The year of 2007 turned out to be an accelerated and intensified prelude to the U.S. presidential election next year, which is expected to be the most fluid and dramatic among such races in many decades.
Accelerated calendar, intensified campaigns
After months of suspense, on Nov. 21 New Hampshire scheduled its presidential primary for Jan. 8 -- the state's earliest date ever.
Earlier, both Democratic and Republican Parties decided to bring forward the Iowa Caucuses date to Jan. 3, -- also the earliest date ever for the state.
In the United States, the presidential nominee for each major party is selected from a series of state-by-state primary elections, the primaries and caucuses.
Most of these elections will be held between January and April of the quadrennial presidential election year.
Traditionally, Iowa is always the first state to hold caucuses and New Hampshire is the first to have primaries.
The "early state" status gives the two small states huge influence on the presidential elections.
Throughout 2007 a number of states have attempted to bring forward their primary dates, forcing Iowa and New Hampshire to reset theirs to keep the "first-state" status.
With Iowa casting the first votes on Jan. 3 and more than 20 states holding primaries or caucuses on Feb. 5, the nominees for the White House could be decided in a one-month blitz of balloting-- and possibly in just a handful of days, if a candidate manages to win both Iowa and New Hampshire.
The accelerated calendar adds new pressure to the already-intensified campaigning.
The campaigning process for the 2008 presidential race actually started long before Labor Day in September of 2007, which is the traditional start of presidential campaign.
"In the past, Labor Day has been the traditional kickoff to the campaign, but the 2008 race for the White House really began the day after the 2004 presidential election," said CNN Political Editor Mark Preston.
Long before announcing their presidential bids, the candidates started to lay the "groundwork" for their campaign last year.
Since the beginning of this year, the campaign has been full speed ahead.
Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa and a key advisor to Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, the front-runner among Democratic candidates, said because of the new reality of the accelerated calendar and intensified campaigning, White House hopefuls were entering "new territory, new ground, and we're all going to have to tread lightly."
"Wide open race"
One month from the premier Iowa party caucuses and New Hampshire primaries, officials from both parties predicted the race will be "wide open."
"I think it's in flux," Scott Brennan, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party told CSPAN, a political news network, in a recent interview.
Ray Buckley, chairman of New Hampshire's Democratic Party, said with polls in his state showing that 60 percent of voters still are open, "I don't think we've ever seen an election where both parties are so fluid."
On the Democratic side Clinton is trailed by Barack Obama, whose prodigious fundraising and passionate crowds continue to make the senator from Illinois an intriguing rival.
Former senator John Edwards of North Carolina has staked his hopes on Iowa, and so far Iowans remain open to him.
In national polls, Clinton still enjoys some 20 percent lead over other Democratic candidates.
But in an open race things may change quickly.
In a latest poll in Iowa, Obama led for the first time in the poll with 28 percent of support while Clinton followed him with 25percent. Edwards held steady in third place with 23 percent.
In the Republican field, things are even more fluid.
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, is still the top choice among Republican voters in national polls while Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor has gained significant momentum in Iowa, New Hampshire and other states which will have early primary elections.
Fred Thompson, former Tennessee senator, is banking on a victory in the South Carolina primary on Jan. 19 while John McCain, the last of the four top-tier Republican candidates, hopes New Hampshire will improve his situation.
Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has the best chance to break into the top-tier of Republican candidates.
The fluid nature of this presidential election can partly be attributed to the fact that it is the first presidential election without incumbents in decades.
The 1952 presidential election was the last time neither the incumbent president nor incumbent vice president ran in the general election.
Usually, when a U.S. president leaves office, his vice president is usually considered a leading candidate and likely nominee to succeed him.
However, current Vice President Dick Cheney announced in 2001 that he would never run for president and re-iterated this stance in 2004, leaving the door to the White House "wide-open" for a crowded field of over a dozen candidates from both parties.
Money and Internet
In comparison with previous elections, money and the internet are playing a bigger role in this presidential race.
The presidential campaigns have become more and more expensive in recent years.
Between 1996 and 2004, the combined costs for both Democratic and Republican campaigns for the entire election cycle, including primary elections, political conventions and the general election, more than doubled from 448.9 million dollars to 1.01 billion dollars.
Federal Election Commission Chairman Michael Toner predicted earlier this year that the 2008 race will be "the most expensive election in American history."
As of September this year, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have raised record amounts of cash, with Clinton collecting more than 90 million dollars, and Obama grabbing more than 80 million dollars.
That means they have enough funds to continue well beyond Iowa and New Hampshire, no matter how they finish.
On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani is already stockpiling money for later contests while Mitt Romney, who is very rich, shall have no worries about money.
One eye-catching phenomenon in this election is the expanding role of the internet, which now serves as a debate platform and a fundraising and recruiting tool.
In September, online magazine Huffington Post and Slate joined web search engine Yahoo! to host the first online debate for the Democratic candidates, who answered questions from voters in an online Q&A session.
Many of the presidential candidates are using popular websites such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook to woo young voters.
Republican Ron Paul and Obama are the two most active "online candidates."
On Nov. 5, Paul collected more money on a single day through internet donations than any presidential candidate in U.S. history with a record-breaking 4.2 million dollars.
Working with YouTube, news network CNN hosted two separate "You Tube debates" for Democratic and Republican candidates.
In the debates, questions came primarily from videos submitted by YouTube viewers via the internet.
Arianna Huffington, host of the online magazine Huffington Post, said it is very clear that "the 2008 campaign was going to be dominated by what's happening online -- new technologies, new media like never before."
Iraq still top issue
According to poll results, the war in Iraq is still the top issue for voters in the presidential race.
However, based on the latest Zogby survey, only 28 percent of voters now see it as the most important issue compared to 56-60 percent a few months ago.
Pollsters attributed that to so-called Iraq fatigue.
The second top issue is the economy. In the latest Zogby poll, it is the top issue for 26 percent of voters.
Healthcare and immigration are also key issues for U.S. voters.
The candidates' positions on these issues and the voters' perception of the candidates' policies on these issues will greatly influence the results of the election.
Source: Xinhua
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