| Regional primaries, please
We have televised "debates" which have come to resemble dueling news conferences. The candidates are seemingly intent on enchanting viewers/voters more than challenging one another in any substantive or prolonged way. The primaries themselves have become pork-laden contests where states compete for the earliest courtship by the most candidates and the dollars that invariably follow. It's been a good year for Iowa's corn farmers with ethanol policy front and center on the campaign circuit, though in fairness that has benefited Indiana and other corn-producing states through the Midwest as well. Modern conventions are themselves without a disparaging word political beauty contests designed to bring maximum favorable exposure to merely confirming a nominee and to cultivate appearances of total party unity.
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