I usually did not think that a candidate had to start so darn early, but I guess its true now. Usually candidates started around one year out seriously getting ready to run. Maybe its just the effect of a 24x7 news cycle or the fact that democrats spent 18 months campaigning for the 2004 election.
Well, remember that 30 years ago, the candidates didn’t even announce until the spring of the election year. That got pushed ahead by almost a year. Then came the earlier primaries. We could always go back to “King Caucus,” and forget the nominating conventions altogether.