The Roanoke Times laments that, with California leading the parade of states moving their presidential primaries to February 5, “Virginians’ roles in the selection process became much less meaningful.” I admit that that’s the likely outcome of clustering all those primaries on one date: by the time we go to the polls a week later, it’s probable that the game will be over, and both parties’ nominees will effectively be chosen. And yet . . .

 A sage  has noted that “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” It’s conceivable that one of the two parties will emerge from “Super-Duper Tuesday” on February 5 with two candidates close to clinching the nomination, but still short. Virginia could be the tie breaker. That’s where the “Potomac Primary” comes in.

A year or so ago, when it seemed that Virginia might be on the verge of producing a first-tier Presidential candidate in each party,  a bunch of us talked about promoting a “Potomac Primary” — having Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia hold their primaries on the same day.  Among the three jurisdictions, we’re fairly reflective of the US as a whole (and certainly more so than the traditional lead-off states of New Hampshire and Iowa), and our adjacency to DC would guarantee media coverage.

Nothing much came of the idea, and fate conspired to take our two Presidential contenders out of the running. But now Maryland is talking about moving its primary to February 12, and DC may follow. So we could end up with a Potomac Primary, and we could end up on the evening of February 12 hearing the words, “It all comes down to Virginia.” Remember how much fun that was on November 7, 2006?