Every four years, America looks to Iowa for one reason, and one reason alone. The nation relies on the good people of the "Caucus Me" state to whittle the presidential field down to a handful of TV-friendly frontrunners for the rest of us.

At the beginning of every presidential primary season, the race is crowded with a gaggle of hopefuls who, though they may have good policy ideas and public service portfolios, lack the charisma and cheerily vacuous slogans needed to appeal to the public.

To be sure, no one envies the task of Iowans, forced to listen to stump speeches and encouraged to invite feral politicians into their homes -- but it seems a fair burden to bear in exchange for the attention their state would otherwise never receive. Thus has the political ecosystem remained in balance since before anyone can remember.

The only problem is, this year the Iowans simply aren't doing their jobs. Only a few weeks ago it seemed that the polling numbers had settled on a few favorites, and journalists could put their feet up on their desks and focus on the chosen few rather than running after every pol with a policy paper. Yet you may have noticed that the scenarios have gotten more complicated since then.

First, let's consider the Democrats. Hillary? Barack? Sure, we could be sporting and make it a two-way race, rather than concede that "it's time for a woman" and, lo, we have a woman running this year. So what is John Edwards doing showing appreciable poll numbers in this one-and-a-half way race? Not only him, but people like Dodd, Biden, and Richardson manage to get their names in headlines with unsettling frequency. Even Dennis Kucinich has seemingly avoided abduction by ETs and continues campaigning.

And what of the Republicans? Well, at least Brownback has bowed out. That simplifies things ... infinitesimally. Thompson has bounced in but bobbled some basics. Romney, if I recall, was supposed to have emerged as a strong and viable candidate by now and relieved our overtaxed memory cells of the need to remember other names -- but I still find words like 'McCain', 'Huckabee' and 'Giuliani' rising to consciousness with fair frequently. And if people don't stop giving money to Ron Paul, he might appropriate a neuron or two as well.

I think we can all agree: Democracy is a messy, unpleasant business that requires far too much attention span. Perhaps the only consolation this year is to be found in the fact that the television writers' strike may leave us no alternative but to pay attention to the campaigns.