Okay, now I can be objective about this now.
I think that the front-loading of the primaries was/is a bad idea. One reason it's a bad idea was that it avoided the necessary vetting of a candidate. A grand rush does not allow for things to come out that could be potentially fatal. What if it was Clark, and we found out that he had lined his pockets with embezzled money in April? A sex scandal in May? A prison record? Such a rush allows no second thoughts, no considered judgement. The voters would be stuck with fatally flawed candidate with no recourse.
Another flaw was that 4-month gap between an apparent selected nominee and the Convention. If Dean and Kerry had not opted out, there would have been a practically silenced nominee due to spending and fundraising caps. Two hundred million could (and may still be) decisive if no way to defend against by running ads.
