Planning for 2012

The PAN will select its presidential candidate on Feb. 22, and will determine the format of its selection process in October. In 2006, the PAN selected Calderón in a trio of regional primaries, the last of which came in October 2005. I wonder a) Why they changed the format, which seems to me to be ideal (I'd much prefer the US adopt something similar) and b) Why they are waiting until February. The PRD is determining their candidate in the fall, and Enrique Peña Nieto basically already has it locked down; the PAN candidate is therefore going to cede several months of preparation to the competition. Why?