Party Switching Group B Post 1

An article in the associated press on Tuesday April 1st, discusses in great detail the current trend in American politics of party switching. This trend has become somewhat of an issue in the 2008 race for the white house. Party switching involves members of one party voting for a primary candidate of another party, in order to have the person they feel would loose to their candidate, be the person nominated. For example there currently are members of the Republican Party engaging in party switching, specifically voting for Hillary Clinton, in order to have her be the democratic nominee. They are party switching because they feel that Hillary has a better chance of loosing to John McCain than Barack Obama. The article also goes into great detail regarding the influential roles that radio host like Victoria Taft and Rush Limbaugh have played in this primary season (keep in mind that both are staunch Republicans). The previously mentioned radio personalities have been urging members of their parties to vote for Hillary in the democratic primaries as well, because they feel that she will have a better chance of loosing against John McCain. This party switching has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of democratic voters registered in the presidential primaries that have yet to occur. The author of the article does mention that this party switching is minimized in states where there are closed primaries and voters cannot just vote for whomever they want primarly because they are registered in that state for one party or another. I think this article is extremely important because it highlights a trend that could dictate who the presidential nominee is for the Democratic Party will be. This trend is also important because it solidifies the idea that when people recognize that a political leader or entity can be prove to be a legitimate threat to a party or an ideal, they must come up with a way in which to cast them aside.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j-yFl91SZQSuxY6iahMsbW_3FCHAD8VP7GEG0