Primary Politics

IT IS MUCH too early to be thinking about Presidential candidates:

The current U.S. primary system overemphasizes the importance of media analysis, of certain small states, of the process rather than the issues. The dynamics of the primaries have overshadowed the election itself.

What the country needs is a single day of state primaries in early summer to precede the general elections in November. Only such a mechanism will result in one-man-one-vote--the principle on which American democracy is ostensibly based. As it stands now, the citizens of states with early primaries have more of a vote than people in later primaries.

In addition, a compressed primary calendar will discourage multi-year Presidential campaigns. It is absurd that people like Walter F. Mondale started their race for the Oval Office in 1981. And long campaigns basically disqualify public servants currently in office from contention.

While it is probably impossible to legislate away the multi-year campaign, at the very least, the one-day primary would give these eager beavers no added incentive.

Needless to say, the one-day primary should be accompanied by reforms, in order to rejuvenate fully the American electoral process. These reforms include stricter limits on candidates' spending, government subsidies for candidates' basic exposure needs, abolition of thresholds for delegate selection, simpler registration procedures, and easier-to-understand ballots.

But the most severe electoral abuse is currently the long, drawn-out, uselessly elaborate primary season. Beginning with the lowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, and running six months to the party conventions, the process seems designed to boost T.V. ratings, and nothing else. The prolonged excitement does not expose issues particularly well. It does not attract people to the polls, and it does violate the principle of one-man-one-vote.

Boycotting the polls may be senseless, but voters in states that have yet to hold primaries should add a line to their ballots--"This primary system must go."