Marco Rubio nabbed 23 delegates yesterday. Skulked away with ’em, really, like a nimble burglar on a moonless night. 23 delegates, virtually uncontested, nominally publicized. Heck, that’s more delegates than Trump won in either Louisiana or Kentucky on Super Saturday- and only one less than Cruz racked up in his landslide victory in Kansas. 23 delegates, each one a precious commodity in this year’s balkanized race. 23, the precise number of delegates that a bloated field of presidential contenders shed blood over in New Hampshire. All those town hall meetings, all those speeches, all that money– more than $100 million in TV ads alone- all for the exact same reward that was available Sunday in Puerto Rico.

The Caribbean island awards more delegates than Vermont, Hawaii, Delaware, and the District of Columbia- and, along with the Granite State, an equal number as Maine. And that’s just the GOP. It’s far more lopsided on the Democratic side. In their primary, Puerto Rico boasts more delegates than 27 states. That’s right, an American territory is richer in delegates than more than half the states in the union. Puerto Rico is a bigger prize than any of the first four, media saturated, capital drenched contests. Winning a primary in the remote island is a larger coup than capturing Connecticut, Kentucky, or Alabama. In fact, if you add up all the territories- American Somoa, Northern Marianas, Guam, and the Virgin Islands- only 9 states in the GOP race deliver more delegates. That’s a lot of political power for a few exotic locales that Americans know little about. (Is there a Southern Marianas? And, if so, which country do they pledge their delegates to?) While Puerto Rico may provide a much needed boost to Rubio’s flagging campaign, the tropical commonwealth wields an undue- and unjust- influence on the electoral process. This anomaly should be addressed, and corrected, by 2020.