Get Ready

Just in case your taste buds will not be completely satiated by November 7th, get ready for this...

COLUMBIA, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FOX News and the South Carolina Republican Party have jointly announced that they will present the first 2008 presidential debate on May 15, 2007. The debate, which is expected to attract the top Republican contenders for President, will be shown live on FOX News Channel (FNC) and FOX News Radio from the University of South Carolina's Koger Center. The South Carolina Republican Party is expected to hold its Presidential Primary in early February 2008. There has never been a candidate to lose the South Carolina primary and successfully capture the Party's nomination for President.

That means that a bunch of people have to up and declare for President sometime in the next six months to not make this thing look silly. Of course candidates declare earlier and earlier these days. For example, for the 2000 race George W. Bush declared June 12, 1999, Steve Forbes March 16, Gary Bauer April 21, etc.

To show you how far we have "progressed", President Reagan declared November 13, 1979. Richard Nixon declared in the same year as the election (January 31, 1968). Hubert Humphrey declared in April of that year. Does that make campaigns better, or make them worse?