The Problems With the Modern Primary System

In a recent post about Graham Platner James Joyner noted the scandals surrounding Robert Torricelli and Graham Platner and observed that Republicans undoubtedly had similar late withdrawals from political campaigns due to scandals but he couldn’t think of any. I can and here are two.

In 2004 Jack Ryan was running against Barack Obama for the Senate seat vacated by Peter Fitzgerald. He withdrew from the campaign after revelations about his private life. And in 1990 in Minnesota Jon Grunseth withdrew from his campaign for governor of Minnesota over a sex scandal.

Although each of these cases was different there were some similarities. Robert Torricelli is the outlier. He was a well-known, experienced politician and the issue was one of corruption in office. All three of the others were political newcomers.

Some are reacting to Graham Platner’s withdrawal in Maine with calls for more substantial vetting of candidates. I see it somewhat differently. Serving in the U. S. Senate should be the capstone of a distinguished career not the beginning of a political career. Individuals running for such offices, state governors, or even Congressional representatives should be well-known to the communities they wish to serve not political newcomers. A candidate who has spent decades in business, law, medicine, education, or civic life in a community has accumulated a public record. Friends, rivals, colleagues, reporters, and political opponents have had years to observe him. Serious character issues are therefore less likely to emerge only after a nomination has been secured. Had that been the case any issues in their pasts would have emerged much earlier.

That sort of public knowledge depends in part on a vigorous local press. Candidates who have lived and worked in a community for years should not arrive on the statewide stage as strangers.