The longer than ever primary season will hurt the Democrats for two related reasons. First, the prolonged campaign for the nomination has led to extended, counterproductive sniping between the candidates. Second, because the entire party has not been able to unite a behind a single candidate, Democrats (as compared to Republicans) may need a longer time unifying the party behind the eventual nominee.
Even at this late stage, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are still vigorously campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination. As other candidates have fallen out of the race, each has been able to focus their attention on the other. As this marathon primary season has run on, the message of each of the candidates has shifted from a positive message of what they bring to the table to what the other cannot. Whichever candidate eventually wins the nomination will be battle tested. However, the real question is whether this battle is worth sacrificing the larger war for the election. I tend to think that party in-fighting tends to hurt the party and can alienate supporters of the (eventual) losing candidate. There are, of course, those who say that such primary fights enliven the electorate and spur voter turnout. I think that that position might be a bit too optimistic in this campaign for the Democratic primary, where the reputation sniping has shifted attention from the real substantive issues that Democrats care about.
This prolonged campaign season has given John McCain a distinct advantage: his relatively speedy capture of the nomination has allowed him to work on securing his base, particularly those loyal Republic voters who question his conservative bonafides.
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Much like the divergence between McCain and traditional conservative Republicans, there is enough of a difference between the Clinton and Obama candidacies that some reconciliation will be in order after one of the candidates finally secures the nomination. The process of patching things up between the Clinton and Obama factions will not have as much time to play out as McCain has had to win over the doubters in his own party. Not only will the Democrats be under a time crunch to unite their own party, they will also have to do so in the face of singularly-focused opposition. This may prove too much for the party, and its candidate, to bear.
On a related note, can anyone remember when the last primary was? Pennsylvania’s is coming up of course, but it seems like ages ago that a state held a primary. Maybe one further downside of the prolonged campaign season — for both parties — is that no news story, not even a presidential election, can keep the public’s attention for this long.