So Much, So Fast

Today's Times has an article about the excitement, or "hoop-de-la", as one Iowan puts it, of the 2008 campaign and the wariness that so many feel about it. Outside of Iowa or New Hampshire it must be difficult to understand the true extent of candidate saturation, but imagine living in a state where it takes less than three hours to drive across from stem to stern, and in the middle sits six candidates on a given day with 7 months to go before you cast your vote. And tomorrow, as you drive back, there are four candidates meeting and greeting, reiterating their platform for the fifth time that weekend, smiling and waving and enlisting your volunteer help. Better still, your money. All along I have blamed this phenomenon on the likes of California, New York, Illinois and all the other big state bullies who moved their primaries up from Super Tuesday of old (early March) to Super Tuesday anew (early Feb). But the theme of the Nagourney article hints not at frontloading, but rather at our old friend George Bush, and by old I mean old. Like, we are sick and tired of him and we can't wait to see who comes next. Interesting. But the question remains, is Bush's terrible approval rating, sufficient enough to create a raucous primary campaign calendar, all a Rovian ploy to give the electorate an awful case of Democrat candidate fatigue, and thus ensure a permanent Republican majority? It is enough to blow your mind if you are a normal political observer. Luckily, for 3Q, it is almost enough to blow my load. Almost.