By Monday night, Western North Carolina Republicans will have done in a few hours what a primary normally accomplishes over several months: choose a nominee, test the party’s coalition, and determine how Republicans will present themselves to general-election voters.

That compressed process creates an obvious temptation to reward the contender who is best organized inside the committee room. The stronger standard is the Tuesday morning test: which candidate can emerge from Monday’s meeting with the credibility, organization and message required to win immediately?