It's No Holiday for Presidential Politics
There may be only five months until unofficial party nominees become clear.
Sept. 2, 2007 — -- While many Americans will hit the asphalt, fire up the barbecue and spend the unofficial end of summer relaxing with friends and family, Labor Day serves as a campaign kick-off for presidential candidates.
In just five months, the nominating contests for Democrats and Republicans essentially could be over. This means the campaign likely will heat up this holiday weekend.
"The process over the next five months is going to be fast and furious," said Mark Halperin, of Time magazine.
Presidential hopefuls already have logged countless hours in Iowa and New Hampshire and debated several times.
Now, for the presidential candidates, it's show time.
This year, it's more like the final sprint in a marathon.
For Democrats like Barack Obama and John Edwards, now is the time to try to take down Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
"She makes no mistakes," said ABC News political analyst Cokie Roberts. "She wins every debate, and the whole impetus in this Democratic field is how to shoot down Hillary."
On the Republican side, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani still leads in national polls, but Mitt Romney may be the one to beat. He's ahead in the key states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Then there's former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., who's set to announce his entry into the race this week.
"He's done well as a non-candidate, as a candidate in waiting," said Stu Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Report. But now there will be extra scrutiny of him."
Some may wonder if Thompson is getting in too late. But at least one other candidate, Sen. John McCain, whose campaign fell into disarray this summer, may be wishing he could start over.
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