbers among independents and make a better case to GOP voters about this important strategy for nominating a winning candidate next year.

 If she means GOP voters, she's probably right. I don't know if enough Republicans realize what I have long held, and Noonan has now belatedly also come to see.

But it is critical. I tell every Republican I know about this approach to voting for a nominee. It's the only way the party will retake the White House next year.

The Conundrum of The New Jersey Voter

It's tough to be a voter in New Jersey this year. One really feels there's no practical, quality choice in the gubernatorial election.

The Democrats are, of course, propping up failed liberal Jon Corzinne. After being kicked out as co-head of Goldman Sachs' years ago, Jon bought a New Jersey Senate seat. Tiring of that, and not expecting the Democrats to retake the upper chamber, he then bought the governor's seat.

Perhaps he thinks getting his ticket punched there, twice, gives him presidential credentials. Or maybe he's just bored with working for a living, so political elective office makes sense.

Who knows?

Either way, he's taken the wreckage left by the last governor, who resigned under an ethics cloud, and worsened it. New Jersey is probably closer behind California in its fiscal mess than most people, or state citizens, realize.

Then we have "Chris Christie."

What a guy! A product of the Christie (no relation) Todd Whitman-influenced state Republican party, he's been coached to alter his positions like a custom-made suit.

I never trust someone who flips on right-to-life issues suddenly, and without reason. Christie did this so that a pro-life stance, his original view, wouldn't hinder his chances in a solidly Blue state.

However, as an independent who registers Republican, even I can see how Christie is corrupt even before winning the governorship.

The reports of his cutting a deal to spare his brother an SEC prosecution ring true. So does his paying off Justice department cronies with no-bid contracts for outsourced legal work.

Sure, sure, he got a bunch of convictions as a federal prosecutor. Sure, so did Rudy Giuliani.

But I think the comparisons stop there.

You knew what Giuliani was for, and against, even if you didn't live in New York City. Christie merely mouths platitudes about lower taxes and spending, but offers no solid plans for such empty concepts.

This is a state in the choke-hold of lawyers, of either party, in the state legislature. It's going to take a lot to restore any shred of fiscal rectitude in the state.

Faced with these unappetizing choices, one considers the independent, Chris Daggett. Daggett actually details how he'll cut a range of taxes and extend the sales tax to more items, without raising the rate. Of course, there's no plan for spending cuts in his campaign, either.

But the real question is how to vote without feeling you've rewarded vagueness, incompetence, or corruption, or wasted your vote.

I can't vote for Corzinne. Just isn't going to happen. I never liked him or his policies, and they have demonstrably failed.

I voted for Lonnegan in the Republican primary. I don't like Christie, and I don't trust him. With only a prosecutorial career and no clear ideas on governing, voting for him is like buying a pig in a poke. And, no, I'm not poking fun at his weight or girth.

But I just have doubts about voting for Daggett. It's a classic prisoners' dilemma. If I knew a lot of other voters, disgusted with both of the other clowns, would choose Daggett, then so would I.

I mean, how much worse can things get? And several local and regional news organizations have endorsed his candidacy.

But if I vote for Daggett and Corzinne wins, then I did waste my vote.

but if I vote for Christie, I'm not voting with a clear conscience.

It's all very disturbing. A microcosm, really, of my disappointments with both parties on the national level, too.

Power To The 'Independents!

The weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal featured a long passage from the book "Pennsylvania Avenue, Profiles In Backroom Power," by John Harwood and Gerald Seib.

I paid particular attention to some data that the authors provided on party registrations.

According to them, New Hampshire registered voters went more than 4 in 10 as independents. They note this is slightly more than double the 20% in 1992.

They add that nearly a quarter of California's voters are now registered as independent, and the fastest-growing segment, as well.

I don't know how much these numbers were affected by the current campaign's tendency to attract crossover voters from the other party. If a state allows independents to choose, on the day of the primary, in which party's primary they will vote, then these numbers might mean less.

Where I grew up, in Illinois, you could be independent, but I don't recall whether you could vote in primaries as one, or whether you simply changed party affiliations.

In any case, the general thrust of the article was that there is real growth in the non-partisan middle of the electorate, represented by independent voters registering in neither major party.

I think that's a great sign. It has, no doubt, led to McCain's nomination, but it wouldn't seem to be doing anything to influence the Democrats. As usual, recently, they are deciding between two pretty liberal candidates.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if every state allowed voters registered as independents to simply walk into the polls on election day, choose their preferred primary, and vote in it without party affiliation?