This is NOT a ‘hijack’ attempt ...
This issue reflects a nearly fatal flaw in the current operation of the National Election ‘cycle’. By some objective criteria, THIS ‘cycle’ is already almost a year old and the National Party Nominating Conventions are still a year away !
Self-nomination as a candidate this early in the ‘cycle’ is tantamount to suicide as it serves ONLY to position oneself as a target for the Media, the opposition party and the other nominees of your own party.
Ignore the sheer waste of time and resources spent ‘campaigning’ to create or merely maintain some degree of relevancy and then SUSTAIN it through the primaries and the nominating convention.
What appears most likely for the overwhelming majority of potential candidates is simply to provoke destructive attacks from all sides and to become the victim of ennui or over-exposure to friends and foes alike.
What MATTERS, ultimately, is who’s still standing late in the primary season and who is still ‘relevant’ come the nominating convention.
By delaying entry into such a self-defeating venture, a potential candidate MIGHT preserve a certain degree of dignity, resources and ‘relevance’ for when the contest actually matters.
‘Campaigning’, ‘debating’ ( !!! ), polling and producing ‘positions’ at this remove from the actual contest is a wholey ‘empty’ exercise for ALL concerned — the potential candidates, the potential voters, the potential contributors, etc.
The only ‘winners’ are the Media and the professional political hacks and operatives egging on the participants.
One Man’s Opinion ...
21stCenturion
Good points. You note that most major players (i.e. current Washington politicians), though they say she won’t run, have not endorsed anyone. They will likely wait until just before the primaries to do so to avoid being labeled as a supporter of a withdrawn or losing candidate.
In 1960, John Kennedy did not announce until January 1960. Of course he had like Romney been effectively a canddiate for the nomination since the 1956 convention, when the convention almost took the VP slot away from the leaders and chose him over Kefauver. Even with his farther’s money. however. his organization was relatively small. TV had not yet taken over the political process. That would not happen until the years following JFK’s murder.
Good analysis however one thing that has made the process begin earlier is the moving of a lot of the primaries to early in the year. Thus one has to be a player or maybe not able to complete at all.
One time constraint pending on the candidates is the deadline to apply for a GOP primary ballot position. Depending upon the state criteria varies from just a notification to things such as fee payments and petition signatures.
Example:
Oct. 31 — Florida
Nov. 1 — South Carolina
Nov. 21 — New Hampshire
I wish I could find a state by state listing of the dates but so far I’ve not found one.