Thanks for the clarifications Tracy. That may explain why some candidates prefer to focus their energy on some states and not that many on other states.

>What has not been mentioned is that delegates cast votes on the people's behalf. If the majority of the populace vote for Obama, then the delegate must vote for Obama to represent the votes. The question is how many delegates will vote for a specific candidate. Each state is different. In some states, the delegates are split based on the % of votes. If the public votes 50/50 then the delegates are split down the middle (as is the case with Obama/Clinton in some states). In others, whichever candidates gets the most votes gets ALL of the delegates for that state (which is the case almost entirely with the Republican party).
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>In addition to what others have said, another reason voting during the primaries is spread over months was to allow the candidates to campaign in as many states as possible back before air travel. They used to drive around from state to state or take the train and go from town to town and then to the next state to campaign. That is only during the primaries though which is basically where each party picks who will run for president to represent their party. When the primaries are over, either Clinton or Obama will represent the Democrat party and will run against the Republican nominee (probably McCain). Most of the populace votes Democrat or Republican so I doubt we will see any other parties really make inroads until that changes. The libertarian party is the closest to changing that (gaining members).