Scratching My Head

Some questions about the 2008 presidential campaign:

1. Why do people complain that John McCain is too old? He's only 71. Ronald Reagan was going on 70 when he first entered the Oval Office.

2. Why do people complain that Mitt Romney is too rich? Sure, his father was a governor. But he made his fortune the old-fashioned American way: he worked for it. Shouldn't that be lauded? I'm not rich, but I sure hate rich-bashing.

3. Why doesn't Bill Clinton just shut his yap? People have rightly complained that a Hillary presidency would be controlled by Bill. I think Obama made a shrewd move yesterday when he attacked Bill for making untruthful remarks. By attacking Bill, Obama makes it look like Bill is his opposition rather than Hillary.

4. Why do people make up stories about Obama? Or about Mitt and his religion? The recent email scam about Obama being a radical Muslim was disgusting. Mitt has to deal with it on a daily basis. Why can't we respect people for who they are?

5. Why do Americans write off some of the most educated, knowledgeable and experienced candidates? I know why. We love rock stars. Duncan Hunter, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, and Chris Dodd are not rock stars, and that's why they're out of the race. But their combined knowledge of security and defense, foreign policy, diplomacy and domestic issues would make one heckuva smart cabinet.

6. Why do people like Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul run for office? Better yet, why do they get votes? Someone's going to really ream me for this one.

7. Why do we balance the primaries on Iowa and New Hampshire? Imagine if we picked Idaho and New Jersey as the first states. Or Arizona and North Dakota. Starting out with Iowa and New Hampshire is irrational and arbitrary. But for the life of me, I can't think of a smarter alternative.

Why?