One thing that really should be taken into serious consideration for this year's GOP primaries is the changes in the process. For the 1st time (ever, I believe) you will have delegates split up, much the way the Democrats have always done there's. So it's NO LONGER a winner take all situation. Well, if I read it correctly, it turns into a winner take all later on down the road..
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This is a BIG variable to take into consideration. As in pat years, a candidate could squeak out a win like Romney did in Iowa, and run away with all the delegates (even getting just 25% of the vote). When you split delegates, it really changes everything. In 2008 I put a good amount of $$$ on Obama to win the democratic nomination (he was around 4/1 going into Iowa)...Well, once Obama had a decent lead in delegates, after Super Tuesday, they came into Texas..A state with LOTS of delegates. Clinton eeeked out a win over Obama. If that was GOP style (winner take all) it would have been a HUGE momentum shift to put Clinton in a DECISIVE lead..However; with split delegates, Obama actually ended up taking more delegates out of the state then did Clinton! After that, it was pretty much a sealed deal. An almost mathematical certainty that Obama would be the nominee. Would have been WAY different if it was a winner take all process.
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So with the GOP going to split delegates, it may lead to some unforeseen out comes. I still think the fix is pretty much in for Romney. All the $$$ and power brokers are behind him, and GOP voters are frankly just dumb. As they believe this guy is the most electable. All the big conservative voices are also touting this, and they could not be more wrong. As I posted before, I hope it is Romney, because I will just HAMMER Obama to win re election. It will be the easiest sure fire bet of my life.
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If I had my personal choice in the matter...
I think everyone who follows me by now knows my man..
RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT!
(said with the mission impossible music in the background)

emac, I understand why you would think garyprimer and I are the same person. He is intelligent, witty, articulate and a man of few words. OK, so the last one gave me away...

In your dreams...

garyprimer- Is your other screen name poohbah?

In your dreams.
The Republican stable is a huge embarrassment to the entire country.
The only one worthwhile is John Huntsman,
but he is too normal to get any recognition
from today's whacko Republicans.
Don't blame me... you know who you are.

*But I have to ask again, why are you even following the Republican primaries, especially if it is so stressful for you?*

Eyster doesn't want to follow them and doesn't want anyone else to follow them. Doing so may damage his preferred candidate, the incumbent. That's why he wants the election over "now"--that would mean 10 less months for everyone to expound on what a lousy job his candidate has done.

An idea for an introductory research project could revolve around the role of the behind the scenes political operatives that work for the candidate. Many times they are the source of 'news' and polls regarding electorate breakdowns. Most of these operatives wield a great deal of power but remain unknown unless their candidate wins. Examples would be Karl Rove (G.W. Bush) and David Axelrod (Barack Obama).

Regarding @Mention Machine; I find it interesting but not very telling. For example Ron Paul will get talked about a lot but he's a nut who doesn't have a chance at a nomination. As others have noted this type of 'poll' could be manipulated although I don't know why anyone would bother.
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While I do dread the meaningless breakdown "statistics" I do enjoy the political discussions/arguments that will take place on the 'road to November'.
I have a feeling many interesting discussions will take place right here on your blog Mr. Eyster. I'm looking forward to it.
There you go.....

I probably should have said "it carries less weight than voting for our Next American Idol".

So help you God.

I would like the truth. The whole truth. And, last but not least, nothing but the truth.

The problem is too much propaganda and too little real, unbiased information. I was very surprised to see how quickly the cable news networks "picked sides" during this election cycle. I get a kick out of watching a report "spun" in one direction of Fox News and then seeing it spun the exact opposite direction on MSNBC. CNN is fun as well since they flip flop on there own stories. I myself try to dig past the "manure" and try to make an intelligent decision when voting. My wife on the other hand will make her choice by what she hears as she passes by the T.V. We as a country are in sad state when voting for President carries the same weight as voting for our Next American Idol.

The problem isn’t too much data, it’s the over-availability of spurious data, better known as “noise”. If you want to subscribe to a bunch of tweets, especially from folks who do little more than mindlessly echo the DNP party line, you’re bound to feel a bit woozy at the end of the day.

But I have to ask again, why are you even following the Republican primaries, especially if it is so stressful for you? You won’t be endorsing any of them, you won’t be voting for them – why not let the GOP cull the field and tune in when the dust settles? If you want to get spun up, try your own side of the fence. Who will be Obama’s running mate this time? Biden has certainly proven that he’s more than just a joke, he’s a really bad joke. Will Obama dump him in favour of Hillary? What are the plusses and minuses of that move? Will it help or hinder his chances? To me, it’s an exercise in who gets to find out first that they *won’t* be VP next year, but you probably have a different perspective. I’m just curious as to why we haven’t heard it yet.

"And now, “@MentionMachine” will exasperate that concern"
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The word you were looking for is exacerbate not exasperate....spell check/auto correct is not always your friend.
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that said, a site that counts how much others are posting about someone else? Does not seem to be too useful to me unless the goal is to bury useful data under mounds of noise.

The problem is not too much data, but too much tainted data. There doesn't seem to be too many resources these days that offer you a complete report of activities. They tell you what they want you to hear.