By Earl Isaacs, Mankato
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In the Aug. 19 Free Press, Marcia Rocek expressed the opinion that Gov. Pawlenty should step down from being governor if he is going to campaign. I'm sure, then, that she also feels that during the 2008 campaign Sens. Obama, Clinton and McCain should have stepped down from the jobs they were elected and paid to fulfill.
All three of them spent many months on the campaign trail. You could also go back to the 1992 campaign and say Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton should have stepped down when he was campaigning.
The fact is the length of time presidential candidates need to spend on that trail has been getting longer and longer, even with the communication methods we have today. It would be interesting to find how many people actually changed their votes over that period of time. We want candidates with executive or legislative experience as our president. It is unrealistic to expect them to resign whatever job they have.
Perhaps the change that should take place is for Republican and Democratic National Committees to agree on a shorter time for presidential campaigning.
