And this will continue to be a problem for as long as the first primary is held in the Northeast. That said, I think either Christie or Bush can still overtake Romney. Woohoo.
Northeast has long been a Progressive stronghold. With Romney having been governor of Massachusetts and a large number of Massachusetts residents fleeing to New Hampshire for tax reasons, I would expect him to lead the field. After all, Romney was popular in progressive/liberal Massachusetts and they would expect more of the same in his presidency.
The order of the state voting in the primaries should be directly tied to how Republican they voted in the last election.
The most Republican states should vote FIRST, and the least Republican ones should vote last.
Then make all state primaries closed to only registered Republicans and the problem of liberal democrat states picking our nominee will be solved.