There are many reasons why I hate the length of American presidential campaigns — not the least of which is the banality of most political journalism — and quite frankly I haven’t been paying much attention to any of the current campaigns. But these two clips below do suggest that long campaigns — and the thousand or so debates — may produce some benefit. With each passing day Cain, Perry, and Bachmann reveal more of their amateurishness and that they really are not fit to be president. Yet, all three had significant populist surges that might have created far different dynamics in a condensed cycle. So, on that score, I guess we can thank the never-ending campaign process. Still, I’m pretty sure I’ll be tuning it all out again tomorrow — there’s still a year to go. Ugh…