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...not the candidates you wish you had.

The unsinkable Romney supporter, Hugh Hewitt, notes that fully 40 percent of Californians voted by absentee ballot. He puts the figure at 3 million, predicting that 25 percent of those ballots will not be counted by the end of the night.

If that's the case, it's probably not good for Romney, since the votes were cast before his supposed surge of support in California. But this gets me thinking ...

Every year, some blogger's darling candidate is defeated -- yet they stubbornly cling to absentee-vote hope. Don't declare for McCain, yet, CNN!! The absentees are still being counted!!!

Maybe, so. But I cannot recall a single major-race election in which absentee votes, once carefully tallied, swung the election to the other guy.

Could the dark horse be sprinting for real?

No.

We've heard much grousing this year over how the compressed, front-loaded primary schedule is a terrible thing. But the intense and accelerated schedule has turned out to be a great thing for democracy.

In 1996, Bob Dole had the Republican nomination wrapped up before Super Tuesday rolled around.

In 2000, once Bush beat McCain in South Carolina -- the fourth primary -- it was all over. (Yet, even then, people were concerned about the process being too front-loaded.) And Gore, essentially, was able to easily dispatch Bill Bradley.

In 2004, Kerry had a commanding lead after Iowa, and then wrapped it up on "Mini Tuesday," -- again, before Super Tuesday.

I know that this year is different, being the first election in decades that didn't feature either an incumbent running or a veep looking to move up in pay grade. But I think the excitement surrounding this election, for voters and political junkies, has a lot to do with the much-maligned compressed primary schedule.

Thanks to Super Duper Tuesday, millions of voters actually get a real say in who the party's nominees will be. As a Californian, I'm glad that I have a chance to make a real choice, instead of ceding it to a few thousand quirky voters in a few quirky states. Indeed, if not for Super Duper Tuesday, Romney's campaign would pretty much be over. Today, he can reach out to the lifeline that is California. Even if McCain wins the Golden State, he probably won't win by much -- and Romney is certain to almost split the delegate-count with McCain. And there has even been serious talk about a "brokered convention," for both parties. That's how open, and utterly unlike the last several cycles, this presidential race has been.

A large, regional/national primary system would be best, but Super Duper Tuesday is as close as we've ever gotten. Voters in California, New York, wide swaths of the South and in the Rocky Mountains are making their choices. Every vote in those states matters. That strikes me as a healthy thing.