KEY POINTS:
Another one bites the dust - now it's all over for Rudy Giuliani. This isn't really a big surprise, because it became evident days ago that his strategy of doing virtually nothing in the first few voting states had left him out in the cold. Now, today here in California, the former New York mayor is set to step aside and endorse John McCain for the Republican nomination. Maybe those baseballs did mean something after all.
But this morning's big news is that apparently John Edwards, in the Democrat race, is also going to drop out this afternoon.
The pundits are split on whether this is more of a positive more for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. It will now be a two-horse race for Super Tuesday, and I suspect Clinton might be a beneficiary of it. I don't think Edwards is set to endorse either. We'll see.
US politics brings odd scenarios on a fairly regular basis. First, we watch as people from the same parties go hammer and tongs at one another, identifying weaknesses in opponents, telling the public they're the better option. Then, having torn one another apart, they end up with their arms around each other at the party's convention later in the year, telling everyone who will listen that there's only one candidate for President - whoever it was that won the internal battle. It's hard to imagine Helen Clark and Phil Goff facing off in this very public way, long before they even face John Key - if he can first hold off Bill English.
Americans argue it's democracy, and I guess it is. It does make for battle-hardened candidates. But Americans also appear to be a bit tired of how long all this takes. It's a view expressed often here by ordinary people, although the fact that those very people are turning out in record numbers so far in this year's Presidential primaries indicates they want to be involved regardless of the process.
Maybe the numbers are being drawn out by a strong desire to see change in the White House.
