Morning wrap up

The DPP is still duking it out over whether opinion polls, upon which the nomination process partly depends, should or shouldn't exclude habitually blue voters from the polls. The issue will probably be brought up at tomorrow's DPP Central Committee meeting.

For fear that a primary will tear the party apart, the DPP is considering "negotiating" it's next chairman among the candidates rather than actually holding a vote. But this appears increasingly impossible, as Koo (辜) and Chai (蔡) have no intention of bowing out for the younger Tsai (蔡), who is apparently the general favorite.

On a personal note, I think the few DPP press conferences I've seen recently are filled with a disproportionate amount of whining about relatively small issues.

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An editorial appears today in the pro-blue and increasingly tabloid-like China Times criticizing Ma Ying-jeou for breaking one of his key election promises -- to separate his administration from the party apparatus -- before he's even taken office.

Specifically, the edotiral notes the decision to appoint Chan Chun-po (詹春柏), a KMT Vice Chairman and Ma's campaign manager this election, as the Presidential Secretary-General. Chan has indicated he has no intention of resigning his Vice Chairmanship of the party after taking this new office. The article reminds the reader that the KMT has already set up a mechanism for party-administration communication, and there's no particular reason Chan has to hold both offices -- except to wield greater influence over both party and administration.

It also notes that KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤), the newly minted Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) chairman-designate, is said to want to hold onto his position within the party.

What the editorial does not mention, but we touched on yesterday, was the failure of any nominees to live up to Ma's promise of crossing party lines and emphasizing ability, not party affiliation, when selecting cabinet appointees.