A Look Back

With just 4 days to go till Election Day, I think its time for a little recap; you know for the sake of perspective. It feels like this election process has been going on for while. A long while. But just how long has it been? Well the first caucus was held January 3, 2008 in Iowa. But that was by no means the beginning of the race for the White House. The party debates were held in June of 2007: the Republicans' on the 5th, the Democrats' on the 3rd. By January of 2007, the field of candidates was already beginning to take shape. Names like Mike Huckabee, John Edwards, George Pataki, Al Gore, Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Dennis Kucinich, and Tommy Thompson graced polling ballots across the country. Barack Obama announced his consideration of a presidential bid in December of 2006, and McCain formed a presidential exploratory committee just a few weeks earlier in November. That's a solid two years of campaigning for both major nominees. Yet we can push the start date back even further. The first Republican straw polls were held March 11, 2006. By the way, that poll saw John McCain recieve only 4.6% of the vote. Some would argue that the cycle began as soon as the final vote was counted in 2004. It was a few months earlier, July 27, when America was first publicly introduced to Barack Obama. He spoke at the Democratic National Convention, and from then on was the subject of presidential speculation. Conjecture about Hillary Clinton's candidacy existed as early as 2002 with Maureen Dowd's New York Times Article, "Can Hillary Upgrade?" So if after as many as six years of presidential gossip you're fed up with the whole process, the end is in sight. But rest assured, on the morning of November 5th, you can bet someone will start the ball rolling on Campaign 2012.

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