WASHINGTON -- Nearly half a year into his second run for the White House, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has yet to clear his primary electoral hurdle.
Mr. McCain has already filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to overturn a series of complex state election rules that the party has employed to keep him off the primary ballot in electoral districts across the state.
The primary also marked the electoral debut of the fourth generation of the Bush dynasty with George P. Bush's candidacy.
For the international community, once again the primary funders of the electoral process, the first round was seen largely as a test of the key presidential and second-round elections scheduled to be held in October.
Under the current electoral calendar, the primary is set for Sept. 10.
Meanwhile, the interim government, likely to be installed in the next few days if an agreement can be reached, is expected to deal with the primary task of amending an electoral law that needs to be changed following the referendum.
Weld's role in the primary is less as an electoral threat to Trump than of a voice who can attack him in the media, much as Howard Schultz has become an antagonist for Democrats.
Blame the front-loading of the primary season with rural states, or electoral and legislative systems that give disproportionate weight to sparsely populated states.
In 2010, the railroad commissioner Victor Carrillo lost his Republican primary to David Porter, a political novice who wasn't on the electoral radar until the primary was over and he had won.
It is not as big an electoral prize in the primary, but Colorado is one of the few states voting on Tuesday that is a genuine "purple" state in national elections, ie it could swing Republican or Democrat.
