UNITED STATES—Oh, the 2016 presidential election is shaping up to be one of the most coveted battles in years. On one side there is close to 2 dozen candidates for the Republic party, on the other side you have a few for the Democratic party, notably former Senator and First Lady Hillary Clinton.

I am amazed by how many people want to tackle the position of being President of the United States of America. This is a job that ages a person 4 years for every year they are in office. I mean when Barack Obama took office back in 2008 he was quite the young fellow. Flash forward nearly 8 years later and you can see what the amount of stress has done to our Commander-in-Chief.

It seems one of the first stops on the road to becoming President is notoriety. The more people know about you, the better. That may be the reason Donald Trump is garnering so much attention. While his tactics might be silly and downright ignorant at times, the guy is saying and doing all the right things to put himself in a position where people are talking about him. Do I think he has a chance in hell of becoming the next President of the United States of America? When hell freezes over. However, this country has done more stupid things in the past, so never say never.

He has almost all of the media outlets talking about him: the right wing pundits, the left wing pundits, and even those who like to consider themselves in the ‘middle.’ Remember it’s better to be talked about than to not be talked about at all.

That same notion goes for Clinton who is still receiving plenty of backlash for her email scandal. Trust me; no American is going to just sweep this under the rug as if it never happened. Trust is a major factor for the POTUS, so if the public senses a level of distrust or lack of loyalty, the chances of getting votes goes right out the window.

I wish more candidates would do their best to make their faces be known to the American public. This happens every time the seat for the presidency comes into grabs. There are always 2-3 candidates on each side who rise to the top, while others fall behind. Primary reason: lack of funding. I hate to say this, but fundraising is the key to winning any election. Those TV commercials, those ads in the newspaper, those ads near bus stops, on the radio, appearances on television; they all impact the American public.

As much as I hate to say it, when election season comes around those negative ads are played repeatedly on your local TV stations. If you suspect you know the truth about a candidate, that negative information permeates through the psyche. Before you know it, your decision has already been made for you before casting your actual ballot.

I look forward to the presidential debates as they do bring a bit of clarity to where the candidates stand on certain issues; they get placed in the hot seat and have to think quickly on their feet. A debate can really swing the pendulum in favor for one candidate against the other.

What is even worse, it can cause a candidate who was high on the public’s radar to take a nosedive. Hence, I didn’t refer to the polls. Polls are so biased it’s not even funny. Who are taking these polls? Are they polling a specific demographic, are they biased towards one candidate versus the other, what regions are these polls being taken in… do you see my point? You can spot more issues with polling than what most people are willing to admit to.

It may not seem like it, but 2015 is slowly inching towards an end. Before you know it, it will be 2016 and the presidential race will indeed be in full-force from January to November 8, 2016. You may not know all the candidates just yet, but now is the time to start playing the game of politics if you want to ensure you’re voting for the right candidate.