So the State will not let the parties use ("hijack") the primary to choose their candidates, but if, as is the case with presidential candidates, the parties choose their candidates by convention and ignore the results of the primary, everyone gets all pissy that caucuses are undemocratic, inefficient, the work of Satan, etc. Well, which is it?

Anything that gets us closer to an instant run-off is good in my book.

I disagree. If you had a Republican, a Green, and a Democrat in parts of Seattle; you could end up with the Green and the Democrat being the top two. Substitute Libertarian for Green, and Seattle for rural Washington and the same holds true.

See - this is why you don't get rid of a perfectly good and functional Blanket Primary ...

Minor parties will now be dead, quite frankly. People running as Democrats can be sued for trademark infringement (yeah, good plan, sic lawyers on them ...).

Of course, this will get rid of the Green candidates in the 7th Congressional District, as well as the sacrificial lambs running as Libertarians and Republicans in Seattle.

But, what is their reason for existence? To win elections? Or, to get on every ballot and lose elections?

With their opposition to I-872, it seems that their prime focus is the latter. They try to get on as many ballots as possible and present the threat of siphoning votes in order to affect the major parties' platforms.

If they were trying to actually win elections, I think they would support I-872. That would give them the best chance to win if they could end up in the top two, which is a possibility in very liberal or very conservative areas. I mean, is it really necessary to feed a poor Republican to Jim McDermott every two years, or would a McDermott vs. Green ballot be more meaningful? And, is it really necessary to throw a Democrat to the wolves in Adams or Benton counties?

It seems to me that minor parties opposing a top-two primary is completely self-defeating.

Problem is, the Legislature, in its wisdon, moved the "primary" to the middle of August -- the middle of vacation season! Now more than ever, voters need more awareness than ever, lest they miss what's now the most important election of the season.

Which is why Sen Clinton is so shocked that she's losing.

KK @ 2: If party members are unhappy with how their party selects its candidates, the solution isn't for the state to step in and manage the process for them. The solution is for them to reform their party, or find a different one.