The state of Texas is still counting its votes - and the Democratic primary was over a month ago.
Yes, the Lone-Star State has a convoluted process for selecting delegates (half from a primary and the other half from a caucus), but part of the reason it is taking so long to determine a winner is because no one expected the onslaught of voters that came out on March 4. Even before the official election, Texans could vote up to 11 days early. On the last day before the election, Texans waited in lines for up to an hour. In Austin, voting tallies were up 243 percent among Democratic voters and only 52 percent among Republicans, according to the Chicago Daily Herald.
This is not just a Texan phenomenon; this primary season is a shining example of civic engagement and, for the Democrats, proof that outrage is a pretty good motivator.
From Iowa to Super Tuesday, over 20 states held nominating contests. In these primaries and caucuses, 19.1 million Democrats participated, compared to 13.1 million Republicans. Even in states with strong Republican roots, the Democrats came out ahead in the numbers game: In Georgia, which President Bush won by 17 percent in 2004, Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 100,000 votes, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Primaries and caucuses bring out the die-hards - those men and women, usually on one extreme end of the political spectrum or another, who follow the coverage and put great value on selecting a party's nominee. Sadly, this is a rather small percentage of the pitifully small number of people who vote in the general election. The people that come out in the primaries are not a representative sample of how the votes will go in November; these voters are fired up, informed and sometimes rather extreme. You cannot learn much about the general race from those that pick the nominee, unless it is 2008.
Sure, there are many factors to explain the disproportionate number of Democratic voters - lack of excitement for the Romney/Huckabee/McCain race being a big deterrent for Republican participation. But what about the reasons why Democrats, characteristically disorganized and lazy, stepped up? Perhaps it is fervor over Obama and Clinton, but even then that excitement is fueled by angst. After eight years of war, mismanagement, corruption, blatant disrespect for the Constitution and lies, the problems of the United States are large enough to actually energize the Democratic Party. That is a side effect Karl Rove did not want when he got President Bush elected for the second time.
There is an upside to incompetence, at least when playing presidential politics. You know you have really screwed up if the Democrats are getting their act together. Recession floats around America in hushed tones. Xenophobia serves as the staple of our foreign policy. And our civil liberties went straight out the window, just like our tax dollars for a war most people oppose. What does that bumper sticker say? If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention.
People are definitely paying attention, and it just so happens to benefit the Democrats. Civic engagement may finally find a home in the United States, courtesy of a botched presidency. In a nation where more people vote for the next American Idol than for the next American president, there is an upside to failure when people get out and let their voices be heard.
Lisa Petak is a senior in the School of Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences and a liberal columnist for The Eagle.
