Havasimy

The thing that really annoys me about presidential elections, and I've probably mentioned it before, is that I won't have any say in the primary. I heard a political commentator talking on tv a couple weeks ago about how it could be until mid-March that the democratic Presidential nominee is decided. It was said in such a way that that scenario would be the most drawn out. So, in any conceivable case, the democratic nominee will be decided by mid-March. Pennsylvania's primary is in late April. So unless something unusual happens, my vote will not matter when I go to the polls in April.
At least this year isn't quite as bad as 2000. Then, both parties were trying to decide their nominees and the two guys I didn't like had beaten out the two guys I liked a full month before I could vote. In Pa, independents can't vote for party candidates in primaries, which is why I'm registered democrat, and you have to register something like two months in advance. So, if I had wanted to vote for McCain for the republican nominee, for example, I would have had to change my party affiliation just to find out that the nomination was tied up. This year, the difference is, I actually like the front runner, although I'm not completely sold on him. I also like what I've seen of Joe Lieberman as well as some of the other candidates. If more than one candidate is standing in mid-April, I'll do my research then and pick one.
To get back to the main topic of this entry, there is talk, including from Governor Rendell, to try and move the Pennsylvania primary to a earlier date. There's one problem with that, but it's a big one. All the other states will then move their primaries. Thus, we'll have the same result, only earlier. And the election season already starts too early, in my opinion. The only good results would be for the states to get together and plan a primary season that is arranged so every vote has a chance to count, but is not so compact that the candidates have to skip a significant amount of states.