Primaries - A Twisted Beauty Pageant?

Well the primaries are in full swing and the comparisons between them and a twisted beauty pageant have begun to occur to me. I'm not sure if this is the twisted nature of the way that my mind works, or simply something that most people simply don't realize. Let me illustrate:

• We start out with contestants from various states, but no two from any one of them.
• There is an inordinate amount of smiling and waving as the contestants are introduced to us, and throughout the competition for that matter.
• In front of the cameras it's all love and kisses (well OK, some of the time), but you know there is all kinds backstabbing and dog eat dog behavior going on behind the scenes.
• It takes a great deal of sponsorship money to allow contestants to compete.
• Most of the contestants put on a "song and dance" routine as part of their portion of the Talent Competition.
• Part of the process is asking the contestants mostly ridiculous questions, and not expecting or getting answers that are anything but unintelligent, self-serving, and inane.
• After a couple of events, we winnow the field down to a few finalists, who will vie for the title.
• Everyone always argues over whether the winner actually deserved the title after the contest is over.

See, I told you so! Quite frankly, the only differences that I can find are things for which I am eternally grateful:

1. There is no swimsuit competition (I have trouble describing what a relief this is to me).
2. Nobody ever wins Miss Congeniality (and no one ever will).