Barack Obama is Peaking Too Early: Why Has the 2008 Campaign Started Already?

Do you ever get that feeling before Election Day? You know - the feeling that you're so sick of campaign ads and you just want the election to be over? Well, I'm getting that feeling already.

Thousands of people showed up in Cleveland recently in a huge show of support for presidential candidate Barack Obama. Despite his relative inexperience, Obama received a huge ovation as the crowd lapped up every word he said.

Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, you have to see the obvious problem here.

The election is 20 months away!

What's going on here? As soon as the 2006 midterm elections ended, politicians threw their hats into the ring for 2008.

I fail to see the advantage of declaring your candidacy this early. Are the candidates afraid of running out of time to meet everyone in America? With the Internet and constant news coverage, a candidate's message gets out very easily.

The media is already starting to focus on the rivalry between Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Not only does that marginalize the other Democratic candidates, it means Obama and Clinton will spend a longer time fighting each other than either one would spend battling the eventual Republican nominee.

In a way, Obama and the other Democratic candidates were forced to play their hands early. Ever since John Kerry lost the election in 2004, everyone suspected that Hillary would go after the top spot in 2008. Rather than allow her to become the de facto nominee, the other Democrats almost had no choice but to enter the fray early.

The results haven't been pretty. Joe Biden shot his candidacy in the foot early on with his ill-conceived compliment that Obama is a "clean" African-American candidate. Tom Vilsack dropped out before the year of the election even arrived!

Then Hillary's camp got angry that her former supporter, media mogul David Geffen, supported Obama and called the Clintons a couple of accomplished liars. Team Hillary demanded an apology from Obama. He wisely refused, considering he didn't make the comment.