A year out, oh please, fucking spare me..

[Scooter]

More than a year and a half, actually.

[MajGenl.Meade]

A whole fucking year of the dog and pony show which will be the next US election?

Quite sensible actually. The early part is not spent on much of the public dog and pony show - it's more to do with rallying the troop, getting plans into place, determining strategy and (oh yes) raising money, that's true. The President needs to just go on doing Presidentiall thing for quite a time before the truly major bucks really start to get spent. He's also ensuring that democrats are in no doubt about his intentions and at the same time pressuring Republicans to declare themselves when they are not really all that ready. It doesn't really get all that sick until some months before the conventions and the true awful part follows those

IMO
Meade

[Gob]

Whereas out here in sensible land, the party picks it's leader, an election is called, and the whole shooting match is over in under 3 months, fortunately.

[loCAtek]

Then there's the coup, and whole electoral process is upended.

[Beer Sponge]

Y'all know we're having an election up here in Canada, eh? Parliament dissolved end of March, Election set for May 2nd. All done in 6 weeks or less. Of course, this is our 4th federal election in 7 years, so what are you going to do...