Et Tu. New York?

The New York State Senate overwhelmingly approved moving the New York Presidential Primary to February 5^th.

New York follows California in moving its primary up. Florida and New Jersey are also expected to move their primaries up.

The vote in the Republican-controlled State Senate was nearly unanimous, with only one Senator voting no; Ruth Hassell-Thompson (D-Bronx) who explained her reasoning as "the winter months are just more difficult to get voters out."

The rationale for moving the primary up is to provide New Yorkers with an early choice in race, as the nominee may already be pretty much decided by the time New York votes, but I don't think New Yorkers really have a choice at all. The frontrunners on both sides are New Yorkers and pretty much have a lock on their home state, so what difference does it make if New York moves the primary up or not. Essentially what New York is doing is handing Hillary and Rudy the nominations as an early win in their home state will help them greatly.

This move does not help anybody except Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani. Early primaries TAKE AWAY choices, as the candidates with name recognition and the money to buy commercials have the advantage. Rudy and Hillary have both. Both parties in New York are in agreement for once because Republicans want Rudy to be the nominee and help revive the dying New York GOP, and Democrats want Hillary to be their nominee because she's the favorite daughter. Obama, Edwards, Romney, McCain, Richardson, Hunter, Thompson, Biden and Dodd will never have a chance in the Empire State.

The Democrats are behind this plan too, as can be seen by the State Senate vote. The bill will easily sail through the State Assembly and Governor Spitzer will sign it effectively handing the White House to either an overrated mediocre mayor or a pandering wishy-washy Senator.