How much more important would that election be if you knew you would be stuck with that individual for the next 10 years minimum? Or 20 if they decided to run again? Overall - the shorter the better in my estimation - but I do sometimes wonder. I've wondered that myself. The other thing that amazes me is how much a current political figure gets attributed to current economical statistics, even though given the nature of poltics and economics, the impact of anything done during one term will likely not be seen for at least one or two terms after the fact.
It's like everyone assumes theres some "economy lever" that a president can pull to either fix or worsen the economy instantly. I guess that thought would make me feel better about being president, as if I did royally screw up it probably would get blamed on the next guy
