States with Early Primaries

  Do states with early primaries have too much influence on how people in later states vote? Should parties have a national primary or at least a large, regional primary composed of several states so that early voting states have less influence, or is the current system adequate because candidates can focus on one area at a time?
Did the large number of Republican candidates and debates reduce the importance of boots-on-the-ground for candidates in each state? How do the different representation models of the Republican and Democratic Party primaries affect the primary election process?  
            Iowa and New Hampshire vote first in the presidential nomination process, caucuses and Electoral College process receive too much attention together with the background states.  The presidential candidates are normally elected by a plurality of votes and not necessarily a majority of the popular vote the plurality or ‘winner takes all’ approach concentrates votes in the early voting states as the electoral votes are awarded to the plurality winner and  early voting states can signals who the electorate want as their leaders (Gurian et al., 2016).  Iowa leans Republican (red), while New Hampshire leans Democrat (blue), but the two are not heavily red or blue as they are now battleground states.  The plurality approach also disadvantages third, independent parties and early votes can sway the undecided and independent voters as there is a sense of inevitability that certain candidates will be nominated.             Early voting states may alter public opinion and influence the national mood even while the party voters tend to be the most partisan either the most left leaning Democrats or Right leaning Republicans (Lau, 2013).  A national primary is a viable alternative where the registered party members vote on the same day and candidates with most votes becomes the nominee. However, this would make it more difficult for candidates to visit different places because of the short period of time spent campaigning and a regional primary is also a good alternative the case for this is that it eliminates the undue influence associated with thee early voting states, whose demographics diverge from that of the country. Candidates would need to be clear about their policies rather than saying one thing depending on whether a state is solidly blue or red and then taking a more centrist approach during the general election...