by Bruno Somerset

Created on: March 04, 2007   Last Updated: March 19, 2008

We are four months past the mid-term elections, and two years from the Presidential election, but the race for President is already in full swing. Even with all the work that needs to be done in this country, several of our most prominent leaders have only one thing on their mind: replacing George Bush. John McCain, Joseph Biden, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama have all either announced their candidacy or formed exploratory committees, and one candidate, Gov. Tom Visilack has already dropped out.

The reason Obama, Clinton, McCain, Biden and a host of lesser-knowns have started visiting Iowa and New Hampshire a year before the primaries is that they saw what happened with John Kerry in 2004. Even though Kerry went into the Iowa caucuses trailing Howard Dean, his upset win there all but assured him the nomination. The momentum he gained, combined with Dean's meltdown, swept him to multiple victories in early primaries before anyone else could catch him. With more and more states moving their primaries to early March, delegate-rich Texas and California among them, there is no time to build momentum during the primaries. You win early or you don't win at all.

So the candidates are out now, furiously trying to raise the funds they will need to campaign this year. Long gone are the days when a candidate could announce his intention to run on New Year's Day of the election year. The public may be numb to the whole process by the time the primaries arrive, but this is our new reality. The campaigning for 2012 just might start the day after Christmas 2008.

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