The Day

Today's the day, the day the Montana Republican party completely disenfranchises Montana voters and picks the primary winner in <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/02/05/news/local/18-gop.txt">party only caucuses</a>.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>Voting will be done by local and state Republican leaders, precinct committee people and GOP politicians elected to statewide and county office. All told, Montana's Republican presidential nominee will be decided by no more than 1,817 people. After the ballots are cast, that's it. There will be Republican presidential candidates on primary election ballots June 3, but the delegates will belong to the caucus winner regardless of how the public votes.</blockquote><br />n<br />nYep, the tens of thousands that normally would express their opinion on who to elect are now completely ignored. The damnedest thing is the republicans think this is good. I think there are going to be a large number of independent minded voters who are going to be so upset at the Republicans over this that they will never vote Republican again. This will hurt Montana Republicans.<br />n<br />n<strong>We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. Marian Wright Edelman</strong>