Last modified: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 2:36 AM EDT Campaign 2008: The long slog of Welcome once again to "Journalism 101," the "Oh God, isn't it over yet?" edition. Many of us in the Mainstream Media (MM, for short, but only if you know the secret handshake) had thought that politics could not get any worse than the 2004 campaign, with its endless, demeaning personal attacks, the pointless debates, the shameless pandering to special interest groups. Many of us thought that we, as a nation, simply could not sink lower. There is a name for such people: optimists. Because in the view of many pundits, the 2008 campaign is plumbing new depths. It has gotten so bad that we are not even in the general election stage and some people in states that still have primaries are already experiencing the early symptoms of campaign fatigue. This is a syndrome that usually occurs only in residents of Iowa and New Hampshire. These symptoms include a pathological fear of diners (just in case a candidate shows up for a photo op), ringing in the ears (from pollsters calling at all hours), and extreme anxiety when driving past polling places (even on non-voting days). And it's not just confined to voters. Just the other day, Brian Williams went off the teleprompter and started muttering under his breath, "Jeez, if I have to introduce one more story on somebody calling for 'change' I'm going to throw up all over the Nightly News desk." (OK, not really. Mr. Williams is a consummate professional. It's his viewers who are ready to upchuck.) It wasn't supposed to be this way. This is the 40th anniversary of the Democratic Convention of 1968, widely seen as the catalyst for the many reforms that followed. Those reforms, designed to make the selection of a candidate more open, led to the 1972 convention. Unlike 1968, there were no riots. Instead, there were sessions that were so democratic and inclusive that they lasted from morning to sunup the next morning. And it gave the party the candidacy of Sen. George McGovern. Incredibly, not everyone in the Democratic leadership saw this as a success. (It may have had something to do with the fact that McGovern lost every state in the Union, save one.) So there were more reforms to make sure the party did not skew too far left or right. There would be a fair selection of state delegations, with a leavening of "superdelegates" to make sure everyone had a say. And everything would be settled early. Early being defined as before the actual inauguration of a new president. Instead, here we are with the Republican candidate basically doing laps around the track while the Democrats are still choosing up sides. Even for someone who enjoys covering politics, this is too much of a good thing. If it wasn't for the anti-tobacco laws, I'd call for a swift return to the smoke-filled room. TOM REILLY is a Sun Chronicle news editor. He can be reached at treilly@thesunchronicle.com or at 508-236-0332, unless you are a pollster or a political campaign, in which case that number has been disconnected.