The Republican race for President has now entered a new phase where no longer can the candidates, their campaigns and the news media focus on just one state, as the political battlefield expands dramatically over the next few weeks.
And it begs an important question - where do you go?
The answer for Monday is "West" - as Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich all head to the Pacific Time Zone.
+ Romney holds an event in Arizona, which votes on February 28
+ Santorum is in Washington State, which has caucuses March 3
+ Gingrich is in California, which has a primary on June 5
Gingrich has just one event on Monday and one event on Tuesday in the Los Angeles area, as his trip is focused more on fund raising, which has become an issue for the former Speaker since Santorum won three states last Tuesday.
Santorum will go to Idaho on Tuesday, which has a caucus on Super Tuesday, March 6.
Here's the upcoming schedule to give you an idea of how difficult it is to determine where to marshal your resources, where to campaign and where to spend precious money on radio and television advertising:
+ February 28 - Michigan & Arizona primaries
+ March 3 - Washington State caucus
+ March 6 - Super Tuesday - primaries in Georgia, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont & Virginia; caucuses in Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota and Wyoming
+ March 10 - Kansas & Virgin Islands caucuses
+ March 13 - Alabama & Mississippi primaries; Hawaii caucus
+ March 17 - Missouri caucus
+ March 18 - Puerto Rico caucus
+ March 20 - Illinois Primary
+ March 24 - Louisiana Primary
For the sake of argument, let's just look at the events through Super Tuesday, which cover 13 states.
There are two weeks left until the February 28th primaries and three weeks of campaign time left until Super Tuesday.
How much time would you spend in Michigan and Arizona?
What states would you target for Super Tuesday?
Romney, Santorum and Gingrich basically took off the weekend from retail campaigning; Ron Paul was in Maine on Saturday, but down on Sunday.
As I always say on the radio, the clock is ticking. Every single minute you waste in a campaign right now, you can never get that back.
Every hour that is not spent shaking hands, you can never bring it back.
I'm sure the candidates are tired. I'm sure the staff isn't seeing or thinking real straight right now.
But this is a real test of how much you want it.
If you're Romney, Santorum, Gingrich or Paul, how much time do you spend on Michigan and Arizona? What states do you focus on for Super Tuesday?
There is no easy answer - but an awful lot depends on your choices over the next three weeks.
