Every four years scores of people venture out on the trail to the Presidency.  Ultimately only one will finish the journey – will reach the goal.  There is danger at every turn.  One false step and the candidacy can be doomed.  Some recover from a slip or a slide – some perish, dashed on the rocks of a hard-nosed media.  There is no forgiveness.  There is little understanding.  Take a step at your own peril.

History is fraught with examples:  John Kerry was right before he was wrong.  Huckabee prefers the Bible to the Constitution.  Gore sighs like an old lady in a debate.  John Edwards – whoooeee!  Dukakis walked with Willie Horton.  Ford freed Poland from Soviet Domination.  Nixon was profusely sweating at the debate.  Dewey believed outdated polling.  Even Teddy Roosevelt was a Bull Moose.

I love allegory.

Check out this video as an allegory of the hike to the Presidency:

I hiked Long’s Peak in Colorado when I was forty-five years old. I was in good shape for a Missouri boy – not so much for the adventure of the Colorado Rockies. Actually, I attempted ten fourteen thousand foot summits and was successful eight times. I did make the summit of Long’s Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park – but I remember the Narrows as much more frightening than these videos capture:

In terms of Presidential Politics we might say that after the nomination is captured one has yet to challenge the seasoned opponent of the other party – the homestretch. The following video shows the ‘home stretch’ at Long’s Peak. These hikers have just crossed the narrows and are making the final ascent up a two hundred foot, very steep, rock face to the summit. Personally, coming down was much more scary than going up: