The Most Irritating Headline Today

Is this one. (Click the graphic to view the story.)

There is seriously something wrong and flagrantly undemocratic about our election process if Iowa can "make or break Democrats."

While the state has long played a key role in choosing the Democratic presidential nominee, it has unparalleled influence this year, even after several larger states moved up their contests to try and muscle in. Those efforts have done little more than compress the calendar into a five-week sprint that ends with the multistate primary Feb. 5 — strengthening Iowa's position as the leadoff caucus state rather than diminishing it.

Even New Hampshire, which holds the first primary of the season, has seen its once-mighty position diminished somewhat by Iowa's outsized role this time.

The United States has 300 million people and Iowans represent about 1% of that total, and New Hampshire about half as much.

If these two states have that much influence over who stays and who goes, then it's obvious we need an overhaul. And here's just one reason why:

Trailing in the polls, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd have also concentrated nearly all their resources in Iowa in hopes of scoring an upset.

This is soooo not right. So, what's the value of the preferences of the other 98.5% of us who don't have the luxury of being able to stack the deck for the rest of the country? And Iowa doesn't exactly reflect the ethnicity or the concerns of the nation as a whole.

We should have one primary which includes all 50 states. All at once. And if that's not an option for whatever reason, then at least limit us to 3 primaries. Take the 20 least-populated states and have a primary, following up a week later with a second primary consisting of the next 20 least-populous states, and finish off the following week with the final ten. Give everyone a shot at this. Because nothing, absolutely nothing pisses me off as much as going to vote in my primary after my candidate already dropped out 6 weeks earlier due to a defeat in Iowa or New Hampshire.

At least all the candidates wouldn't need to be spreading limited resources trying to convince 2.9 million Iowans why they should tell the rest of the country who is best equipped to lead our nation.

We need to fix this. And then we need to address the electoral college, which happens to be the next kink in my political chain.