Super Tuesday Suddenly Less ‘Super’

Hotline observes that we may have seen the last “Super Tuesday” worthy of the name “Super.”

As many as 26 states could hold their primaries or caucuses on 2/5/08, representing a full 70% of the U.S. population. By the end of Feb. ’08, 40 states and DC may have held some sort of delegate selection process, meaning nearly 86% of Americans will have been able to vote for president before what would traditionally be the March “Super Tuesday.”

Unless this somehow causes the system to collapse and has the parties and states scrambling for a way to re-stagger the primaries–which I don’t see–then we may have a national primary in 2012. Certainly, if one or both party nominations are locked up before March, the other ten states are going to feel mighty stupid for having missed the chance to join the party.

Then again, I’ve been arguing for a national primary for several years now.

FILED UNDER: 2008 Election, US Politics, ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. There are good reasons for and against a national primary, but how we are going about it is not the best way.

  2. Michael Chance says:

    Actually, doesn’t this just mean that “Super Tuesday” is moving a month earlier, and becoming even more “super”?

  3. Wayne says:

    That will probably be true. However if a clear winner does not happen, the remainding10 States will get more attention then they receive in all the elections in the last 100 years. Most of the small states receive little attention in the primaries and general election now.