Over too soon: There must be a better way to decide party nominees

Some roller coaster, huh?

By the time North Carolina voters — and really most of the country — get the chance to chime in on whom they would like to see win their party’s nomination for the presidency, there might not be anyone left standing.

Seem a little out of whack to you?

The primary system weeds out too many choices before most American voters even get the chance to speak — and that is on the heels of debates ad nauseum that produce front-runners who never seem to stay there.

And do we really want Iowa and New Hampshire deciding for whom we should have the opportunity to vote? No wonder Florida decided to move its primary up. No one wants to feel like his or her voice doesn’t count.

This year in particular, what started off as a horse race between a whole field of contenders has quickly narrowed down.

Now, we really could be superfluous when it comes to deciding who is going to carry the party banner into the November election.

And that just isn’t right.

Perhaps the candidates themselves perpetuate this injustice. Give us a chance to vote before you pull up stakes and abandon the race.

But until the primary system changes, we are at a loss — and struggling with deciding if our voices really matter. Seems like a problem we ought to put on our 2008 “to-do” list, doesn’t it?

Published in Editorials on January 30, 2008 11:02 AM