Changes in the Electoral Landscape

This electoral race got started way too early, with way too much money, too many so-called "debates," and too many candidates. And now, way too many states are trying to leapfrog into the foreground in terms of their Primary Elections or Caucuses.

Seriously, it's given me a headache and caused me to do NOTHING on this blog for a number of months. I've been waiting, on the one hand, for the field on both sides to diminish...but only two candidates have dropped out so far--Jim Gilmore and Tommy Thompson--and both are on the Republican side. The holes their departures have left will almost surely be filled this next month by the long-awaited announcements from Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich (though he's still "iffy") that they are formally entering the Presidential Race. That's going to do nothing to ease my headache.

What will? Perhaps some clarity on both sides. But how can any of these candidates run a clear and well-organized campaign when they are forced to take part in these media-driven soundbite forums they're calling debates every other week or so? How can they know how and where to marshall their staff and volunteers when the rules of the game keep changing in the middle of the game? If we're not going to let Iowa and New Hampshire continue as the first election and caucus in the nation DURING the election year...then we may as well give up this system and go for a NATIONAL PRIMARY DAY! If not that, then at least a regional primary day in which every region would rotate turns at being the first in the country (i.e., the South for 2008, the West for 2012, the Midwest for 2016, etc.).

Ah, but Americans hate change. I guess we haven't been around long enough to understand how powerless we are against the currents of time and how inevitable change is. I say, embrace it. This is a crucial election. Let's vote for a change (and I don't mean that as an endorsement of Obama...I don't believe he's the only candidate for change).

In any case, since I am the master of this blog, come September there will be a change. Whether the fields have narrowed or widened, I'm going to choose the top 4 candidates in each party (a purely subjective choice based mostly on my judgement of those most electable), delete the rest of both fields, and delve into the positions of these 8 candidates in the following areas: Foreign Policy (Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Asia, in particular), Security, Health Care, Education, Energy, National Economy, Environment, Immigration Reform, Poverty, and the Power of the Executive Branch.

A clear plan and the ability to turn off all the media's spin meisters should finally get rid of this headache!