Cui Bono?

At the risk of turning this into a political blog ten months before the election, I just have to note a few observations.

First: At present, the Republican candidates have the field. This is not yet, at any rate, a contest between any one such candidate and President Obama. It is a contest solely among Republicans.  Could we please get that fact straight?

Second: Could Republicans please resist the pressure from all corners to declare a "winner" of their presidential nomination until they hold their national Convention this August? Surely anyone can see that the only voices pressing for a final selection now are those in the dedicated Obamedia, or those in the Republican Party establishment who superciliously think they would somehow benefit from having a known result at this point.

Third: The 2012 election will be a watershed -- so much is at stake that everyone and his brother is trying to manipulate the outcome this early, nine months and thirteen days before the election. That realization alone should furnish motivation enough to resist their slurs and blandishments.

Fourth: I would go further, and suggest a ban on all announcements of any kind of poll results which claim to match up candidates against each other, whether Republican vs. Republican, or Republican vs. Democrat. Can such polls, taken ten months before the election, have any meaning or significance whatsoever? Do you already know how you will vote when it is November? (How could you, since you won't even know until this summer who has the nominations?)

Fifth: As of this writing, a grand total of just sixty delegates to the Republican Convention have been determined by the primary results to date. That is sixty -- "six - oh" -- out of a total of 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination.  Here is a graphic that puts into perspective where we are versus where things still have to go before there can be a definite result. The math can get complicated, because party rules require that delegates chosen in primaries before April 1 be allocated proportionately, while after that date the rules allow for "winner-take-all" results. Essentially, however, it remains true that someone new could enter the race in February or March and still have a possibility to win the nomination.

The 2012 election won't be over until it's really over, folks. Lots of things can happen between now and September, and even more between September and November. So don't get caught up in the media frenzy to know right now just who the nominees will be. Sit back, put your feet up, and enjoy the spectacle! It is truly one of a kind -- because who could stand it if this happened more often than once every four years?