Presidential Campaign Announcements Coming Earlier

Ever since Bill Clinton in 1991,  major presidential candidate campaign announcements have been coming earlier.  It's as if the marketing sell campaign has been planned carefully, including the needed announcement date.  The earliest announcement in recent years was Barack Obama in 2007, almost two years before the next election.    Long gone are the days candidates did not campaign, following the conventional wisdom that to do so was beneath the dignity of the office.  Now it is "dignity, shmignity, I'm going for it!"

Dwight Eisenhower could have been called dignified, if not gray.  And Jimmy Carter had his rectitude.  So there is some history for self-selecting, then campaigning and holding one's personal dignity.

But what of the dignity of the office?  Ted Cruz is a grand-stander, not to be taken seriously except for the scary ardor of his "believers."  The other Republican candidates announced so far are little better.  On the Democratic side, as the The Washington Post observed, Hillary Clinton is more a celebrity than a politician.  

There is something slightly oily and seedy about this "campaign" so far which seems new.  The way forward for these candidates has been greased by big money.  The actual dollar amounts will come later, of course.  But for now, as in every year since about 1952, the Presidential election campaign is a media "show," as much as a serious endeavor of a great democracy.  This is a great tragedy.

Below is some information about the dates and times of campaign announcements by various Presidential candidates in recent times.  

In June 1952 the five-star general [Eisenhower] retired from the army after 37 years of service, returned to the United States, and began to campaign actively.  -- Encyclopedia Brittanica

John F. Kennedy -- January 2, year of election -- 1960  (presidency.uscb.edu)

Jimmy Carter -- "Just before the end of the year, Jimmy Carter announced his candidacy for president."  -- Miller Center, University of Virginia

Bill Clinton -- October 3, 1991, year before election (C-SPAN.org)

George W. Bush --   "[George W. Bush] Bush was practically anointed as the Republican standard-bearer by the GOP establishment in early 1999 after he proved to be a one-man fundraising machine..."   -- Miller Center  

  Barack Obama -- February 10, 2007 -- some twenty-one months (nearly two years) before the election   (Washington Post)

Ted Cruz -- March 23, 2015 -- more than nineteen months before the election  (CNN.com)