Now that the dust has settled from the Iowa caucuses, the first thought I had was — it’s about time.

It seems as if this presidential campaign started when the last one ended. It used to be about now is when the serious candidates would start making their push. Instead, candidates from both parties have been shoved down our throat for several months already; in some cases, it’s been at least a year.

I haven’t figured out who I’d like to be president. I’ve figured who I don’t want to be president. I may not make up my mind until October when I go to early voting.

In the meantime, the candidate who eventually may wind up appealing to me may long since have been eliminated from the race. It may wind up I choose based not so much on who I think will be a good president but rather choosing against who I think will be a worse president.

Instead of asking what they would do as president, I want to know why they’re running and I don’t want to hear it’s for the families or the children or the taxpayers or every American or any of the other stuff they gloss over that gets tossed out as they pander for votes. I want to know do they really want to do that job or does their ego need that job.

Why is this important now? Well, Monday is the deadline to register to vote in the Georgia presidential preference primary. That will be held Feb. 5. Between now and then, we get the all-important New Hampshire primary — important to whom, I don’t know, but they keep saying it’s important, so it must be — and South Carolina’s primary. Not to demean the fine people from New Hampshire, some of whom I might very well be related to, but I’m not so sure their opinion really matters to me.

The Iowa caucus is a whole lot different from the primary. On the Democratic side, you vote for a guy — or woman — and then if that candidate doesn’t cut the electoral mustard, you get to cast your lot in with somebody else. The Democrats have a complex procedure, and the Republicans have a simpler process. It’s still not as simple as going in as pulling a lever, as you would in a primary. For an illustration of how it all works, see www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/NEWS09/71219068.

It didn’t even draw the attention of all the major candidates. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani didn’t bother with Iowa, so his caucus numbers are inconsequential, in more ways than one.

The Iowa results made two Democrats, Christopher Dodd and Joe Biden, return to their full-time job as U.S. Senators; some candidates — the GOP’s Tom Tancredo — bailed out even before the new year. That’s a sign, to me, that this process is going far too long.

How disjointed is this process? South Carolina’s Republican primary is Jan. 19; the Democrats in the Palmetto State choose a week later.

By the time Georgians head to the polls for the first time this year — mind you, we’ll have a general primary this summer, followed by a runoff if necessary, and then the general election in November and any runoff elections after that if warranted — their choices may not matter as much. Michigan holds its primaries Jan. 15; Florida has its Jan. 29.

Georgia will be one of nearly two dozen states to hold its primaries on “Super Tuesday.” We’ve had few candidate visits to the state so far and even fewer to the area.

With so many states in play on Feb. 5, I doubt that we’ll see any more of the candidates before then, unless it’s on TV in ads or debates. That’s a bad way to get to know a candidate, limited to 30-second clips, either in a commercial or as they artfully dodge giving answers.

The race for the nominations used to last into the summer — remember, Bobby Kennedy won the Democratic primary in California on June 5.

By that day this year, we may be down to the two main contenders and that’s it, leading to a summer of political discontent.