A few folks in the past couple of days have turned up the heat on the problems and challenges with the apparent rush to the front of the line in the 2008 primary season. This editorial at the Wall Street Journal (subscriber link) is typical of emerging opinion:
It’s possible that Feb. 5 will become a winner-take-all affair. But given the huge number of voters and delegates in play on that one day, it’s equally likely that no decisive result emerges. If that proves true, two possibilities arise. On the one hand, the states that resisted the rush could find themselves as kingmakers, and being late might seem fashionable again. Alternatively, a fragmented result on Feb. 5 could well ensure a brokered convention in the summer. This would have the uncomfortable consequence for the candidates of forcing them to continue to court their base long after they would have hoped to start reaching out to the broader electorate.
The idea that Connecticut — which is scheduled to be in the March 4 wave of primaries along with Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont and maybe Texas — could be a kingmaker this cycle amuses me.
Of course, the idea of brokered conventions amuses me even more. At the very least, the conventions would become something worth watching, rather than the taxpayer funded propoganda-fests they are currently.
I stand by my earlier desire — that 1/6th of the country have a February primary date; 1/6th a March date; 1/6th an April date; and half a May primary date, with states’ memberships in each voting tranche decided randomly.