But now there is no status quo. Instead, a war has broken out within each party.

Bill Clinton is no longer a senior statesman, but has devolved into a rank partisan, more a liability than a help to his wife. President Bush hasn't endorsed any Republican. He has a low approval rating, and has had issues with both McCain and Mitt Romney.

The current leaders — John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — are all U.S. senators — but we haven't had a sitting senator win the presidency in nearly a half-century, not since John Kennedy in 1960.

The Democratic nominee for the first time in election history will either be a woman or an African-American. Sons have followed their fathers to the presidency, but never a wife after her husband. Former presidents have ended up in Congress or the Supreme Court, but we've never contemplated one back as First Gentleman in the White House.

Clinton and Obama are not the only trailblazers. If McCain wins, he will be the oldest man to assume the presidency. Romney is the first Mormon presidential contender with a real chance at the nomination.

Now that Super Tuesday is over, here's what we are left with. A surviving Hillary Clinton can't muzzle Bill, whose name got her the lead and whose narcissism has nearly squandered it. No one can cite anything specific that the still-surging Obama has done or will do. And conservatives are supposed to forgive Romney for once taking some liberal stances to win in liberal Massachusetts, but to damn McCain for doing the same thing when he didn't have to in conservative Arizona.

In this crazy year, the election may finally come down to how many Democrats — scared that they don't know enough about Obama, or know too much about the Clintons — will vote for a veteran pro like McCain. Or, on the flip side, how many "true" conservatives will stay home in November to ensure a liberal wins the White House just to prove their purity.