It is wrong for the press and polls to have so much say in who even gets before the voters

[StarfishSaver]

They weed out candidates before voters ever have a say.

This is deeply distressing.

[RamblingRose]

1. +1000

[Sherman A1]

2. Yes

and this is why I don't watch any of the cable noise infotainment channels. They are all about "The Horse Race".

[Pacifist Patriot]

3. A million times, yes!

[sheshe2]

4. Which is why we lost both Harris and Booker.

*sigh*

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. This is true, and I don't know how it can be fixed.

The 24-hour cable news people need to fill all that air time so they obsess constantly over who's ahead and who's not and why they think so. I've started turning the tv off when they do that. People obsess over polls, too, often without understanding what they really mean. There's no way to make any of this crap stop, I'm afraid.

[StarfishSaver]

6. It's maddening.

[The Valley Below]

7. No. A primary process with 30 candidates, most of whom can't break 1% support, isn't sustainable.

Polls (and fundraising) simply show who is viable as a candidate and who is not.

Crops need to be winnowed. This is a necessity. Not a "problem."

[StarfishSaver]

8. This wasn't a "primary process" - no primaries have taken place

This is pollsters and pundits deciding for us who out candidates will be.

[LongtimeAZDem]

16. Should Suzanne Atanus have been guaranteed a spot in the primary? She filed as a Democratic candidate

[LongtimeAZDem]

9. Nobody weeded out anything. A bunch of people decided to run; some generated support, some didn't

No one is entitled to be a candidate.

[StarfishSaver]

10. By support, you mean press coverage and polls?

I was hoping voters would have a say.

[Skya Rhen]

11. Both Corey and Kamala chose to quit before the first vote was cast. They are the ones that didn't

give voters the chance to have their say and propel them to victory.

[LongtimeAZDem]

14. Yes; that's how it works, and the candidates knew that when they got into it. If a candidate

drops out before the actual voting starts, that's on them.

What is your alternative? That everyone who decides to announce their candidacy should be guaranteed a spot, and there should be no polling or coverage? You'd get a field of 300+ names and no way to sort them out.

[MichMan]

12. Are you referring to the dozens of posts here every week too?

[mcar]

13. Yes, it is

I hate to see these good candidates go too soon.

[LongtimeAZDem]

15. Three hundred and six people filed as Democratic Presidential candidates. Name half of them