It seems that 2008 is going to be the year that candidates give out recipes. First, the John Edwards campaign sent out an email from Bobby Edwards, John's mother. If you donated a certain amount, you got her special pecan pie recipe. Next, Jeff Merkley did a similar event, only this time for cake (and yes, we were there, defending the faith). Now, John Edwards for President is doing another recipe-based campaign - but this time they've upped the ante. Instead of simply offering a single recipe, they're offering recipes for most of a Thanksgiving dinner, up to and including mac'n'cheese.

In the Edwards Recipe Combo, presented very nicely as a Thanksgiving gift from Bobby Edwards (for a donation, of course) you get Elizabeth's (John's wife) recipe for bread pudding, David and Judy Bonior's (the campaign manager and his wife) recipe for sweet potatoes and apples as well as mushroom soup, and Joe Trippi and Kathleen Nash's (more campaign gurus) recipe for stuffing. Oh, and Bobby's recipe for macaroni and cheese.

While these all sound delicious (except, of course, for the sweet potatoes and apples - the sweet potato is a vile beast, degrading the honor of the lovely potato), I'm more interested in the apparent rise of food-based campaigning. I can easily see a future where the candidate who wins won't necessarily be the best looking, or the one with the most experience or the best policy ideas - but one who simply has a family with the best cookbook. Our democracy may suffer, but at least our bellies will be happy.