Published: March 08, 2008 05:01 pm            

Dems needn’t panic

Fasten your seat belts, folks. It looks like Indiana might soon be in the middle of its first real presidential primary in 40 years.

Of course, it won’t happen without a bit of grumbling.

For weeks now, Democratic Party leaders across the country have been suggesting that it’s time for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to bring this campaign to a close. Those calls are likely to grow more shrill now that Republican John McCain has officially wrapped up his party’s nomination.

The fact is, though, that there really is no rush.

And it would be a mistake for the party’s so-called superdelegates to try to end the contest prematurely.

After all, the general election is almost eight months away. Even if this fight goes on until the Democratic National Convention in August, the nominee will have plenty of time to put together a campaign.

The Democrats’ biggest fear, of course, is that a continued fight will play into the hands of the Republicans, leaving their party’s nominee too bloodied to mount a viable campaign.

We would suggest that the key, though, is in how the candidates handle the aftermath. They can come together, or they can fly apart.

Letting the voters have their say, however, will in no way make a divided Democratic Party more likely.

Take the Republicans, example. There were many who said Mike Huckabee should have given up the fight weeks ago, but he soldiered on, even winning a few more primaries before McCain finally locked up the nomination.

Huckabee finally conceded on Tuesday night, throwing his support behind McCain.

The same can happen for the Democrats. It won’t happen, though, if supporters of the losing candidate feel the process was somehow short-circuited.

Many are suggesting that the way to end this is for the two candidates to unite in one ticket, but as Clinton pointed out on Wednesday, it’s not yet clear which candidate should be the nominee and which should be the running mate.

Voters in Ohio, Rhode Island and Texas favored Clinton for the top of the ticket. Those in 11 straight states before that favored Obama.

Now, it will be up to voters in the remaining states to make the decision.

We look forward to the campaign.

– Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, and Kokomo Tribune

        

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