Many among the bloggers and column writers and general opinioneers around the country have taken their turn speculating about the interest in the 2008 presidential election (present company included).
Cynics speculated on the obsession of the media with horse race politics. Optimists opted for the abnormally diverse genders, races, and religions of the candidates. Politicos pondered the possibility that the press was finally catering to its desire to know as much as humanly possible about the candidates.
We fell somewhere in between all three at first. But now we're beginning to wonder if there isn't another explanation, having more to do with our nation's recent past than its approaching future.
After all, as one astute reader pointed out, this is hardly the first time a diverse corps has presented itself during the lead up to the presidential primaries. Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, and Joe Lieberman, for starters, have presented themselves as those who don't traditionally fit the typical prerequisites of U.S. presidents; that is to say, they weren't white, Christian and male.
Unfortunately, many of these nontraditional candidates were viewed by their parties as potential winners of the overall election, regardless of how qualified they were (or are). By contrast, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney are all being treated as potential frontrunners.
Still, the arguable novelty aspect of the candidates doesn't explain why the coverage is coming so early and often.
Likewise, while an occasional story surfaces about the latest polls for the latest pool of candidates, it doesn't seem that too many people take the polls too seriously at this point (probably with good reason).
Finally, very little new information has surfaced about the candidates yet - at least, not enough to warrant the utopian view that the press is merely trying to paint as full a picture of the candidates as possible.
So, what gives?
We think it might have something to do with President George W. Bush's current approval rating, which still hovers somewhere between abysmal and awful.
The low approvals come at the end of a second term fraught with renewed protest about Iraq and a public that was not appeased even after voting Bush's party out of Congress.
Like a child eagerly awaiting Christmas Day, many people whose attention is held by all the early election news are probably just excited for a change.
Unfortunately, presidential elections don't even come once a year.
