Why the debates matter more than they might have in the past: lots of states -- like California, Colorado, North Carolina, Texas, Minnesota and Vermont -- are already voting. Candidates can lock voters in immediately off a strong performance. apnews.com/53024836e5f8f3…
Early voting is also already collapsing the election cycle closer to a simulataneous semi-national primary. Super Tuesday is just the end of a voting period that began days/weeks earlier. So in a way, Iowa-NH primacy was functionally on the way out, even without the Iowa debacle
And IMHO that's a good thing. In fact it's arguable that a shorter, more collapsed (or even a single, national) primary would help strengthen American democracy, which God knows sure needs a hand.
