Who's going to be the next president? In the beginning, getting to know every potential candidate is like getting to know every runner in the Boston Marathon, including their families. But it's not as simple as a race. Too many players and too many rules keep people like you and me from being interested in such politics.

As far as senators go, there are 100. And the House of Representatives has 435 members. There's no way I'm going to know every one of them, including their spouses, illegitimate children, cover ups, screw ups, mind changes ("flip flops") unless I quit my job and studied politicians 24/7. I didn't know this, but this is the pool they choose from.

And then there's the political system. There's a system?! Not only do I have to know the players, but now I have to know the game? And this game is not as simple as let's say, a Connect Four or a Chutes and Ladders. No, this game has more rules than Battleship and every player cheats by moving their ships when you call B7, then in mid-game they start playing a different game entirely without anyone knowing and make up a new "changing games" rule. If you can't keep up, that's the point.

Going in this year, all I knew was that Bill Clinton's wife was running for president. Then a black guy comes along and says, he wants to be president. They fight it out and the black guy wins. Great. Fine. Whatever. But now we have to pick a president. I thought we just did that. It was Obama right?

Nope, there's still McCain. Who? CNN, Fox and the like talk about how he's the known candidate, but before this year, I had never heard of him. He was just one of many candidates that you never hear of, and only until recently did anybody care who he was. How is he known if nobody ever knew him?

To me, McCain is as well known as Obama. These are the two guys that we have to choose from now. They were both selected in the primaries and won their caucuses. What? They were chosen by the voters? But until this year, I didn't even know there was a primary and what the hell is a caucus? I thought two men were picked out of nowhere for us to choose to be president. It's like explaining to a child where babies come from without wanting to blow his mind with all the gory details. A stork brings me my candidates.

Before you berate me about being an ignorant citizen or something of that sort, know that I had to go to work, have two kids, a family life and everyday responsibilities that just add up. In my down time all I wanted to do was sip a soda and watch The Office and Heroes.

But as in some cliche' movie scene, I walked by some televisions in a Best Buy that had the presidential hopefuls on the screen and I became interested. What were they saying? Why is there a black guy on? Or a woman? I no longer cared who would be the next American Idol. I got sucked in to the fray by the anger of a woman scorned (HIllary) and seeing a black man scare whitey (Obama). And now I want to see an old man get pushed down some steps (McCain). That's not good television. That's great television. A real life reality series, soap opera and sitcom all rolled into one.

I feel I represent most of middle America who are too busy to even know how to start with politics. Most of my friends and acquaintances turn the other way when the topic of politics is even broached. I've asked them if they read blogs, they don't. If they watch the news. They don't. If they visit political websites. They don't. But they do vote. And they vote based on an issue they feel is important. Let's just say, you can't go wrong with abortion. The candidates should say, "I'm against abortion and my opponent is for it." That's how it seems to have worked in middle America for some time. But now one candidate can say, "If you don't vote for the black guy, you're racist." I love America.

Obama has just picked Biden as his running mate. I don't know what a Biden is, but I'll know after two hours of research. Because I'm not going to just read up on him, I'm going to read up on his past as well as his family's. So, here we go. More players, more rules to the game and more time I have to spend reading. It gets deeper and deeper and if you're not in now, it'll be too overwhelming to catch you up before November.