With primaries so partisan, most Republicans don't dare mention it publicly for fear they won't come out of a primary.
Questions 3, 4 and 5 deal with the city's purchasing procedures, administrative changes in city government and the abolition of party primaries and partisan elections, a pet cause of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's.
"He is neglecting his primary, non-partisan role as the guardian of the constitution.'' The law also enforces delays of three to six months between the time a request for a ruling is made and a verdict, compared with two weeks at present.
Ideological base voters stretching to the edges, Divisive issues in primaries, driving partisan wedges.
Candidates who emerge from competitive primaries — as Mr. Romney did — often find themselves forced to recalibrate messages and proposals initially aimed at partisan primary voters to appeal to more moderate general election voters.
(In Illinois, candidates for lieutenant governor run as individuals in partisan primary elections, then as a ticket in general elections).
And today, in an age of presidential primary elections, intense partisan bickering in Congress and 24-hour media saturation, boss rule just isn't feasible.
On Wednesday, Mr. Schwarzenegger was being hailed by backers as a political winner and an agent of change, as he trumpeted Proposition 14's promise of encouraging moderates — who, the argument goes, are shunned by highly partisan primary voters.
Correction: December 3, 2003, Wednesday Because of an editing error, an article yesterday about Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's failed ballot proposal to end partisan primary elections gave incorrect figures in some copies for the spending per vote by Mr. Bloomberg and by the proposal's opponents.
Another result is that some candidates who are not affiliated with a party — candidates who had no shot in a partisan primary system — may now become viable.
