Caucus Schmaucus

Day 367 of the Iowa Caucus/New Hampshire Primary News: I am sick of hearing about the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. We have been hearing about them since at least January 1, 2007. I'm sorry (no I am not), but Iowa is not that important a state. It doesn't have a large population. Only a fraction of the population bothers to go to the caucus, they don't have a large electoral college presence. What is the big idea giving all of that time to farmers. Heck, many of them already get a subsidy - do they have to get all of the attention, too? The Washington Post had an article about Eight questions that the Iowa Caucus might answer (or something to that effect). The very first one was - will the contest be over (for the Democrats) after Iowa? Will the contest be over? What is the matter with the media? Could they make it any plainer that the remaining 48 states, with the bulk of the US population, don't matter. Only Iowa and New Hampshire matter. Why should I bother voting in the primary - Iowa and New Hampshire have already selected the candidates. Why not just let them elect the President and let the rest of us relax and wait for the writers strike to end. Let Iowa and New Hampshire suffer the commercials and news (as I am sure they have over the last months) - leave the rest of us in peace.

What really gets me, though, is that it isn't only the media that are overkilling in Iowa and New Hampshire. The candidates have visited Iowa and New Hampshire more than they will visit any other state in the Union - they have spent more money in those two states than they will spend almost anywhere else. This is getting out of hand. We really need to rethink haw we go about electing our national leaders. It should not be about money, media, attack ads, baby kissing, and rubber chicken. It needs to be about the issues that face our nation, especially as a result of the last eight years. It is time to change the process to one nation-wide primary, a restricted four-month (maximum) campaign (all those senators, congress persons, governors, mayors, etc should spend more time AT WORK!), restricted TV/radio ads (unrestricted print material), and an election.

We still have 11 months to go before the election. I don't know how I am going to survive and remain sane. Regards -