Not-Such-A-Great-Idea Tuesday

One problem with a group of primaries and caucuses scheduled together on the same day is that it demands a fast pace. Candidates don't have time to get their message out and voters don't have time to hear it. This results in what politicos call tarmac campaigning -- candidates have no time to leave the immediate area of their plane during this rigorous schedule.

Holding lots of contests simultaneously in many states all over the country also means that if you're a candidate with limited funds, it's a good bet you'll be broke before the campaign leading up to Super Tuesday is over. Flying from state to state in a short time really adds up.

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Dem­ocratic hopeful John Edwards aboard his jet during the 2008 primary season. Campaigning for a day like Super Tuesday can really stretch a candidate's budget.

Another troubling aspect of Super Tuesday is that it usually determines a party's nominee early in the presidential race. This leaves fewer people feeling as if they have a say in primaries that come later on. With huge amounts of delegates going to one candidate or another in a single day, the delegates from states with later primaries become less important. This is especially true after a Super Tuesday where a clear victor has emerged and has garnered nearly enough delegates to carry his or her party's nomination.

Super Tuesday's problems became even more glaring during the 2008 primaries. In 2004, 10 states held contests on that year's Super Tuesday -- March 2 [source: Washington Post]. On February 5, 2008, Republicans will hold 21 contests and Democrats will hold 21, in a total of 24 states. Nearly half of the total number of delegates needed to make it to the next round in the race to the White House will be up for grabs on that day.

Both the Democrats and the Republicans set the first Tuesday in February of the year the national conventions are held as the earliest any state can hold its primary or caucus. In 2008, the Republicans made no exceptions, although the Democrats allowed Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina to go first. This made states that have traditionally felt left out move their primaries to the earliest date, February 5, resulting in a frontloading of the primary schedule [source: George Washington University].

In 2008, Super Tuesday will see a record number of states holding their primaries on the same day in a race where the candidacies for both parties are up for grabs -- even after several primaries and caucuses have already been held. This means that rather than produce the clear candidate that Sen. Robb engineered Super Tuesday to do, February 5 could split the races even further, drawing out the already cash-strapped campaigns [source: Time].

States have rushed to the starting line to hold their primaries on the earliest possible date. With so much at stake, candidates are forced to campaign harder in states that hold the best potential for him or her. This means that other states will end up neglected by some candidates, further exacerbating the problem of uninformed voters scratching their heads at the polls.