Guiliani and McCain are skipping the Ames Iowa Straw Poll (big deal – this is only for political junkies) and some are asking what this means.

The future of the Ames Republican straw poll was cast into doubt Wednesday after first Rudy Giuliani and then John McCain decided to skip the high-profile summer warm-up to Iowa’s leadoff presidential nominating caucuses.

The former New York mayor’s morning announcement that he planned to bypass the early test of strength prompted McCain, an Arizona senator, to abandon his plans for the Aug. 11 event.

“In light of today’s news, it is clear that the Ames straw poll will not be a meaningful test of the leading candidates’ organizational abilities,” McCain’s national campaign manager Terry Nelson said in a statement. “So we have decided to forgo our participation in the event.”

Iowa is a caucus state, not a primary state like New Hampshire. It is for the party stalwarts only to decide their nominee. It is an antiquated method which ignores the big picture. And that is people are fleeing the parties in droves and striking out as independents. The parties have been poisoning the well at DC for decades now. The far right and far left have been fighting to a zero sum to so no one get’s anything. And I think America is sick of it. Not to mention the partisans have not been tackling these issues with an air of maturity and seriousness. Instead it has been more like emotional hysteria.

So why stick with a process that over emphasizes a shrinking segment of the electorate – the party stalwarts? With independents now vying for the title of ‘largest segment of the electorate’, and because they tend to determine which party will win each and every election (just ask Senators Ned Lamont and George Allen), it seems almost prudent to skip these kinds of test cases. They are misleading at best. And do not be surprised of it becomes normal for candidates to distance themselves from the parties a bit in order to gain that all important middle ground. The country is getting really, really tired of the mess this zero sum gamemanship leave festering.

Just take a look at the immigration issue. Only those who want something passed (imperfect and incomplete as all solutions will be) are now the ones trying to avoid doing nothing. The far left and right have devolved into doing all they can to salvage the status quo. And they actually think America will applaud their efforts? LOL! Not likely.