>I’m very concerned about the compression of the primary schedule. I believe that the political process is best served by on the ground retail politics.

I agree with you completely on this. That’s why the long term solution isn’t what’s being done this year. The changes this year are meant to spur the DNC to come up with a better plan. Personally I favor the plan suggested by Bob Graham — a series of regional primaries spread out over time that rotate so that each region gets to be first in successive presidential cycles.

>Yes, I am concerned about people it states with later primaries not having as much of a voice in the process.

It’s not about not having “as much” of a voice, it’s about having “no” voice. The current system disenfranchises the majority of Democrats by allowing a few unrepresentative states to have a monopoly on the beginning of the cycle. For the majority of states, the majority of Democratic voters have never had their voice heard in the primary process, since the nominee is already known by the time most states vote. While it isn’t that tough of a drive for you to get to New Hampshire, it is a difficult, if not impossible, drive for us to visit New Hampshire or Iowa. Most Democrats in the country are left out of the retail politics you talk about and that can’t be good for democracy.