Disarray, disarray, disarray

I had all kinds of thoughts today on what I wanted to write, and then Mitt Romney went and dropped out of the Presidential race. Oooo-just-too-many-thoughts-to-ignore.
I didn't have high hopes for Romney. One step above Rudy, Romney's bright spots were the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and governor a few years. But he seemed to strike a chord with conservatives and looked like he had a good shot. Of course now he is down in flames, along with a lot of other candidates.
For good or bad, I think this just proves how fractured the Republican Party truly is. True conservatives have lost a lot of party power-hence the candidates who claim "conservative power" inability to get enough voters to support them (Huckabee among them). Main stream Republicans now want nothing to do with them. But I have heard them grumble about McCain-they seemed to have wanted Guiliani. It was like they felt he could retrace FDR's steps-another politician who started in New York politics before hitting the big time. Now that McCain seems to be the front runner, no one seems to be happy. And honest to god, how that guy has taken the lead is beyond me. As I have said before-everytime he farts, he changes his mind. Initially I agreed with some of his ideas, then I didn't, then I did, then I didn't...I think you get the idea. Not the quality I want in a decisive world leader. With the "war" proving increasingly unpopular, and McCain publicly stating he is willing to carry on the "programs" started by Bush, it ought to get interesting.
Actually, my biggest beef with American Politics is less with candidates and more with the system. My minor in college was Political Science, and I still do not understand why we vote the way we do. Does it not sound simpler to have one day in say May or June, where all state's do their primaries? Then in Novemeber we vote for the candidates that survive the primary? Honestly, a lot of people in Oregon are grumbling, and I feel rightly so, wondering just how much our vote counts the first time around. Sure, in a neck and neck race like Obama and Clinton, it will matter. But Republican voters are getting screwed right and left. By the time May rolls around, the Oregon Primary, who will they have left to vote for? Not to mention the amount of money and press time spent on covering elections that seem to last 2 years or more. I honestly did not care last summer who was running and who wasn't. I hve other beef's, but space is limited and no one likes to read a whiner, although in this case I would say I am bitching. It is enough to know that the Presidential Race of 2008 has been very interesting.