Here's an interesting analysis of the front-loaded 2008 election calendar from the WSJ...
'Super-Duper Tuesday' May Be Too Big to Matter
Sheer Number of States,
Timing Will Reinforce
Impact of Opening Trio
By JACKIE CALMES
June 15, 2007; Page A6
An unprecedented number of states have scheduled early presidential primaries to grab some influence from the traditional first kingmakers, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. But as the law of unintended consequences would have it, the front-loaded calendar could instead make that opening trio of states -- and roughly a half-million voters in each party -- more decisive than ever.
On Feb. 5 -- widely called "Super-Duper Tuesday" -- nearly two dozen states, from New York to California, may hold what approaches a national primary. In 2004, just nine states had voted by then. The crush in 2008 will mean that no contender has the time and money to stump in all the Feb. 5 states with anything near the intensity candidates do in states with January contests. That is why Florida has defied both parties' rules aimed at minimizing front-loading, and moved up its primaries to Jan. 29 from March; Michigan's Democrats might follow.
So January's top finishers will have the momentum to carry them into February, and also-rans will likely have too little time to catch up, strategists say. Wonder what keeps the dark horses running? It is the potential for upsets in the early states, where meeting voters is relatively easy and TV ads less expensive.
One caveat about momentum: Because many states, notably California, allow voting for weeks before their primary day, some ballots could be cast before the results from Iowa or New Hampshire are known.
Even so, says David Plouffe, campaign manager for Democrat Barack Obama, "You can't expect to finish poorly in January and resuscitate in February."
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118186324620336039.html?mod=googlenews_wsj