'Electrifying' is probably the only word to describe what is happening in US election politics. The rise and rise of Senator Barack Obama in the Democratic Party primaries and caucuses has been electrifying. The spectacle of American democracy in action has also been electrifying, with voters right across the country able to assess the candidates from within handshake range.
Americans can be legitimately proud. Is there any other country in the world where everyone gets such an opportunity, not just to vote for the leader, but to shape the debate and the choice of candidates over such a long period? But they should also be humble enough to ask whether their form of democracy has dangerous flaws that prevent it from being adopted as a model for other countries.
The presidential campaign show has been almost as enthralling, with as many unexpected twists and turns and sudden appearances of unusual characters, as the most entertaining soap opera. A year ago, most pundits had all but anointed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as the Democratic candidate who would extend the Bush-Clinton dynasties' grip on power to 28 years.
Now, there are three real contenders for the top job, and a determined hanger-on. They are: a genuine war hero, who tells it straight and is aspiring to be America's oldest person elected as president; the first woman candidate, who has already been first lady; the first African-American, who is both genuinely African - with a Kenyan father - and genuinely American, with a white American mother, who brought him up as a single parent when his father went back to Kenya; and an Evangelical Christian preacher. In the meantime, many wannabes have unexpectedly fallen.
The primaries demonstrate the real choice that ordinary Americans have, and they are turning out in impressive and unprecedented numbers to attend rallies and to vote. And this is still only the preliminary contest to choose the competitors for the real fight.
Many commentators have pointed to the dangers that this brings even before the presidential vote, with the very closeness of the contests leading to intense bitterness.