qm_winter_2015

15 / 36

Virginia C apitol C onnections, Winter 2015 15
can’t count, first claiming that Mitt Romney won and then correcting
the record to name Rick Santorum as the winner.)
Why should these two small states have such outsized influence
every time? Consider this: the 122,000 votes cast in the 2012 Iowa
GOP caucus is less than the number of votes cast in the race to
lead the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in November 2011.
The votes cast for that one Fairfax race, plus those for two other
contests that year—Henrico County Sheriff and Stafford County
Commonwealth’s Attorney—exceeded the 249,000 votes cast in the
N.H. Republican Primary. (In 2012, President Barack Obama was
effectively unopposed for re-nomination so there was negligible
interest on the Democratic side).
Playing by rules that favor far less representative states getsVirginia
and other more representative states nowhere. Last time, the Old
Dominion was one of 11 states voting on March 6, and it received little
attention in that mad rush. Indeed, the GOP candidates demonstrated
their indifference to the state during the ballot qualification process—
despite the huge field that descended on Iowa and New Hampshire four
years ago only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul bothered to collect enough
valid signatures to end up on the primary ballot.
N.H. and Iowa will not allow this twisted process to end without a
fight, and that’s whyVirginia can’t work alone. Ideally,Virginia could
take the lead in creating a multi-state coalition to end the undeserved
special status of those first two states. Politicians in a variety of cash-
strapped states would likely see the appeal of taking turns hosting the
candidates and the media if such a movement got going. (A group of
states cannot be easily ignored or punished, particularly when they
work together).
With Virginia helping create a “Nomination Spring” reform,
the U.S. could move to a primary schedule determined by lottery
or a regional primary system that would give at least one of the 48
states not named N.H. or Iowa a chance—for once—to vote on a full
candidate field.
Stephen J. Farnsworth is professor of political science and
international affairs at the University of Mary Washington in
Fredericksburg, where he directs the university’s Center for
Leadership and Media Studies.
Continued from previous page
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
BERNIE HENDERSON
President
Funeral Celebrant
PARHAM CHAPEL
1771 Parham Road
(804) 288-3013
HUGUENOT CHAPEL
1020 Huguenot Road
(804) 794-1000
ATLEE CHAPEL
9271 Shady Grove Road
(804) 730-0035
Settle and AssociatesLLC
Richard L. Settle
Settle and Associates LLC
288 Clubhouse Drive
Abingdon, Virginia 24211–3839
Phone: 276-676-4444
Mobile: 804-240-1850
V