The juggling of the 2012 Republican primaries has been criticized, but the real issue is the Republican Party giving carte’ blanc to the state party organizations.

The most damaging issue is not the date of the primary, but the discretionary counting of winning votes as ‘winner takes all,’ or ‘proportional.’ Obviously, if early states in the primary chooses ‘winner takes all,’ the winning candidate has an inordinate advantage . . . which is why McCain won in 2008.