It does matter who will be the Democratic Presidential candidate in November. So Super Tuesday's primaries are important to Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and other Democrats.
But looking at the big picture, it matters more who will be elected President, the Democratic candidate or Donald Trump (or one of those other Republican losers). And Super Tuesday is interesting more because of what the press doesn't note than what they have noted so far.
Three Super Tuesday primaries are being held in states that, absent the death of the candidate, in November will vote for the Democrat - Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Vermont. Five Super Tuesday primaries are being held in states that, absent the death of the candidate, in November will vote for the Republican - Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Texas. Four Super Tuesday primaries are being held in states that historically are Presidential election swing states - Arkansas, Colorado, Tennessee, and Virginia.
So what does that mean? Well, as we all know Presidents are not elected by a majority of the voters but rather by the majority of the Electoral College votes.
Let's take the South Carolina results from the past two weeks because there is a 99.9% chance that South Carolina's nine Electoral College votes will go to the Republican. In November if the Republican candidate was Barney Fife, he would get the nine electoral college votes from South Carolina.
Hillary Clinton won in the South Carolina primary. Against Barny Fife in November, she would get no electoral college votes. Being popular with South Carolina Democrats will most likely be meaningless in November. Now I'm not picking on South Carolina Democrats. It will also be meaningless for November who wins the primaries in California in June because California's 546 Electoral College votes will go to the Democrat.
On Super Tuesday, who wins in the Democratic primary in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Vermont, Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Texas will tell you nothing about whether a candidate will get enough Electoral College votes to beat Barney Fife in November.
The outcome in Arkansas, Colorado, Tennessee, and Virginia will tell you who has a chance to get those Electoral College votes. But look carefully at the turnout in those Democratic primaries compared to the Republican turnout.
If, say, the Republican winner in each of those states is Donald Trump and more registered Republicans turn out than registered Democrats, that will be an indicator of who could get the total of 39 Electoral College votes from those states - again Arkansas, Colorado, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Note that unlike the press, when it comes to the November election, the only election that will matter, I don't care who wins the Democratic primary in Oklahoma or Texas. I'm hoping it will be the winner in Arkansas, Colorado, Tennessee, and Virginia so that the Democratic Party will nominate a possible winner.
The old system of "smoke filled rooms" picking the candidate the party professionals think might have a chance to win looks less-and-less like a really bad system.
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