The Fast Track Campaign

Today marks the debut of a new Washingtonpost.com project called the "Fast Track Campaign." It begins with a piece penned by me and Capitol Briefing author Paul Kane.

The Fast Track Campaign is the name we are giving to the incredible compression of the presidential nominating calendar in 2008. More than two dozen states are set to vote between Jan. 14 and Feb. 5 -- an electoral barrage that not even the best known and best funded campaigns can withstand.

The calendar is already forcing frontrunning campaigns into sensitive strategic choices about how best to spend their limited time and resources. The decisions by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain to skip the Ames (Ia.) Straw poll in August is simply the latest sign of the strain of the Fast Track Campaign.

We'll be doing a series of stories that seek to address the unique challenges created by the Fast Track Campaign over the next months. In the meantime, the staff at washingtonpost.com has built an outstanding interactive map that allows you to drill down on a particular state or states.

Try it out and let us know about your ideas for future stories for the Fast Track Campaign project. The comments section awaits.