I'm all for an Obama win in NV if it severely damages Rory Reid's career, which of course, it won't.

this whole nomination system question got me thinking:

while the presidential election is spelled out in the constitution, who the hell decides on the primary system for selecting a nominee?

shouldn't it just be up to each party -- or does the constitution have anything to say about that?

it's up to the party. the constitution says nothing about the party system.

which is what i assumed.

so what's the appeal of letting 2 states ostensibly decide for the whole country?

especially 2 states that some (me) would consider "crazy states."

I think it's in candidates' and the media's best interests to have a very narrow focus initially. IA and NH are pretty small and don't have suckingly awful urban wastelands (or the ones they do are easy to ignore since nobody outside those states realizes they exist) and candidates can do the whole folksy pancake breakfast thing. Good backdrop for introducing yourself to the public. Sure, the people are ill-served, but who ever cared about the people?

You ain't hard if you ain't been on the mean streets of Laconia.

I got gas in Des Moines once. That was enough Des Moines for me. Apparently it was too much for the candidates, cause I didn't notice any photo-ops (though I didn't look, so there may have been some).

I think it would be better to randomize the first few states every cycle... it would add fairness and unpredictability and theoretically would re-enfranchise a lot of voters.

cm, why would having them all on the same day be bad?

Having all the primaries on the same day would be bad because it would reward the candidates with the biggest name recognition and the most money at the start. There's no chance for an unknown candidate to come in with a new or unique message and persuade a smaller group of voters to pay attention to him/her and then for that candidate's surprising success in one state to allow him/her to become known nationally.

ah...

What RumorsDaily said. I actually like the small state process, but it shouldn't be the same states year after year.

At least IA and NH decided to choose completely different candidates this time.

Now Stuart, if you look at the soil around any large U.S. city with a big underground homosexual population. Des Moines, Iowa, for example. Look at the soil around Des Moines, Stuart. You can't build on it, you can't grow anything in it. The government says it's due to poor farming. But I know what's really going on, Stuart. I know
it's the queers. They're in it with the aliens. They're building landing strips for gay Martians. I swear to God.
You know what Stuart, I like you.
You're not like the other people, here in the trailer park.