Hit The Snooze... It's Too Early For Politics

I love politics.

I find it enjoyable. When I watch T.V., often the news channels are my first choice (thus causing me to not watch the ever-increasing amount of programs on my DVR). Politics is one of the things I love to talk about. I have yet to determine whether this makes me twisted and insane, or lining me up for a career in the political world; when I find out for sure, I'll let you know.

But unfortunately, the world of politics has taken an unfortunate, and possibly unbearable, turn. The 2008 campaign for the general elections will, if certain state's laws are held up, last almost an entire year. Of course, this all depends if New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's prediction holds true that a winner will be picked by the first four states.

In case you haven't heard (if you have, you will have no doubt performed several bouts of eye-rolling and groaning) many states have recently switched their primaries to near the beginning of the year. The South Carolina Republican party has officially switched their primary to January 19, assuring the Palmetto State will be the first southern state to hold a primary. This was due to, in part, Florida changing its primary to January 29. The SC Democratic party has stated that it will not change its primary date. However, New Hampshire has a law on it's books which requires their primary to be held 7 days be fore any other state primary. If that isn't enough, Iowa has a special law of it's own, which requires that the Iowa Caucuses be held 8 days before ANY other state votes at all, regardless of whether it uses the primary or caucus system. It's possible that Iowa new caucus date could take place at the very end of this year.

This is very concerning. After all, campaign coverage has already been going full swing for several months, and this is with just shy of 20 candidates and lots of speculation. If this thing gets locked by February, all the coverage on T.V., online, and in the papers will cause a severe strain on the American people. People who already aren't extremely interested in politics could distance themselves from it even more, because two candidates continually repeating the same slogans are all that plays in the media. People like myself will no doubt become less tolerable to the endless mudslinging and false promises continually being thrown around. While a year-long Presidential campaign could get voters to know the candidates more, it will no doubt be a continuous string of rhetoric. I don't think it will result in less voter turn-out (Bush pretty well wrapped that one up, didn't he?), but it will start a wave of Americans who are not as involved in politics as they should be; I count on that.

-Adam