All throughout this political game of musical chairs, I can’t help thinking: How come you can vote for the best singer on the American Idol by text messaging, or pick your favorite dancing stars over the Internet… but the most important, the most crucial process of nominating a president still relies on some strange, archaic system?

In many political shows tonight I heard the same refrain, suggesting that the candidates invest so much effort and energy in Iowa and New Hampshire to show that they can win where the actual votes are being cast.

And, if this is the case, I wonder what would happen if the candidates actually did face a popular vote – at least an unofficial ballot casting via the Internet or text messaging. Imagine for a moment that all Americans would be given an hour to vote for their favorite candidates. Not a select group of party activists gathered on a snowy night, but anyone who is interested in the outcome of the elections and wants their voice to be heard. I wonder what kind of results this type of vote would bring, and what kind of message it would send to the candidates.

Tradition is big in politics, but the world is changing and moving towards a more collaborative, more interactive ways. The country that the new president would lead is in the forefront of technology and innovation. So why not use these trends to update the old political machine and demonstrate to the world that the future American leaders can not only win the nomination vote in Iowa, but can get a popular Internet vote of the people. Well, maybe in the next decade or so. For now, we can save our popular votes for the new season of the American Idol.