Andrew, as usual, asks an interesting question: "...how long it should take people to make up their minds about how to cast their ballots..."?

Unless the situation has changed dramatically in the past few years, the answer is that the overwhelming number of voters have already decided who they are going to vote for.  Indeed, most voters make up their minds long before the balloting is ever conducted.  My guess is that as much as 80 percent of the electorate know from the start who they are supporting.  That's especially true in the general election where party affiliation, which is obviously known from the start, rather than any issue, is the most important reason for most people.

In most presidential elections, the big question is where the remaining 20 percent or so are going.  Except in years like 1964 and 1972, the indications are that most of these voters really don't start to focus on the election until after Labor Day.  Unlike we denizens of the political and economic blogosphere who live and breath this stuff, for most people most elections take a back seat to to summer vacations, back-to-school, and, believe it or not, the World Series.

This election may be different.  I continue to be struck by the number of political professionals who tell me that it's not clear whether traditional voting patterns will hold this year.  They point to three things: the fact that an African-American will be the nominee for one of the two major political parties for the first time, the anger from Republicans as well as Democrats towards George Bush, and the very large increase in turnout during the Democratic primaries and low turnout in the GOP primaries.

Much of the election fatigue Andrew may be feeling has to do with the process of selecting the nominee rather than the general election campaign.  The truth is that, except at the most general level, the average person in that 20 percent doesn't pay much attention to primaries and caucuses.  Plus, Democrats and Republicans have generally been following just the candidates for their own party's nomination.  That means that, as crazy as it sounds after everything that's happened the past seven months or so, Obama and McCain now have to introduce themselves to the part of the electorate that hasn't made up its mind and will likely decide the election.

So the answer to your question is that we have a long way to go.