In a normal year, I would be deep in the midst of National Football League withdrawal.  This is the “dead period” in sports, the time between the end of the professional football season and the start of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.  However, this year, I have not missed the NFL at all.  Another spectator sport has me completely captivated, the U.S. Presidential race.  As Dallas Cowboy wide receiver Terrell Owens would say, “getcha popcorn ready.”  It’s going to be one heck of a show.

    Two days after the Super Bowl, February 5th, Super Tuesday took place.  Some experts believed that Super Tuesday, the day on which 20+ states had their primaries and caucuses, would signal the end of each party’s nomination process.  It turns out that the experts don’t know any more than the rest of us.  The presumptive Democratic nominee, New York senator Hillary Clinton, was now in the fight of her life with the upstart, Illinois senator Barack Obama.  The Republican candidate that was left for dead politically only a few months ago, Arizona senator John McCain, is now all but certain to earn his party’s nomination despite the protests of the most conservative members of his party.  The path to the Final Four (Clinton, Obama, McCain and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee) has had as many twists and turns as any NFL season I can remember.  Maybe that explains why I took ESPN’s Sports Reporters off of my TiVo season pass and replaced it with ABC’s This Week.  

    Obviously the “game” being played between the Presidential candidates is no game at all.  The most significant of real issues are being discussed.  “Cut-and-run” versus the “100-year war.”  “Amnesty for illegal aliens” versus “a path to citizenship for undocumented workers.”  “Big government” versus “Small government.”  A major course correction versus a tweak here and there.  The holy ghost of Ronald Reagan versus the holy ghost of John F. Kennedy.  People all across the county are more engaged than ever.  Good thing!  The decisions to be made have seldom been more critical to the future of the nation.  Concerning thing!

    One thing is certain.  I will not be able to take my eyes off of the race until November.  Maybe you feel the same way.  If so, you’d better “getcha popcorn ready!”