The Waiting Game
When you are emotionally invested in a presidential candidate, primary days are torture. I'm sure the Dean people felt like they were hit below the belt in Iowa, especially after the silly reaction to Dean's post-caucus scream. If you're into a candidate, you relentlessly scour the internet for any new dribble of information that reflects positively on your guy.

The process itself is part of the problem. As a Clark supporter, I tried to imagine how the last General elected, Dwight D. Eisenhower, would have fared under today's system. Imagine Ike sitting through town hall meeting after town hall meeting laying out his plans for the country and then taking questions from the audience.

"Mr. Eisenhower, I pay too much for car insurance. What are you going to do about it?"

"General, what's your favorite album?"

"Ike, boxers or briefs?"

And then the 24-hour cable channels are off to the races, dissecting every answer and comparing it to previous responses. "Last month, Ike said the `White Album' was his favorite. Now he says `Pet Sounds' by the Beach Boys. Clearly, the General has a problem with the truth!"

I don't think the candidates are worse than they used to be. I think the process they are subjected to, and the media atmosphere surrounding that process, is worse.