A lot is riding on the caucuses and primaries in these early states, and most candidates believe if they don't win them, they don't have a chance. Especially Mitt Romney, who is probably the candidate I lean towards personally. Via Salt Lake City's Deseret Morning News:

For Romney, the results of GOP elections in just three states -- Iowa's caucus Thursday, New Hampshire's primary on Jan. 8 and South Carolina's primary on Jan. 19 -- could determine his political fate...

Romney has outspent his competition in the hopes of winning both Iowa and New Hampshire and establishing the momentum needed to stay in a race that may not be settled until the Republican National Convention in September...

Political science professors interviewed by the Deseret Morning News said Romney still can win the GOP nomination even if he loses Iowa. Or New Hampshire. But, like Romney's own strategists, they say he needs a first-place finish in at least one of the early voting states.

"If he loses both Iowa and New Hampshire, he runs the risk of being discounted," said Jeffrey M. Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University in Boston. The real test for Romney, though, may not be until Feb. 5, the so-called "Super-Duper Tuesday."

If you like Romney, and are concerned about his fate, read the whole thing. Basically, any candidate with a hope of the presidency needs to do well in January (when Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan hold their nominating processes) and February (when Super-Duper Tuesday is held and several larger states such as California hold their nominating processes). It's quite possible presidential nominations really could come down to the next 6-8 weeks, which in light of the importance of the position and the date of the actual election, seems strange.

The former editor of the Herald Tribune, the paper of South Florida, wrote an op-ed recently that echoed something similar, though he goes a bit farther and thinks the process is not just strange but disgraceful:

After this January mishmash comes Feb. 5, when primaries will be held in more than 20 states, including California and New York. There will be no time for candidates to do much campaigning in those states and most information for voters will come from very expensive television advertising. But, by the end of voting that day well more than half the delegates to both party conventions will have been chosen, and either or both parties might have a winner.

About half the states, including Texas and Ohio, will still not have voted. The primaries could drag on into June. But, probably not. The nominees of both parties will likely be decided, if not in February then in early March.

That will leave us eight months of campaigning, during which the nation will be semi-paralyzed, with crucial decisions either postponed or shaped by political considerations.

Not a happy prospect.

The way the major parties pick their presidential nominees is shameful, disgraceful and unworthy of a self-respecting republic.

I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say the process if shameful, but it is chaotic and convoluted. And you'd think, in a country as advanced as ours, we could organize what is the best political system in the world, in a way that's a bit more orderly and respectful.