Mitt Romney Announces The Endorsement of Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert

We are currently lost in the thicket of the '08 pre-primary primary.

Up is down. Down is up. And, in the blink of an eye, a man from a place like Hope, Arkansas can charge in from nowhere and seize the nomination at the very last second.

It is 22 months to the Presidential election, 11 months to the first Presidential primary and all idle speculation about which candidate will be their Party's nominee - let alone the eventual winner - is just that. Idle.

We push on anyway.

Conventional wisdom holds that the more endorsements a campaign has the stronger the campaign becomes. The stronger a campaign becomes the more inevitable their nomination seems. The more inevitable a campaign's nomination seems the less likely potential rivals are to run against that candidate.

Got it?

We've watched as '08 candidates have snapped up as many activists/Governors/CEOs/legislators/Judges/former Bush campaign staff/former Kerry and Gore campaign staff/Little League coaches in Keene, NH/teachers in Charleston, SC as they can get their hot little mitts on.

Then comes the inevitable campaign press release trumpeting the "catch".

In the olden days, Statesmen would retire to their porch and wait patiently for the "people" to ask them to run.

Maybe have a cup of hot mulled cider as they waited. So civilised.

This new pre-primary primary always seemed a bit silly to us.

Then we got a press release from Mitt Romney' campaign gleefully proclaiming the endorsement of Former Speaker Dennis Hastert and now we know that the pre-primary circus isn't just silly - it's downright moronic.

Said ABC news on Hastert's endorsement of Governor Big Love:

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) told ABC News following the State of the Union Tuesday that even though he did not speak with any of Romney's rivals, he is backing Romney because he believes that he is the only one who can survive "the crucible" of a presidential contest.

Can anyone, and I mean ANYONE, imagine a process where Dennis Hastert's endorsement of your candidacy is announced by anyone other than your opponent?

Exactly.

Our political process has some problems. We'll be the first to admit it.