New Hampshire and Iowa... THEN Where?

[arwalden]

What's the order of the first half-dozen primaries and caucuses and straw-polls?

Which ones are the most important?

At what point do candidates usually start dropping out?

And finally... are the residents of states that are NOT in the first group of primaries "cheated" out of the early selection process? This seems to be true particularly if their candidate might have done better (eventually) if they had just stuck-it-out longer.

Could this account for the "wait-and-see" attitude of many folks?

Is it logical for them to NOT want support any one candidate right now because their early support would have little effect on the outcome of early primaries that are NOT in their state.

-- Allen

(I know... I ought to know this. My questions are sincere though. Any insight you have would be appreciated.)

[HFishbine]

1. No comment

But here's the schedule:

http://www.vote-smart.org/election_president_state_primary_dates.php

[arwalden]

2. Excellent, Smithers! THANK YOU!!!

I learned something.

States Without Presidential Primaries: Alaska, Nevada, Colorado, Utah.

Wow... they get the "leftovers" only, eh? That's sad.

-- Allen

[Sal316]

3. The primary here in AZ was almost sunk by the Repubs.

The state GOP leaders wanted to cancel the AZ Dem Primary because of how much it might cost. When reminded they held a Repub primary (of sorts) in 2000 and ignored the cost to the state they promptly shut up.

AZ is in play and it's exciting to see so much focus here for the first time in the 20 years I've been living here.