This clearly gives the Republicans an advantage. McCain gets a much needed rest. He can spare his campaign finances having more for the general election. He can concentrate on his potential opponents while they are busy competing with each other, and therefore, have little time to attack back.

The Democrats not only face the disadvantages mentioned above. There is also the risk of an internal dispute about who will be the legitimate candidate. There are discussions about “super delegates” that may give a candidate the “votes” they need to win the candidacy although they did not win the “pledged delegate” vote. There are discussions about whether the delegates from Michigan and Florida may now be allowed to vote. Resolving these issues will cost time and effort and my cause a cleft in the party itself.

I must emphasize again that the current method of nominating a presidential candidate is more than just sub-optimal. It is flawed.

Primaries are necessary. Leaving the nomination process up to just the “super delegates” leaves a bitter aftertaste. I know that I argued for this in a previous post, but more thought on the issues has led me to the conclusion that this will leave the impression among American voters that they have too little to say about who will be the candidate. Plus the primaries are a good test to the electability of the candidates.

Although I now support primaries, I do think that the present procedure is flawed. For one there should be no more open primaries. Republicans should elect Republican candidates and Democrats Democratic candidates. I am still undecided about whether independents should be allowed to vote. A major change, though, that in my opinion must be made, is that all ( and I mean ALL) primaries should be held on the same day. This prolonged primary season is unnecessary, unfair and wastes resources.

If the primaries were all held on one day (yes I also think caucuses must be abolished!), then the candidates have a target to work towards. They can allocate their funds and other resources accordingly. There will be no “momentum” or psychological win in small unrepresentative states that skew public opinion. If you have a close race, like the Democrats have this year, it will reduce the speculation because after the primary there will be no more primaries. If there is no clear winner there will be time before the general election to pick the candidate another way.

one might argue that due to the size of the United States, a one-day-primary is logistically impossible. Well the general election is done on one day. Russia manages to elect it’s president on one day. Yea the small states may be neglected, but so what. If the allocation of delegates is done proportionally as the Democrats do, this will not be as big a factor. This will ensure that the small states have a influence in relation to their size, which is only fair.

What I’ve learned from this primary season is that caucuses must go and that all primaries must be held on one day.

Popularity: 65% [?]