Florida Flap

I don't know what will come of the Florida primary dustup, but my 'gut feeling' is that the DNC will back down eventually on it. A) Florida is too important (ask Al Gore) to piss off too much and B) it's really not THAT important an issue- certainly not one the party wants to self-destruct over. The rampage to move up the primaries is silly and mostly political window-dressing for local pols, and probably ought to be addressed and organized in some rational fashion. But, I think temper tantrums, lawsuits, and general breath-holding by all parties just makes the party look silly.

What I'd like to see is a multi-tier (maybe with various states rotating positions, election by election) process, with the two traditionals (NH and IA) up first (otherwise, all Hell WILL break loose!), followed at three or four week intervals by a series of mini-Super Tuesdays, with several small and mid-sized states holding their primaries, and then the handful of really big states. Maybe one big one (again, rotating position quadrenially) in the early stages for 'fun'.

Regardless of the process developed, something needs to be done to smooth the process (mechanically, not politically) so that we don't end up with one big national primary day. If we do end up with that, I want a Constitutional Amendment that it can't happen before August, so we don't end up with an continual process.... the challengers starting before the winners' elections are done, leading up to a primary, then a HUGELY long campaign season. This cycle is killing me, and we're just barely past the halfway point! :)