In the United States, campaign season begins long before primaries and caucuses, and ages before the general election. In the past few presidential elections, some people announced their candidacy nearly two years before election day. And listener Charlie wrote in to ask, Might you consider discussing why the election ‘season’ takes approximately two years? Indeed we might, Charlie! And we did! Here comes another installment of Ask Civics 101 with NHPR broadcast host Peter Biello where we tackle why, exactly, American election season is so long.

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