Yes, primaries hurt. Were it not for a nasty Republican primary, Mel Carnahan would never have been elected governor.

Carnahan had his own nasty primary that year. Remember Vince Schoemehl?

Primaries with real choices are important to democracy because they are really voters’ best chance to have input. Simply choosing in November between the teams party insiders have selected is merely an exercise in turning out minds already decided. Efforts by party leaders to pre-decide primaries behind closed doors (new, improved “smokeless” smoke-filled rooms!) rob voters of their chance to choose.

The problem with primaries over the past generation is how nasty they are. Ambitious pols tear their fellow party members apart, leaving the winner wounded for the general. Pols’ “me first” ambitions are the most obvious thing to blame, but the public’s thirst for dirt and our collective boredom with positive ads is just as much to blame.