No to a National Primary

The concept of a national primary for selecting party candidates for the U.S. presidential election has been brought up from time to time. It's being discussed even more this year because of Super Tuesday, today, on which there are 24 states having primaries or caucuses.

We need to back away from a national primary concept, and even back away from a Super Tuesday concept. As voters, we need to see the candidates up close and personal to make our choices. Lumping several states, or worse - all states, onto one day prevents the candidates from getting to many of the states to woe voters.

We've seen this year where results have surprised pollsters. Those surprises then impact upcoming primaries. If we had all of the primaries, or most of them, on one day there is no room for a surprise candidate to shift voter opinion.

One big primary day will shift the media attention to the big prizes of the day, the big states. The smaller states will take second fiddle to the big states. Small state primaries should get as much attention as the big ones. Those votes count, too.

Let's reverse the trend toward Super Tuesdays and a national primary.