Today is the first part of a two-part process here in Massachusetts.
It’s an opportunity for voters across the commonwealth to add their voice to the presidential nomination process, particularly for the Democratic and Republican parties. By acting today Massachusetts is participating in what’s known as Super Tuesday, whereby 12 states and one U.S. territory hold primaries or caucuses that allocate 661 Republican delegates and 865 delegates for Democrats for their respective nominating conventions this summer.
In Massachusetts, interest in the two campaigns for president is likely to drive voters to the polls from the party faithful to the unenrolled voter who can pull a ballot from any of the parties. Secretary of State William Galvin expects a strong turnout, in the neighborhood of 2 million of the more than 4 million voters to show up. That interest is fueled by Donald Trump versus the rest on the Republican side to the choice between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the Democrats.
We can’t imagine there are too many voters still on the fence.
Five Republicans — Trump, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, John Kasich and Marco Rubio — are left standing after a campaign that started with more than twice that amount of hopefuls. And it is Trump who has proven to be the surprise here, tapping into an anger toward Washington, D.C., and the political establishment, a willingness to scapegoat immigrants or degrade women with a core message of making America great again. His rise in the polls and early primary victories is creating a growing concern within the party as well as those who aren’t Republicans.
People keep waiting for Republican voters to see Trump for what he is — a rich loud-mouth who is willing to say just about anything to earn a vote. In Massachusetts and elsewhere, Republicans can make this happen today. The Recorder has endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the primary based upon what we see as more thoughtful consideration of the issues that face our country.
On the Democratic side with Clinton and Sanders, the party has two strong candidates who nevertheless represent different wings of the party. Sanders, to our thinking, is best poised to offer a shift in the nation’s political atmosphere and put the common good of all Americans front and center.
Agree with our endorsements or not, voters are urged to make their choices known. It is as Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshal wrote in McCulloch v. Maryland, “The government of the Union, then is emphatically and truly, a government of the people. In form and in substance it emanates from them. Its powers are granted by them and are to be exercised directly on them and for their benefit.”
Exercise that power today and again in November in the general election — the second part of this presidential process.
