I apologize if I've spoiled your morning coffee or your afternoon latte with that headline. But like it or not, we are officially on the road to 2012 -- no, not the movie with my fave John Cusack. I mean the 2012 election. (Sorry I don't have a fancy banner or theme music to announce it like the cable shows.)

I know it feels as if we've barely come off the 2008 and 2010 elections, but you know how those campaigners like to get a jump on things! Sadly, I don't think many politicians are going to take that road with Jon Stewart's message of sanity.

Actually, it's more accurate to say that the 2012 fight for the White House began even before most of the results came in on election night with GOP pronouncements that were the political equivalent of "game on."

Aside from Congressional challenges to President Obama, plenty of other politicians are already jockeying for position -- Mitt Romney has been quietly raising money, Sarah Palin chose that venerable news show Entertainment Tonight on which to announce that if no one else wanted it, she'd run for president -- kind of like, "Hey, if no one else is going to eat that last piece of Halloween candy, I guess I'll take it!" And former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich stealthily are testing the waters with their TV appearances and rallying the GOP faithful, hoping that groundwork will pay off two years from now.

It's not just the Republicans who are ready to start gearing up their 2012 election machines. Democrats are poised to jump if they smell blood as well, including former presidential candidate Howard Dean. Hillary Clinton seems to be staying above the pre-2012 fray -- for the moment. But you know Hillary is a girl who keeps all options open at all times.

There is one possible piece of good news with the GOP in the majority in the House of Representatives -- Speaker-of-the-House-in-waiting John Boehner might be able to slip through a bill to give us all a tax break on our tanning appointments!

The true politico never sleeps when there's another election just a couple of years away. Buckle up -- election night in America is never over anymore. 

So, are you ready for 2012?

When she's not working on her weekly column Speaker of the House, Joanne is finishing up the edits on her forthcoming book, Mothers of Intention: How Women and Social Media are Revolutionizing Politics in America.

 

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