Wake Me When It's Over

The New Jersey presidential primary was held today. So what? New Jersey's presidential primary, ridiculously held in June along with the primary for local elections, has become irrelevant, with all the major states holding their presidential nominating contests much earlier and deciding the nominee long before June - do the conventions even matter anymore? The Garden State's political leaders are happy with this arrangement. After all, they don't have to go out on a limb for a presidential candidate that might, after all, lose the nomination.

So what if our Democratic governor, James McGreevey, got behind Howard Dean early when it looked like the good doctor from Vermont was unstoppable? If Kerry is elected President in November, McGreevey shouldn't expect much help from the White House.

Are we the only state to render ourselves superfluous to the nomination process? No - Montana held its primary today, too.

As my local paper put it, "As New Jersey goes, so goes Montana."