Yes, just like the protracted battle between Clinton and Obama did so much to help McCain in 2008. Having the primary decided before 95% of he country has any input is much worse than a primary running strong for a cople months through super Tuesday.
The good part(if there is one) is they are using up Obama’s ammunition.
By the time either of them runs against Obama the world will have heard everything Obama could use against them.
You’re right. A hard-fought battle in the primaries is a tonic for the eventual nominee, unless he’s a sitting president. (See Carter and Ted Kennedy, or Bush and Buchanan for the latter.)
Meanwhile the federal courts keep sliding the Texas primary back over redistricting. Latest schedule is April 8. The largest conservative block of votes and we don’t even get a say in who the candidate will be. Lets go back to smoke filled rooms, At least we generally got competent, rather than glib and/or good looking candidates.