Super Tuesday, an election date long considered a turning point in the Presidential Primary process. In 2008, 24 states held Primaries or Caucuses on this date. But on March 6th, only 10 states host a contest. "Florida moved up their primary, because they wanted to have a bigger voice. They wanted to be the state that decided the election," says Democrat Stuart James.
Florida, Arizona, Minnesota, and Colorado all opted for earlier election dates hoping to play a more significant role in the Presidential Primary. So, will Super Tuesday matter? "It looks as though Super Tuesday will be pretty important that at least, maybe all four of the major republican candidates will still be active and on the ballot," says Republican Oscar Brock.
The Republican party set up this longer election calendar to give more states a voice in the process. Brock expects it will also make the party's eventual nominee stronger come November. "They remind us what's important at the end of the day, the issues we're talking about, what is the reason we govern and is it important that Republicans govern? Which we think it is."
But ever since the first votes came in from the Iowa Caucuses, pundits on some of the 24-hour cable news channels have been jockeying to declare the race over. They use phrases like "wrapped up" and ask fringe candidates when they plan to drop out. "Cable stations and stuff they want to move on to other things and I think they might feel trapped in this primary," says James.
James believes the longer process creates voter fatigue. He favors a national primary for both parties. "Get it over with, move on, get to your convention, get it done and move on to the general election, because people are getting tired of this."
It's been 32-years since the last GOP contest of any length, between Ronald Regan and George Bush. But even that race was wrapped up by April. Brock says he'd "be surprised if this battle were still going on in June. I think by June you'll see a unified Republican party focused on defeating Obama and recapturing the White House."
If no one candidate runs the table on Super Tuesday, 10 more states have contests before Texas in April.
It takes 1,144 delegates to win the Republican nomination. Mitt Romney has only secured 105 delegates, while Rick Santorum has 71.
Because the National Republican Party elected to let small and medium sized states hold races before large states like New York, California, and Texas... its mathematically impossible to secure the party's nomination before April.
