Newt Gingrich is the Republican flavor-of-the-month.

The Republican voters are either too young to remember, or their memories are too bad. They don't know Newt. They will be reminded. Shows how tired the Republican idea is that a retread like Gingrich has the feel of something fresh and new.

Then you gotta wonder if it will be Huntsman's turn, or perish the thought, Santorum. And the only reason anyone pays any attention is because it's good television. One day we might wake up to realize one of these clowns is President. Ohhh American in its waning days.

The Super Bowl and World Series have our short attention span mastered. They are over before we're fed up with them. They are over so quickly you actually miss them when they're over.

I don't know about you, but where I live, winter is having a hard time arriving. It should be cold by now. I yearn for the novelty of bundling up and venturing into the wild. Long before it's over I will be wishing it gone.

If you want to run a campaign, make it short and fun and memorable. Just a few days, but no more than a month. When it's over, accept that it's over. Take a rest, and come back with a fresh angle. Again and again. That's how you make change.

I read Random Walk by Lawrence Block. I wonder if a walk across the country in summer wouldn't be something to do. And not directed anywhere. Not a march on Washington. We're not taking back the country, or occupying anything. Maybe lots of people walking to completely random places. From New York to Spokane. San Diego to Bangor. Burlington to Austin. Everywhere you go, people walking. Visiting strange parts. Having a cold lemonade on a front porch in Podunk. Drinking beer from a paper bag on a front stoop in Baltimore. Talking baseball and politics. Discovering what it means to be American.

While the Repubs and Dems spend billions raised from bankers to run ads on commercial TV, we'll be walking around the land, too busy to watch them.

 12/2/2011; 8:59:26 AM.   .