I Am I Am I Am Superman

And I can do anything:

Although the odds of Howard Dean winning the Democratic nomination look long as voters cast their ballots in seven states Tuesday, some of Dean's allies in Congress continue to voice support for him.

"My guess is the race is far from over and it won't be wrapped up" in Tuesday’s round of contests, said Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J. ...

Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, who is leading the Dean effort among Democratic House members, said Dean supporters are resisting the idea that the race for the nomination should be considered effectively over when television pundits say it is over. "That’s not the way it's going to work," Lofgren said late Monday in a telephone interview.
...
Lofgren warned against a precipitous rush to rally around the front-runner. "None of the other candidates has really received critical scrutiny," she contended. "If we end up selecting by a coronation a candidate who can't survive because of issues that later develop, that would be a disaster for the Democrats."

Right on. Dean's not performing as well as I would like, and will probably not pick up a lot of delegates today, but it ain't over yet folks. I hope that voters in later primary/caucus states (such as in Vermont on 3/2) get a chance to weigh in on the nominee, and that people don't just succumb to the bandwagon effect.

Of course in the darkest reaches of my heart I'd hoped this exact thing would work to Dean's advantage. But honestly, I think it's bad for our democracy if people just follow the herd and get behind whomever kicked ass in Iowa and New Hampshire. In fact, I argued against everybody getting behind Dean just because he was leading the polls in December.

I wonder what the impact would be of creating a national primary date? I know IA and NH would hate it, but screw you guys. This isn't about you and your brief moment in the electoral sun: this about our democracy. Big picture, people!

Why not treat the primaries just like the general election? You'd still have to campaign state-by-state, just like you do for the general, and then everybody would get a chance to have their voice heard at the same time. I think that would be much fairer and probably result in even stronger candidates.

So there it is: everybody votes on the same date...say, in May or June; conventions in August; campaigning in earnest begins after Labor Day. What do you think?

ntodd

PS--8 bazillion bonus points to the person who really gets the title of the post.  ¶ 6:44 PM