The decision by Democratic candidate Jim Graves to end his congressional campaign shows just how flawed the American political system is. Due to a number of missteps, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann had made herself vulnerable.

Minnesota's Sixth District covers a conservative area of the state, and virtually any endorsed Republican candidate could take that seat except for Bachmann; her latest poll numbers showed that she was heading south fast. When she dropped out of the race, Graves realized he probably wouldn't be able to win against any other Republican.

Most Americans believe that who wins political races is decided on election day by the voters. Nationwide, only about 50 of the 435 House seats are ever in play in general elections. The 385 or so other seats are in gerrymandered districts. Who wins is often determined before voters even go to the polls, sometimes many years before. The outcome is decided by those who draw the district lines as well as by the local party endorsement process.

Usually, state legislatures have the responsibility of drawing district lines. If they decide to create a district that is 70 percent Republican, there is little chance the Democratic candidate will win.

Republican candidates will usually lose if a district is drawn so that it is predominantly Democratic. Voters go to the polls confident in the illusion that they control the fate of the candidates. In reality they are often only participating in the last act of a political play whose ending has already been written.

Michael Kluznik, Mendota Heights