Has anyone else noticed that the schedule of when each Democratic primary takes place is all wrong? The way the current system is set up, it is almost always the case that the earlier primaries, such as Iowa and New Hampshire, have more of a vote than later primaries. This whole concept of "momentum" should not be a deciding factor in who will cinch the Democratic presidential nomination. It makes no sense that a Union would back out of supporting one candidate simply because another candidate is building this so-called "momentum". Huh? So is the union saying that it had no clue as to why they supported the candidate in the first place? Is this supposed union backing away from its core values and shifting their money to the front-runner? Whether we're talking about a union or an individual, isn't momentum such a strong phenomenon that the system should be changed? The status quo has it so that states with later primaries have less of a say in such an important election. The status quo has it so that votes in states like New Jersey, with their primary in June, have virtually no say in who claims the nomination because there is only one candidate left by the time people from that state can vote. In this year's election, most people's votes after New Hampshire's primary didn't seem to matter as much since a front-runner had already been decided. I think all this is said best by the following: "Front-loading extravanganzas such as Super Tuesday and Mega Tuesday are the WMDs in presidential politics. They kill candidacies by the score. In the last three contested Republican presidential nominations, 1988, 1996, 2000, the campaign season began with 6, 10, 12 candidates respectively, in each case the race was conceded to the front-runner by the Ides of March." I propose that the primaries are all held on the same day or that the results are not made public until after the winner is determined. It's a failure of democracy to see a candidates message being drowned out or silenced simply because he/she is running out of money (for ads and ground worker help to get their message out) because people jump ship to support the front-runner so their resources aren't wasted. Every vote in every state should count just the same. It's no secret that states have been trying to move their primaries up earlier and earlier. California, with a whopping 400+ delegates, in 1996 moved their primary from the first Tuesday in June to the second Tuesday in March. Being discontent with that, the state moved its primary again in 2000 to the first Tuesday of March. Now, they are part of Mega Tuesday and Californians have more of a say. North Dakota made a similar move this year since candidates mostly never campaign in that state as if it didn't matter. Now, with an earlier primary, candidates actually visited North Dakota this year.
