California Senate Primary

[Mr. Smith]

I'm hoping that it would result in a lawsuit against the state for violating the Voting Rights Act by disenfranchising political minorities.

And Louisiana too?

You see, Louisiana is a red state, so it's okay.

No, I think he's just more likely to complain about a blue state. Oldiesfreak is consistent, but he just attacks Democrats for it more than Republican usually.

No, the reason I oppose California's primary and not Louisiana's has nothing to do with politics.  The reason I'm OK with Louisiana's system is because a candidate who wins a majority in the primary wins the election, which means that they've still been elected from the entire field of candidates from every party.  There's no general election/runoff unless there's no majority.  In California, the top two candidates go to a general election, even if one candidate wins a majority in the primary.  And California's system also bans write-in votes, which blatantly disenfranchises voters.  I would be just as dissatisfied with a general election between two Republicans as one with two Democrats, because such a system is fundamentally unfair and undemocratic, disenfranchising members of every other party.

And California isn't a solidly blue state, either.  They wouldn't have recalled Grey Davis and elected Arnold Schwarzenegger if they were.  Likewise, Kathleen Blanco, Mary Landrieu, and John Bel Edwards never would have been elected if Louisiana were a solidly red state.

In 2003, no. In 2016, I think so (both states). JBE was lucky since he made it into the runoff against by far the least popular Republican.

Nope, even in 2003 it was like that. The 2002/2003 era of California was literally like 2015 Louisiana, except instead of sex scandals, the name of the game is butt sitting in the midst of an energy crisis. Gray Davis would've lost 2002 the same way Vitter went out if the GOP had nominated Schwarzeneggar then, instead they went with a Generic R. No doubt if anyone besides JBE ran against Vitter even with the hard-hitting the result would've been  a similar suspiciously slim victory for Vitter (which I erroneously predicted after Kentucky anyway).