Some think compressed primary season UNFAIR

[ringmastery]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4424567/

As John Edwards labors to keep his presidential campaign alive in today's 10-state Super Tuesday showdown, it may be that one of his biggest setbacks occurred long before the North Carolina senator even announced his candidacy. That was two years ago, when the Democratic National Committee, with little fanfare or dissent, endorsed a schedule for the 2004 nominating contest that was earlier and more compact than ever.

With Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) far ahead in a sprint toward the Democratic nomination, there is every sign that a process designed to produce a nominee before the start of spring is working exactly as party officials intended.

But this success is causing rumblings of complaint. A variety of Edwards supporters, independent political operatives and academics assert that the 2004 calendar has favored speed over fairness and put a greater-than-ever premium on the ephemeral -- and some say irrational -- phenomenon of political "momentum." Among those disadvantaged in a "front-loaded" system, critics say, are candidates such as Edwards who show clear potential but still trail after the early-state contests, and voters who may need more time for careful comparison shopping. Skeptics also say the early winner in this system may not necessarily be the strongest candidate.

"Front-loading generally is bad precisely because it is hard for voters to give candidates a second look," said Andrew Busch, a University of Denver political scientist and co-author of a recent book on nominating schedules. "The first person to win obtains an aura of invincibility very, very early, and it becomes hard for someone to challenge that."

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. My concern

with having the nominee chosen so many months before the convention is that it gives Bush more time to use dirty tricks against the candidate. Also, without the drama of contested primaries, the news coverage of the event will lessen-you think anyone will want to know who wins the Arkansas primary in May? This means that the Dems have lost a lot of free publicity-news media loves controversy, and tends to ignore things that are a done deal.

[Mairead]

2. Not only more time for the GOP to do dirty tricks

but more time for second thoughts and a withering of support, too, particularly if everyone is stampeded into picking someone who really isn't offering much. Once weakly motivated people cool down again, will their defence mechanisms be enough to bring them to the polls in November?