A contested nominating process is better for the challengers and for voters.

Iowa caucus voters stuck their collective fingers in the eye of conventional wisdom Monday. And it’s a good thing for the rest of us.

The two major political parties have intentionally front-loaded the nomination process. The idea is to wrap up the competition early, consolidate different wings of the party around a single candidate, and then begin the unified assault on the other guy.

It does make sense. Stop the infighting and bloodletting and get started on the real task at hand. This year for Democrats, it’s defeating President Bush. The task for this consensus candidate is to then define himself before the president has the chance to do the job for him.

The whole thing is a bit of bunkum. A long, heated multi-candidate race for the Democratic nomination may be just what the party needs.

President Bush is going to have scads of money, $200 million or more. He’s got the power of incumbency and the power of the presidency. When he goes somewhere or makes a statement, it’s automatically news. He remains popular with his base supporters and has an effective, sometimes ruthless, party machine behind him.

Democrats, as of today, don’t fare as well. Regardless of who the eventual nominee is, he will likely be outspent. He won’t have the bully pulpit, as Bush does, and he will be leading a party fractured over the war in Iraq, foreign policy and trade.

But nothing attracts attention like a good fight. Think the Red Sox vs. the Yankees, Notre Dame vs. USC, or the Rumble in the Jungle with Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman.

This perceived weakness for the Democrats may be a great, if unconventional, strength.

Right now, in the heat of the early primary season, Democrats are getting plenty of attention. On the day before the State of the Union, they led newspapers around the country. When was the last time a Democrat, or the party itself, was so relevant? Three years ago?

The seven remaining candidates – not counting Carol Moseley Braun and Rep. Richard Gephardt, who have made their exits – are everywhere. They’re shaking hands in downtown Manchester, speaking to veterans in South Carolina, visiting Bates College and meeting with activists on Lisbon Street.

You can’t swing a short stick without hitting a Democrat running for president.

The Republican attack machinery is in full tilt. Not a day goes by that they don’t take a shot at this candidate or that one. But so far, they haven’t been able to concentrate their fire on one person. Meanwhile, all seven Democrats have the same opponent.

Why is it, then, so important for Democrats to settle on a candidate in February for an election that will be held in November?

If the candidates could cool their intraparty venom, concentrate on actual policy and stop the personal viciousness that sank Gephardt in Iowa and almost bounced former Gov. Howard Dean out of the race, they could present an omnipresent, many-headed opponent for the president. A nomination process that follows the positive approach of Sen. John Edwards – maybe that’s just pie-in-the-sky fantasy.

There are differences between the candidates. But, for the most part, they’re around the edges of major policy and in the details. For Sen. Joe Lieberman, former Gen. Wesley Clark, Sen. John Kerry, Edwards and Dean, the themes are all similar.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Rev. Al Sharpton are unlike the others and offer widely different policy prescriptions. They still add to the grand chorus of ideas.

If the contest carried to the convention this summer, it would create a real event, one worthy of coverage and attention as opposed to the stage-managed, four-day commercials that the party conventions have become. No more pro forma anointment.

The major networks have reduced their coverage of the conventions. Instead of gavel-to-gavel, viewers are lucky if they get an hour a night. Why? Because there hasn’t been any real drama in years. This year, NBC will launch part of its fall season opposite the Republican National Convention. During the 2000 convention, network coverage averaged an audience of only about 6 million viewers a night. The audience has been dwindling. That could be reversed.

Voters in late primary states would stay engaged, knowing their ballots matter. The multiple candidates would continue to crisscross the country, visiting states that might not see a candidate during the general election.

A longer nominating process could help the Democrats repair a fractured party, reach out to new voters and excite the base. It would also guarantee that Maine’s caucuses on Feb. 8 would matter, a good motivation for spending a Sunday talking politics with neighbors.

But if the race turns into a blowout, we can expect the same old thing. A boring convention that the networks won’t cover and few people will watch, a public that loses interest in the campaign by spring and a sprint to finish after Labor Day against President Bush, flush with cash.

David Farmer can be reached at [email protected].