A primary with meaning

State House Speaker Frank Chopp is listening to his inner populist and bringing common sense to Washington's controversial presidential primary and when it should be held.

Though the Seattle Democrat's party again opted to snub primary voters, Chopp wants to ensure the state-financed election has the most bang possible for Washington citizens' $9 million. He'll get the chance today when he joins a special panel to set the date for the battered-but-still-kicking 2008 presidential primary. Chopp supports a primary in February, early enough to put Washington in play for candidates to visit and learn about Washington's federal issues.

Prompted by a 1988 voter initiative, the presidential primary lately has been teetering on the edge of oblivion. A few lawmakers tried to kill it during the legislative session and Democratic Party operatives angled to make it as irrelevant as possible.

The state Democratic Party voted to ignore the primary, in which 40 percent of the state's registered voters participated in 2000. Instead, it will let the 2 percent of voters who attend caucuses make all of the decisions about Washington's inclinations.

In contrast, the state Republican Party's central committee last weekend decided to embrace the primary's results to allocate 50 percent of its delegates to the national GOP convention. The rest will be determined by caucuses.

The GOP is more inclusive than the Democrats.

Chaired by Secretary of State Sam Reed, the date-setting panel also includes two representatives each from the state Republican and Democratic parties, and representatives of each of the Legislature's four political caucuses.

When the panel met previously, Chopp's representative, Olympia Democrat Sam Hunt, joined Senate Democratic Majority Leader Lisa Brown and the state party representatives to push for a March 19 date. It was a shameless partisan ploy to decimate the primary's impact.

The five Republicans on the panel, including Reed, pushed for Feb. 5, which is shaping up to be a Super-Super Tuesday. The day could narrow the field, for one or both parties. Neither date mustered the required six votes.

Feb. 5 is a good date, but anything later than Feb. 19 risks utter irrelevance.

Chopp seems devoted to doing the right thing — so do the Republicans. The other Democrats on the panel should join them.