Haha this was pretty awful.

What's NOT awful is Barack winning North Carolina! Barack the vote!!

Please, oh please, can these primaries end?

I long for a National Primary, where all of this is finished in a day. I long for a system where campaigning for the presidency is confined to the 6 months before Election Day. I long for a system with no political parties where people choose based on ideas and people, not blind party loyalty. I long for a country of independents (with a lower case "i"). I long for a country where pundits are locked in a closet, the media reports and doesn't distort and we can elect people not based on looks and charm.

Is that too much to ask?

Erik, add to your list:
I long for a day when not just zillionaires can run for president.

Though I question the notion that Clinton's success has to do with "looks and charm" — neither appear to be a particularly strong suit for her, in my opinion — I otherwise agree. I remember learning in my 1960s History class in college about how the Kennedy-Nixon race, being the first with televised debates, was the obvious turning point where we started electing hotties, as Kennedy was poised and foxy on TV while Nixon's sweaty pancake dripped face was kind of a turn-off. Or something like that.