When the only answer to the question is “none of the above”, the challenge is to change the question. In policy-speak I think the phrase for that process is is called “getting something on the agenda”. Typically that requires two things: the existence of a kind of widespread feeling that a certain subject has to be raised and some institutional way to articulate it.

What would be interesting to watch out for in the coming weeks is the emergence of some political entrepreneur who is willing to try and reformulate the question. It doesn’t mean the question who is elected President in November is irrelevant. But it does mean that the selection won’t represent closure. Rather it represents the best opening gambit for a process that must continue.