Why does the Presidential campaign season last so long?

The debates and the talk about it have been going on since late last winter/early spring (maybe even longer than that). Fred Thompson gets into the race a month or two ago and some people speculated he got in "too late."
I hear people bemoaning how long the process has gotten and how by the time the primaries start, we'll all be sick of the whole thing.
But why does it have to start so soon?
Is it the fundraising?

 

It's bullshit, whatever it is. Candidate gets elected for a four-year term. Spends the last two of those years campaigning for re-election.

Fuck this fucking system.

 

It runs so long to divert our attention from all the problems that could be addressed by people who don't spend two years sucking up to anyone with a pulse, promising that change is just around the corner and then selling out to their fat-cat corporate bosses for the rest of their careers.

Or is that just me?

 

It's so Yawn and old_tony won't fall asleep for three-year stretches.

 

Agreed. Electoral reform's long overdue, but it'd take an immense effort to make it happen.

 

Think about how long it takes most papers to fill a position. Multiply that by the importance of the position of President of the U.S. and I'm glad it takes this long. 90 percent of the country isn't going to have a chance to cast a meaningful vote in the primaries because they are so front-loaded, so if you want to participate you can watch the debates and financially support your favorite candidate. Three months from now it will be over. Then we'll have nine months of GOP vs. Dem. where we'll spend four months waiting to hear who the VP candidates will be and another five months of talking about the same old stuff. You want to know the real reason the campaigns got ramped up so early? People look at DC today and see futility and stalemate, people look at the campaigns and they see hope for change.

 

And yet ... some people still base their decision on whom they'd rather to have a beer with.

Fuck that shit. Six months of campaigning, that's it.

 

I don't even pay attention until maybe four months before, myself. I don't have the slightest clue who any if the candidates are, don't know anything about what they stand for and don't know anything about why they're running.

By the time June '08 rolls around, I'll have a better idea. By the time it's August, I'll probably have made up my mind. Buy the time it's October 31, I'll be sick of it.

I'll also bet most people are like this.

 

Eagleboy, think of it like this: do you think American Idol would be as good if the judges just picked the final two and America chose between singer A or singer B? A lot of people are like you and I understand, but by front-loading primaries and rigging the system the Dems and GOP are guaranteeing that fewer and fewer people are involved in selecting the ultimate candidates. They like it this way because it allows the party big wigs to play a bigger role in determining the candidates. If most independants and moderates took an active role in the primaries there is not a doubt in my mind our country would be better off with candidates who wouldn't be allowed to get away with pandering to the extreme edges of the electorate and in the end, having to reward their support.

 

This one is so extraordinarily long because, for the first time in forever, neither side's nominee was a fait accompli/slamdunk, when the process began . . .

 

That and the sooner a candidate declares, the sooner all of the consultants can start getting paid.

 

It's happening so soon this time because we can't replace the current officeholder fast enough.