*already* a Republican debate tonight?

Wow. Every election cycle I forget just how unbearably long American election cycles are.

We’re in June 2011, and the Republicans are already hosting a candidate debate in New Hampshire? All right, technically the New Hampshire Primary is only 8 months away, and the Iowa caucuses only 7 months away. But still.

Anyway, I was struck by this NY Times headline: “Romney Is Likely Target for Rivals at G.O.P. Debate.”

Normally you’d just think: “Well, of course. Romney’s the frontrunner so obviously everyone else will be attacking him.”

Bu there’s a bit more to it than that. In 2008 they all ganged up on Romney too, and more than strategy, there seemed to be a dose of genuine hatred behind it.

There’s been talk about the Mormonism angle, but I think that’s off the mark when talking about the intra-candidate level. Yes, being a Mormon surely will damage Romney quite a bit with the evangelical portion of the Republican base, many of whom also have unpalatable views of Catholics and Jews, not to mention Muslims. No Mormon will pass through the Republican primaries electorally unscathed by these people, admittedly.

But in 2008, Romney was being attacked vehemently in the debates by people like McCain and Giuliani, who don’t exactly strike me as the prejudicial anti-Mormon type. No, the point is that they viscerally dislike Romney for the same reason that many of us do: he comes off as incredibly fake and robotic, like a computer-generated man. I’d heard of Romney for years, of course, but never saw him on camera until late 2007 in one of the last round of debates. My dislike for him was instant and lasting. Not hatred exactly, but a stomach-turning instinctive dislike.

I don’t think I could put up with 4 years of Mitt Romney in office, though frankly he’d be perhaps the least embarrassing candidate the Republicans have to offer in terms of sheer competence. And it would be a lot less scary to have him in the White House (however annoying and unbearable) than to have some Palin-type figure in there.

But again, I still think Obama is in for another term.