Smart bombs

In tossing off the blanket primary in Washington, the state’s big political parties have traded one headache for another. Today’s throbbing pain comes from the top-two primary, which voters passed via ballot initiative in 2004 and the U.S. Supreme Court revived in a ruling Monday.

Parties hate any system that puts voters in control. It’s their party, and they’ll cry if they want to. And it would be their party, if they paid for it. But elections are paid for by taxpayers, so it makes perfect sense for them to have input on the guest list.

Because the top-two system is a qualifying primary, rather than a nominating primary, candidates can dress up as Republicans and Democrats, even if they’re not. That means two Democrats or two Republicans could very well advance to the general election to face each other. Parties loathed the popular blanket primary, because voters could cross over. Republicans could vote for Democrats and vice versa. Parties detest the top-two primary, because candidates can cross over.

Of course, parties can clarify who the “real” candidates are through public support and informational campaigns. But that costs money. Their money. And they’ve already spent a ton on lawyers to arrive at this particular hell.

Loose lips. When the current presidential campaign began, which was a day after the last one ended, who would’ve guessed that the next leader of the free world would be determined by which candidate would utter the fewest comments in need of clarification?

Terrorism, the war in Iraq, energy prices, the economy and health care might seem like pivotal issues, but those can be challenging to discuss and cover on a day-to-day basis. Plus, when candidates like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama only have a sliver of daylight between them on the issues, conflict must be found elsewhere.

Enter the daily “gotcha” cycle.

Obama mentioned “a typical white person”? Aha! Does this mean he thinks they’re all alike? McCain referenced al-Qaida in Iraq, which is a Sunni terrorist group, when he meant Shiite extremists aided by Iran. Aha! Does this mean he doesn’t know the difference? The press knows the answers, but pretends otherwise to land a fresh news story.

On Friday, Clinton’s campaign announced that she wouldn’t be making any public appearances for the day. Smart move. No appearances, no gaffes. What if all the campaigns did that?

On second thought, this might not be such a bad development.