[grey_whiskers]

He wasn't the pick of te RNC, he was the pick of the people in the primary states, Northeast, South, Midwest and Southeast.

A disproportionate share of the power is given to a few beginning states, via the media template of "Momentum".

And those early states are NOT representative of the GOP as a whole, still less of conservatism.

Kyrie Eleison!

[MARTIAL MONK]

New Hampshire wants to hold on to its status as "first in the nation" and the party has been defferential. It was a good conservative filter when New England was rock ribbed Republican.

The candidates have to tiptoe through the minefields in Michigan, (an industrial state) Iowa, (a midwest agricultural state) New Hampshire, (formerly the definition of conservative but now representative of the rest of New England), and then move to South Carolina (Southern) and Florida (retirement and military). That's a good mix and they have to work each state in such a way that does not offend the next state. If a candidate can do that, they have a broad enough appeal that they would be a viable general election choice.

I would favor a system where the leadoff primary states are rotated in each region but remember, primaries are set by the states, not the parties. (Also remember, the Democrats had to disenfrenchfry the delegates from Michigan and Florida because those states moved their primaries ahead.)