Recently, I discussed voter ratio with a republican who lives in the East Village and he told me in his early years, he registered democrat because he wanted to vote in primaries as well as the general. Since the democratic party almost always had primaries for every race from assembly, council, mayor or attorney general, he would be able to choose his "favorite" democrat, then vote republican in the general election. How many registered democrats are really republicans, but aren't because the action in New York City is almost exclusively within the democratic party?

At Urban Elephants, there is a Upper West Side democrat who has the following profile:

"A registered democrat since 1972, but have voted almost exclusively republican since 1984 ... haven't made the switch since almost all the action on the Upper West Side is democratic and I still have moderate twitches (Joe Lieberman is OK), and the dems throw a good party occasionally."

Sounds as if this person stays registered democrat for the same reason.

There are 65 Assembly districts in New York City alone. Every district has a voter registration tilted in favor of the democrats. Republicans hold only two districts, both of which are in State Island, where the voter ratio is below a 2-1 democrat to republican base. However, republicans have won in many of the other 63 Assembly districts.

In 2005, Mayor Mike Bloomberg won 47 of the 65 Assembly districts. Bloomberg is a unique candidate to look at, because even though he wears an "R" on his lapel, most New Yorkers know he's not a true republican.

In 2002, Governor George Pataki won 28 of the 65 Assembly districts. It is reasonable to assume that there are a little over two dozen districts where a moderate to conservative republican could be competitive. If the NY GOP fielded candidates in these 28 districts, and, if 10 had more than one candidate, the republican party should let primaries develop for building the party base. Perhaps many registered democrats and "blanks" will re-register to vote in a republican primary.

What 10 Assembly districts should open to primaries? Well, in 2004, President George W. Bush won 9 districts out of the 65. If a conservative Republican candidate like our president could win an Assembly district, where democrats clearly outnumber republicans, it shows there is a base to build the republican party.

Primaries are not devisive.
Democrats hold primaries for nearly every local race where there is an open seat or a weak incumbent. Because of their large base, democrats usually don't hold too many grudges, because if two democrats are fighting each other, a third could quietly step up to the plate and take a primary from them. Usually, there is a "hand-shake" agreement where they let the people decide on the winner and the loser throws support behind the winner. When the democrat wins, the loser may get a position somewhere within the party for showing good sportsmanship. Republicans apparently are unable to this. It's time to try. The goal should be to actually have someone win a seat, rather than worry about being challenged within the party. You can't complain about devisiveness if you can't win.

Primaries don't waste campaign funds.
Republicans believe that if you spend all your money in a primary, you won't have enough afterwards to put against your real opponent, the democrat, in the General Election. This is simply false. First, you are campaigning to your base. You are letting them know they have a choice and they should vote for who they like best. Voters aren't stupid. They appreciate it if the party lets them pick and choose the candidate they agree with most. You want your base to turn out in a primary, as well as the General. It's not like they will forget their is a General, so if you win them over in a primary, you'll have their vote in November. What about voters not registered republican who can't vote in the primary? How will they know to vote for you if you don't have the money to reach out to them after you win a primary? Simple. Press. A republican primary for a local seat will be news. NY1 will talk about it. Newspapers like the Daily News and NY Post will have stories on your primary. The local papers, West Side Spirit, Our Town, The Villager, will have stories on it. Press is free and if republicans have primaries, the word will get out to the general public. Finally, if the two republicans make an agreement to work together after a primary, the winner uses his or her funds to ask for a voter's vote and the loser can use his or her funds to explain why they should not vote for the democrat.

It's time to start considering primaries where the republican base can be energized. It's time to believe that our lack of primaries is the reason we are outnumbered in districts by a 5-1 ratio because we lack primaries. There are registered democrats who want to vote for republicans. Until we give them choices in primaries, they won't switch party registration. It may only be something like 10% of democrats, but in a district with 30,000 registered democrats, that is 3,000 more voters added to the republican party in an Assembly district alone.