MONTICELLO, IA - APRIL 14: Democratic presidential hopeful and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) speaks during a roundtable discussion with students and educators at the Kirkwood Community College Jones County Regional Center on April 14, 2015 in Monticello, Iowa. Hillary Clinton kicked off her second bid for President of the United States two days after making the announcement on social media. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
MONTICELLO, IA - APRIL 14: Democratic presidential hopeful and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) speaks during a roundtable discussion with students and educators at the Kirkwood Community College Jones County Regional Center on April 14, 2015 in Monticello, Iowa. Hillary Clinton kicked off her second bid for President of the United States two days after making the announcement on social media. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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Welcome to the “Silly Season.” Table for how many? The presidential hopefuls are slowly emerging from their laires like Punxsutawney Phil Sowerby on Groundhog Day. (Bet you didn’t know Phil had a last name)

If they aren’t scared by the shadow of a voter then we have six more weeks of name-calling, innuendo, scandals, and negative ad campaigns.

Then we’ll get serious. But before that we have to have the “silly season.”

This is part of the election process where you have to get noticed. Anything goes as long as your name is at the end of the quote.

There Are Actually Three Races

Many people think there are two races to the presidency. Wining the primaries then winning the general election.

But the toughest race is the third race. Getting into the primaries.

If you don’t score well in the polls you will never be eligible for the eventual debates leading up to the primaries. No one’s interested in a stage full of wannabes.

Debates? Really?

I’ve been watching presidential debates ever since the first televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon.

The interesting thing about that debate was that people who heard it on the radio thought Nixon won while TV viewers preferred Kennedy.

I’m still waiting for some kind of substantive question from the “so-called” news people. Imagine a softball question about the size of a land rover. That’s what most candidates have to answer.

Questions that have just a little more challenge than what’s your favorite color?

Facebook, Twitter, and MORE

I’m already tired of the posts about candidates and we only have a few so far. Between the cute cats, ingenious dogs, and videos of people damaging various parts of their bodies is the never ending pros and cons of our possible future leaders.

It’s no wonder our eyes glaze over when politics are mentioned. It all seems so silly. Hence the name of the season.

Some Final Thoughts

It’s sad to say that primary elections are a lot like pre-season ball games. You get to see the players but none of it really counts until the finals cuts are made.

Then it’s game on.

It’s a complicated expensive process but in the end the cream usually rises to the top. No candidate is perfect and no president is perfect.

Decisions are made and the chips don’t always fall where we’d like them to. But in the end we get to do it all over again in four short years.

The only problem is the election process starts almost as soon as the winner is sworn in.

Parties or people? Which do we vote for? Does one party or one person really have all the answers?

Life is composed of compromise. But compromise is based on accurate information. Not talking points from some talking head on the news.

You learn about people by listening to them — not others. Ignore the hype and do your homework. And vote.

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