One man's disarray...

I'm with those confused by the media narrative that somehow an elongated primary decision process is bad, that it means a party in disarray, blah blah. I mean, obviously, a party can be in a civil war even when its candidate is a foregone conclusion (see: Republican infighting over the vote-worthiness of McCain). And one can have a close-fought series of primaries that allow everybody to be excited and involved without thinking that either of the two choices is a disaster in any way (see: current Democratic race). Medley put it well yesterday:

Two strong candidates, an engaged and participating Democratic electorate -- where's the bad, again?

That's about right. I can see that once you have a clear frontrunner, you can turn to collecting funds for the general, and directing your attacks and criticism at the nominee of the other party -- both of those are important. But I think that continuing to be driven to make yourself available to voters in numerous states, talk about your plans and vision, and get people invested in an outcome are all really good for carrying momentum into the bigger battle anyway. Plus, it's that much more visible coverge before the media starts picking the candidates apart again, which helps keep people from getting disillusioned long before the election comes. I dunno, maybe I'm just naive, but it's exciting to think that my late-April primary may still be important in this race, and I suspect I'm not alone.