Writing Troubles

I was reading Hugh Hewitt's latest piece on Town Hall and I was really struck by this sentence:

Senator Brownback, Governor Huckabee, and Congressman Hunter are fine men and serious public servants, but if you can’t get over 10% in even one state poll from among the first four states in which contests will be held –Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida and South Carolina—you shouldn’t be in the first tier, and only the first tier should be taking up prime time in the months ahead.

Now is it just me or is that sentence a mess? It's like some sort of prepositional pileup with commas and additional punctuation that adds nothing to clarity. Good Lord man, list one thing at a time.

Oh and Hugh likes Romney and Rudy in the primaries. He thinks McCain has too much baggage. He thinks Thompson lacks both commitment and long term appeal to the general populace, especially the blue staters. Maybe he's right. But I live in a Blue State and I wouldn't vote for Romney or Rudy unless the only other option was the devil herself. Which looks increasingly likely.

Anyway back to some of my posts that have been sitting in the old writing queue forever.