After months, if not years, of talk about the 2008 presidential elections, the race finally officially began last week with the Iowa caucuses being the first in the primary elections. With Barack Obama winning the Democratic nomination in Iowa and Mike Huckabee winning the Republican nomination, the race is becoming suddenly more interesting. And the spotlight has shifted from Iowa to New Hampshire, where the next set of primaries will take place tomorrow.

Following New Hampshire will be Florida, Michigan, South Carolina, and Nevada, after which half the country will cast their votes on February 5th. As the candidates move from state to state, their focus and strategies are shifting. The huge number of primaries within a small span of time arecreating all kinds of obstacles for each candidates.

"The scale of the new battlefield represents an immense logistical, financial and management challenge. Not even the best-financed campaign has the time or the money to visit or advertise in the scores of media markets involved in the contest through Feb. 5; there are 35 markets alone in California, Florida and Michigan.

The Internet helps early winners collect more cash and convert it into television advertising time more rapidly than before. Struggling campaigns end up borrowing money or stretching dwindling treasuries, and recent history casts doubt on their chances to hold “firewall” states that once appeared safe," according to the New York Times.

As one former adviser to the Gore campaign put it, “Once you get out of Iowa and New Hampshire,” he said, “you end the protest phase, and you start to enter a phase where people say, ‘This is decisive.’” The races in the next four weeks will be decisive – by February 6th, clear winners will likely have emerged on both the Republican and Democratic sides. Make sure to get registered in your state and cast your vote before it's too late!