[SunkenCiv]

That worked quite well in 2004, didn't it? John Kerry had the nomination in the bag by February, giving us five months to pick apart his record before the convention. Now I'm hearing that the Democratic convention is scheduled for the end of August, and the Republican one will be held in early September! While that means John McCain has nearly six months where he doesn’t have to do anything but raise funds, on the Democratic side, it seems somebody designed the schedule just to entertain non-Democrats.

I think you've touched upon it -- there are two remaining Dhimmicrat candidates who continue to fight it out, but the attacks on McCain have been going on for a while (and I'm not even talking about FR ;'), including Gloria Steinem's the other day. IMHO, the campaign season needs to be later, shorter, and more sensible, and should end just before the conventions. Two states should have a primary or caucus scheduled for each week, on Tuesday, with the order determined the same way order was determined for the state quarters -- by the order of admission to the Union. The whole primary season would be wrapped up in 26 weeks, there would be no "super Tuesday" per se, and then people could complain that too much emphasis is placed on this or that other new feature. To rip off Will Rogers, it wouldn't stop the war, but it would be different.

Release Date	State	Statehood Date	Mintage Numbers*
1999			4,430,940,000
January 04, 1999	Delaware	December 07, 1787	774,824,000
March 08, 1999	Pennsylvania	December 12, 1787	707,332,000
May 17, 1999	New Jersey	December 18, 1787	662,228,000
July 19, 1999	Georgia	January 02, 1788	939,932,000
October 12, 1999	Connecticut	January 09, 1788	1,346,624,000
2000			6,470,932,000
January 03, 2000	Massachusetts	February 06, 1788	1,163,784,000
March 13, 2000	Maryland	April 28, 1788	1,234,732,000
May 22, 2000	South Carolina	May 23, 1788	1,308,784,000
August 07, 2000	New Hampshire	June 21, 1788	1,169,016,000
October 16, 2000	Virginia	June 25, 1788	1,594,616,000
2001			4,806,984,000
January 02, 2001	New York	July 26, 1788	1,275,040,000
March 12, 2001	North Carolina	November 21, 1789	1,055,476,000
May 21, 2001	Rhode Island	May 29, 1790	870,100,000
August 06, 2001	Vermont	March 04, 1791	882,804,000
October 15, 2001	Kentucky	June 01, 1792	723,564,000
2002			3,313,704,000
January 02, 2002	Tennessee	June 01, 1796	648,068,000
March 11, 2002	Ohio	March 01, 1803	632,032,000
May 20, 2002	Louisiana	April 30, 1812	764,204,000
August 02, 2002	Indiana	December 11, 1816	689,800,000
October 15, 2002	Mississippi	December 10, 1817	579,600,000
2003			2,280,400,000
January 02, 2003	Illinois	December 03, 1818	463,200,000
March 17, 2003	Alabama	December 14, 1819	457,400,000
June 02, 2003	Maine	March 15, 1820	448,800,000
August 04, 2003	Missouri	August 10, 1821	453,200,000
October 20, 2003	Arkansas	June 15, 1836	457,800,000
2004			2,401,600,000
January 26, 2004	Michigan	January 26, 1837	459,600,000
March 29, 2004	Florida	March 03, 1845	481,800,000
June 01, 2004	Texas	December 29, 1845	541,800,000
August 30, 2004	Iowa	December 28, 1846	465,200,000
October 25, 2004	Wisconsin	May 29, 1848	453,200,000
2005			3,013,600,000
January 31, 2005	California	September 09, 1850	520,400,000
April 04, 2005	Minnesota	May 11, 1858	488,000,000
June 06, 2005	Oregon	February 14, 1859	720,200,000
August 29, 2005	Kansas	January 29, 1861	563,400,000
October 14, 2005	West Virginia	June 20, 1863	721,600,000
2006			2,925,400,000
January 31, 2006	Nevada	October 31, 1864	589,800,000
April 03, 2006	Nebraska	March 01, 1867	591,000,000
June 14, 2006	Colorado	August 01, 1876	569,000,000
August 28, 2006	North Dakota	November 02, 1889	664,800,000
November 06, 2006	South Dakota	November 02, 1889	510,800,000
2007			2,712,440,000
January 29, 2007	Montana	November 08, 1889	513,240,000
April 02, 2007	Washington	November 11, 1889	545,200,000
August 03, 2007	Idaho	July 03, 1890	581,400,000
September 03, 2007	Wyoming	July 10, 1890	564,400,000
November 05, 2007	Utah	January 04, 1896	508,200,000
2008
January 28, 2008	Oklahoma	November 16, 1907	TBA	Current Quarter
April 07, 2008	New Mexico	January 06, 1912	TBA
	Arizona	February 14, 1912
	Alaska	January 03, 1959
	Hawaii	August 21, 1959

[from the US mint's quarters schedule page]

[SunkenCiv]

Of course, lumping them in groups of five (like the quarters) might be even better, but here's the groups of two:

Delaware	Pennsylvania
New Jersey	Georgia	"super"
Connecticut	Massachusetts
Maryland	South Carolina
New Hampshire	Virginia
New York	North Carolina	(good reason make it groups of five)
Rhode Island	Vermont
Kentucky	Tennessee
Ohio	Louisiana
Indiana	Mississippi
Illinois	Alabama
Maine	Missouri
Arkansas	Michigan
Florida	Texas	"super"
Iowa	Wisconsin
California	Minnesota	"liberal super"
Oregon	Kansas
West Virginia	Nevada
Nebraska	Colorado
North Dakota	South Dakota
Montana	Washington
Idaho	Wyoming
Utah	Oklahoma
New Mexico	Arizona
Alaska	Hawaii