It is ridiculous. I wonder how different it would be if we had a different campaign system like in other countries. AKA time restrictions on when a presidential campaign can start and budget restrictions on how much they can spend on the campaign. Here is an interesting article: http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/10/21/450238156/canadas-11-week-campaign-reminds-us-that-american-elections-are-much-longer