Nov. 4, 2008. We are a long way from electing a new president, but that hasn’t stopped the current group of hopefuls from hitting the campaign trail.

It seems the cycle starts earlier and earlier, but this year is truly unprecedented. News of who’s running and who is ahead is already dominating the evening news and Web sites.

The crazy thing is that we are paying attention.

According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll taken in late February, 65 percent of Americans say they are following what is going on in the presidential race. Those are unheard of numbers for this early in the cycle. Normally the percentages don’t get that high until the party conventions two or three months before Election Day.

This unusual interest in who will be the next president is an exciting thing for our democracy, but there are some pitfalls with such an accelerated schedule.

Only the known names are going to benefit from the spotlight shining so brightly right now. Typically this is a time for the lesser-known candidates to meet people in the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Since the press coverage was usually minimal to none, the candidates could have face-to-face interaction with people and got a chance to establish what they wanted to do without having to spend most of the time fundraising for TV commercials.

That is not going to happen in the 2008 race.

Lesser-known candidates are already dropping out of the race. Iowa governor Tom Vilsack dropped out a few weeks ago, admitting that he just did not have the money behind him that Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama do.

You can have your opinions about the candidates, but the fact that some are having to exit the race before it really begins because of money is not a healthy thing for our democracy.

It only furthers the influence of big money donors and reduces the chance for candidates to actually get a grip on what typical people are thinking about.

Case in point: the biggest Democratic bruhaha has been over the disparaging comments Democratic donor David Geffen had about the Clintons.

Not over Iraq. Not over the spiraling deficit. Over what nasty things a rich person says about a candidate.

Welcome to the 2008 presidential race.

Settle in, it’s going to be a long ride.