A Primary Season to End All Primary Seasons....

Will it be over before it begins.

This is the question that more and more activists are starting to ask themselves.

But this question goes deeper.

The real question is whether or not we as voters and activists have deluded ourselves
into believing that we will have any impact on the course of this election.

Will the election be based on money and the brief period up to the end of November when more than thirty states will have conducted their primaries.

It certainly seems that way from the record numbers generated in the first quarter.

Right now, there are six super-stars at the top of both campaigns and, oddly enough, most of us know little about any of them.

On the republican side, it's Giuliani, McCain and Romney. On the democratic side, its Obama, Clinton and Edwards.

Of them all, we now probably know Edwards best and perhaps we think we know Hillary second best..

The Democratic field is not expected to change much with little evidence of the second tier candidates breaking through at this point. It would seem that Richardson, Biden and the candidate from Connecticut--as talented and influential as they seem to be--will emerge as first tier candidates when all is said and done...

Among the republicans, there is still considerable doubt. McCain has fallen in fund raising; Romney has many question marks and Giuliani's credentials were shaped during one day in September. The truth is that none of them satisfy the demands of the ultra conservatives in the Republican party who will shape the outcome and, as a result, there's a good chance that a politician with strong conservative ties may emerge and overtake the rest.

But for the most part, it looks like the races are decided....even though there is much more to know about the candidates.

If this is the case, it is both good and bad.

It is good because it weakens the impact of the old guard who used to decide such things.

It is bad because the decision is being shaped by money not positions on the issues or the character of the individual candidates.

When Jimmy Carter ran, which seems almost like yesterday, he said that he had trouble raising 2,500 dollars. Today, if you don't raise fifteen million in the first quarter, the chances are that you will get lost in the shuffle. And that's the way it's shaping up.

Some suggest that this will be the first billion dollar election and judging from the performance in the first quarter, you can believe it.
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It is, however, staggering to consider that when push comes to shove, the biggest loser in this election may be the people who increasingly feel that they've been isolated from the process.

And electing another president without knowing Jack Squat about him or her truly seems unAmerican.

Les Aaron