It’s August — that lovely month when politics slows down in preparation for the drinking-from-a-water-hose days that come after Labor Day.
Unfortunately for The Fix’s vacation plans, no one seems to have told the candidates for president. On both sides, frontrunners and long shots alike are crisscrossing Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina (not to mention Florida) looking for votes.
If the 2008 campaign is the earliest starter in the modern history of elections, it is now becoming increasingly clear that it will also be the most relentless. Nearly every day now, the frontrunners on both sides are sniping at each other — for Republicans it’s over immigration and guns, for Democrats it’s over nuclear weapons and Iraq — and the back and forth shows no signs of letting up.
Of course, the ramped-up campaign might have something to do with the fact that it now appears likely that the nomination will be decided by the end of January. Michigan’s move to Jan. 15 sets a series of dominoes in motion that will probably put the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8 and the Iowa caucuses a few days before that. We still think any votes in December are unlikely — all sides see that as a bridge they don’t want to cross — but who knows at this point?
What we do know is that if you like politics like we like politics the next few months are going to be fun to watch. And here at The Fix we’ve got a frontrow seat.
Here’s our take on where the candidates for president stand at the moment. The candidate ranked number one on each side is considered most likely to win the nomination. Remember, this is a snapshot in time; a campaign would rather be ranked #1 on Jan. 1 than today.
To the Line!