The New York Times reported today that Governor Corzine offered to raise money for new Democratic primaries in Michigan and Florida.

Currently, neither Michigan nor Florida will be allowed to send delegates to the Democratic National Convention to vote for the party’s presidential nominee. Each state chose to hold its primary early in the year – in January – despite the Democratic National Committee’s clear opposition.

Now, with the race for the Democratic nominee so close, some Democratic leaders are looking for compromises that would allow each of these states to send delegates to the convention. Some people suggested that the delegates be sent according to the primaries that were held in January. Others have suggested that new primaries would need to be held, but that would cost millions of dollars.

In order to make a new primary more affordable, Governor Corzine has offered to help raise about half of the necessary funds – $15 million dollars.

In my opinion, neither state should be allowed to vote. They clearly violated the Democratic National Committee’s rules and moved their primaries to January. If the states had left their primaries alone instead of breaking the rules, they would have been allowed to vote in the convention like normal.

The primary season is already packed and front-loaded enough with so many elections taking place on or before Super Tuesday. These need to be more spaced out so that candidates have a chance to campaign in the states – otherwise they’ll focus on only the big states. If the committee holds firm in its decision to not allow these states to vote, it could help deter other states from moving their primaries next year – otherwise, more states could move up their primaries and further frontload the election calendar.