Back in 2004, my state was at last a player! Instead of waiting until the totally irrelevant, regularly scheduled June primary, the Democratic Party, under the leadership of the Governor (who ran for President this cycle, too) held a "caucus" in the first week of February.

And it was great! We got the political ads on the radio and the TV, several visits by candidates, the robo and human phone calls - we were part of the political process. Not so much as the spoiled and coddled New Hampshirites or Iowahoovians, who expect candidates to stop by with coffee and doughnuts at their homes every morning and kiss their butts, but at least we were involved. Our local newspeople attended and wrote articles on candidate rallies, radio and TV stations covered them, and they were unfettered by the k00l-kidz ethos of DC. There was information other than the horse race.

Every state ought to have this opportunity, on a regular basis. Every state. It's time to dump NH and IA, and move to a rotating series of REGIONAL primaries (to make travel costs more reasonable and group similar interests). NH and IA would be forced to take their turns, or get ZERO DELEGATES at the National Democratic Convention. Maybe they could be squeezed out on Congressional earmarks, too.

The time to start is NOW.

We also need to work on the bucks-biased media.

... just in time for the 30-day session of the Legislature, which starts next week.

But seriously - those of us who are annoyed that two puny, all-white, overprivileged states (Iowa and New Hampshire) have cut the Democratic field down to just three candidates, before the 99.999 remaining % of the country has had a chance to weigh in ought to start getting together and trying to make sure that this never happens again. Enough is enough. Move to a series of regional, rotating primaries.

2012 will be WAY TOO LATE to make a difference.

Guantanamo Prison would be an excellent site for the George Bush Junior Presidential Library. Just convert some of the big new buildings. The cell blocks should be preserved as well, as part of the full experience. Trot out the interrogation videos (with the CIA and contractor faces tastefully pixillated) as part of the tour.

The highlight, of course, would be Mr. Bush himself and much of his inner circle, in their cells. Be sure to drop by during "enhanced interrogation"!

So "anyone who generates this much antipathy" would be incapable of serving as an effective leader - much less get elected?

Does no one remember Richard Nixon? Elected TWICE, as I recall. Did quite a bit in those two terms - re-established relations with China, created the Environmental Protection Agency, expanded the power of the Presidency ... and with a Democratic Congress.

The "hatred" comes almost entirely from the right wing and its echo chamber - that's why it SOUNDS like "everyone" hates her. It JUST sounds like it.

And why should American voters reject a candidate just because the blow-dried talking heads have some personal grudge against her?

Not everyone still lives in their high school days.

Jessie Jackson, Junior, is an a$$.

... to quit before the Democratic "Caucus" (more a primary, actually) in his own state. I agree with JulieBird about his performance in the Saturday debate - he made more sense in some critical areas that any of the "big two" (and John Edwards).

While they were trying to out-manly each other on the question about sending combat troops into Pakistan, if "actionable intelligence" suddenly materialized, he was for handling it via talk. TALK! Diplomacy, instead of unprovoked air strikes within a country that the US hasn't declared war on!

If he were to have been brutally honest, and I wish he were, he might have mentioned that these sudden "surgical strikes" and "commando raids" appear NEVER to have worked. Sure, we've wiped out scores of innocents - but hitting the target? By striking based on information that's HOURS OLD at a minimum, by the time the Pentagon can marshal its forces? It's a bureaucracy, you know. Reality is not a movie or teevie script. These "instant responses" take time. A lot of time.

Gov. Richardson also said that the US ought to quietly ask General President-for-Life Musharef to just resign. He insisted we had enough influence to make it stick, and that we'd done similar things often in the past. The fact that he struck a nerve there is indicated by the rightwing editorials that have been coming out against him on this issue since the debate.

No, let Bill be Bill, and let him stick in there, at least through "Tsunami Tuesday." He's unlikely to become President in this election cycle, but I'd really like to see him as Secretary of State.

Oops! I apologize for the "Salas" misspelling. Must have been thinking of Spanish instead of Latin...

Nulla Salas states "The Dems have a black man with an Arabic name running against a woman, for President and it's not progressive enough for them."

You left out the Mexican.