It's Called Democracy

It doesn't matter whether you are reading this before or after the votes have been counted in the Indiana or North Carolina primaries. Unless Sen. Hillary Clinton throws in the towel -- which she won't -- this contest won't be over until June. So brace yourself for more grumbling about how long it's taking to get a cottonpickin' nominee.

Here's where I puzzle: how can something so good for democracy be interpreted as something so rotten for everything else? Think of the thousands of people in past elections who concluded their vote didn't mean diddly-squat in the primaries after Super Tuesday. Consider throwaway states like Wyoming which suddenly became a factor. And when's the last time anybody cared about how they voted in Guam? For the first time in a long time, those areas shrugged off as "flyover country" cannot be ignored.

Still, you hear people wish the whole thing would've ended on Super Tuesday so they could get the coronation over with and start kicking McCain around. The will of the electorate is just so inconvenient. This is America, not FedEx. The presidential nominating process does not absolutely, positively have to end in February.

Might we remind you, the GOP nearly faced the same situation a few months ago. But with their winner-take-all system, the math quickly works against the underdogs -- except for Ron Paul whose legions of apparatchiks still think they can pull off an upset victory.

Speaking of upset, why is the Clinton camp treating defections of former supporters to Obama like high treason? Somebody forgot to tell Hill that expecting loyalty in campaign season is like expecting your dog to always come when he's called. Right now, she's looking more and more like the fire hydrant.

Once the nomination is decided, we will all have plenty of time to gorge on slimy attack ads seasoned with a few debates and soundbite collections, starting on Labor Day. Two months is plenty of time to make up your mind. And four years from now, if you want to avoid all this mess called democracy, you can petition to move Super Tuesday back to December.