Is it sad that Comedy Central icon Stephen Colbert is a bigger hit than Bill Richardson in the national polls? Just think if he were actually running for president.

With Hillary Clinton just stopping by Fresno for a few hours or two, there aren’t too many candidates coming around these parts. How do you think the rest of the country feels?

While Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina are all pretty big contenders for presidential candidate stops from both parties, California and Florida aren’t too far behind.

Just eyeball this map.

Washington, D.C. makes a pretty big circle over on the East Coast — designating the 66 total campaign stops there since August — and is second-only to Des Moines in terms of number of stops.

Check out how it breaks down for Des Moines’ whopping 91 campaign stops since August:

Joe Biden: 15 visits
Chris Dodd: 12 visits
Bill Richardson: 8 visits
Others: 56 visits

The candidates with the longest shot at winning, with the barest hope for snagging the vice presidential spot, are the candidates with more stops in Des Moines than anyone else.

I’m cheering on Bill Richardson, but I also cheer on the San Francisco 49ers. The San Francisco 49ers are pretty much good at losing these days.

Hillary’s been leading in the polls nationally and locally for some time before the nomination, but there’s still a chance for either John Edwards or Barack Obama to pull something out in Iowa. As Rasmussen Reports has noted, it’s notoriously hard to poll for Iowa’s caucus.

After all, early reports for the 2004 Democratic nomination had Howard Dean leading by a margin not quite as large as Hillary’s is now, and yet John Kerry won Iowa and subsequently the nomination.

Democrats still lost the election, but who cares? We’re not there yet.

I’d talk about the Republican nomination, but it’s not nearly as interesting. Giuliani, Thompson and McCain are all-but tied in early polling, and Republicans have reservations about each of them.

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In other news: African people aren’t as smart, says world’s stupidest geneticist; tax hike for people earning more than six figures; and man robbing flower stands from a grave gets quick cash, huge fine.