Does the compressed primary schedule help or hurt the Democrats... [View All]

...in relation to the general primary?

If we can rally around a candidate early on that will help us get a jump on the general election and start campaigning against bush. In the larger picture though I think the front loading of the primaries is detrimental to democracy as a whole.

It favors those candidates with better name recoginition and/or lots of money. I can hear people asking "what about Dean?" The lesson of Dean is start campaigning early and find a way to distinguish yourself. The primary schedule only helps Dean if he can meet expectations by finishing first in NH and first or second in IA.

Let me throw out a hypothetical here. What if a dark horse candidate, Kucinich for instance, pulls off an upset in NH? Could he sustain his momentum? Can he realisticly raise enough funds to continue a meaningful campaign? I don't think so and the democratic process is poorer for it. This is the problem with the current primary schedule. I think we would all be served better by a longer primary season.

I am interested in hearing what everyone else thinks about this.