She is not alone

Now Ms. South Carolina finds herself in the company of "experts" (this from a Voice of America News story):

US Presidential Contenders Enter Final Week Before Iowa Vote
By Jim Malone
Washington
27 December 2007

[SNIP]

Most of the presidential contenders have been on the campaign trail for much of the past year, but the Iowa vote represents the official start to the 2008 campaign year.

"It is important for the American people, who are not a particularly political people, they have other things on their mind," said Stephen Hess, an expert on politics at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "It is not until they really start to focus, and the focus is brought together by an election or a caucus, which is a type of election, and then they really start to hone in on the presidential election, which will not come until November."

[SNIP]