US Presidential Election 2012

George Will calls it the best debate he's ever watched. for some reason I found it boring.

Sounds like I didn't miss much by sitting this one out. I hate the town hall format and I just didn't feel like sitting through yet another debate. That said, I'll probably tune in for the final one out of sense of obligation, if nothing else.

The grass looks fine.

I missed this one too but I'm just about to watch it on youtube-



I saw some soundbites on the news headlines and it at least looked more fiesty than the lacklustre first one but we shall see!

Well about half way through and Obama is certainly a lot better in this one than th elast one- but pretty dull too somehow.
However my favourite bit so far was this gem from Romney-

"I know about business. I know how to balance the books. This President said he would half the national debt he has doubled it. Its gone from 10 trillion to 16 trillion.'

Thats some business skill there- double 10 trillion is 16 trillion?! Maybe he should have brought a calculator.

I need to watch that vid when I get home Love a good argument

I think the first debate was less boring because they had well scripted responses. Even though this one was livelier, it was more off-the-cuff, hence less intellectually stimulating.

I posted something about a billionaire who threatened to fire his employees if Obama won the election, but it turns out that he's hardly alone in this.

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/10/17/1037881/leaked-audio-romney-employers/

The link summarizes a few similar cases but also Romney's own endorsement of such practices (skip to 26:44 to hear the audio).

I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope — I hope you pass those along to your employees. Nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business, because I think that will figure into their election decision, their voting decision and of course doing that with your family and your kids as well.

Not sure what else to say.

that's not very democratic, is it?

Nope.

Thank God for the secret ballot.

ballot?

Yeah ... a ballot is the device that you use when voting. For a long time it was a paper form but these days many U.S. states have electronic voting machines, so the "ballot" is often just an electronic file.

The "secret ballot" is a term for the practice of people not having to make public their choices in an election. It's a measure that helps reduce voter intimidation and manipulation by, for example, unscrupulous employers since there's no way to know who a specific individual voted for.

We're still paper ballots here- not because we lack the tech but because there is a general distrust of the safety and integrity when its just numbers on a computer.
Its thought harder to tamper with when its physical ballots.

scottish no, I think it's the same here, only if you're not in the country you can vote "online". also, I don't trust computers in voting after seeing the movie "man of the year".

Each state has different voting laws. In our state (Washington) we use all paper ballots, but after all of the poling station irregularities in Florida during the Bush elections we've gone to all mail-in ballots.

The main advantage of the paper ballot is in the case of a recount you actually have something to count!

David H wrote:
The main advantage of the paper ballot is in the case of a recount you actually have something to count!

that's certainly is an advantage ;D

Yeah, electronic voting machines are not hugely reliable and are disturbingly easy to hack. Unfortunately Maryland has been using them for several years now.

Go Obama!

Romney seems like an idiot to me... less of one than Bush but an idiot nonetheless!

I've been following the ongoing stories about voter intimidation but there's too much to post here every time without just ranting. Instead I'll just post this longer piece I came across today as it sums up much of what is wrong with efforts to "clean up" voter registration rolls.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/10/29/121029fa_fact_mayer

Watched the debate- Romney continues to scare the crap out of me- WW3 here we come.
He said of the Mideast "we can't kill our way out of this" and then accused Obama of being weak- how does that work?
And the moderator mixing up Osama and Obama wasn't exactly helpful.
And how is Romney to help broker a peace with Palestinians when he has already said they are culturally inferior to Jews?
I was left with the nagging feeling Obama did not do enough and that Romney couldnt find most of the countries he spoke about on a map if you gave him instructions.
Overall a depressing watch that bodes no good for the future of the world- American foreign policy arrogance looks set to continue (Obama) or get worse and plunge us back to the sort of behaviour that led to groups like Al-Queda in the first place (Romney).
And I'm getting a bit annoyed by Romney constently going on about "America must be strong and we must lead,"- lead who exactly? Do you really thingk the rest of the world wants to follow America? And a leader with no followers is a crank or a despot.

On the evidence presented here if Obama wins the world is merely screwed and if Romney wins its toast.

With all the posturing going on recently in the South China Sea and Western Pacific, I imagine WW3 might well start itself without needing American involvement.

Is it me or does the world seem like it is starting to get out of control recently? Wouldn't be surprised to see some issues in Eastern Europe or Russia in the next 10 years, Middle East is as problematic as ever, they just have bigger guns, Africa at least looks to be calming itself down but there are still plenty of potential triggers.

Last thing we need is another nutjob in charge of the U.S. like Romney. Seems like a more aggressive 'dubya' Bush.

This one was by far the most entertaining debate. Obama won, and would have won by more if Romney hadn't done some serious schooling: he's clearly a quick study. But part of Romney's strategy to avoid a big blunder was to largely agree with the current policy so he didn't look like such a wild-ass loose cannon.

And for more fun with the minutia of the US constitution:

A Romney-Biden Administration? It Could Happen
By Jonathan Karl | ABC OTUS News

It's sounds crazy. It would be crazy. But it is possible that this election could result in a President Romney and a Vice President Biden.
Let me explain.
If there is a tie in the electoral college (and, as I explain below, there could be), it will be up to the newly elected House of Representatives to elect a President and the newly elected Senate to elect the Vice President.
Tune in to ABC News.com tonight at 8 p.m. ET for anchored coverage of the final presidential debate, held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.
The rules are all outlined in the 12 th Amendment to Constitution. Here's how it would work:
1) In the House vote for President, each state delegation gets a single vote. So California, with 53 Representatives (majority of them Democrats), would likely cast its single vote for Obama. South Dakota with just one Representative (Republican), would get equal weight and likely cast its vote for Romney, and so on.
All told, in the current House, Republicans have majority control of 33 state delegations; Democrats control 14 and 3 are evenly divided. Even if the Democrats win control of the House, the Republicans would almost certainly still control a majority of the state delegations. Bottom line: Romney wins.
2) In the Senate vote for Vice President, each Senator gets a single vote. If Democrats keep control of the Senate, Biden would likely win (unless somebody crosses party lines).
Read the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights
If the new Senate is divided 50-50 (a plausible outcome), the sitting Vice President would cast the tie-breaking vote. That sitting vice President: Joe Biden. Yes, Joe Biden would be the deciding vote in re-electing Vice President Joe Biden. Bottom line: If Democrats keep control of the Senate, Biden likely wins.
Voila! You have a Romney-Biden Administration, the greatest political odd couple since the Adams-Jefferson Administration (now those two had real political differences).
Is this all just crazy talk? No.
There are a number of plausible scenarios which could result in a 269-269 electoral tie.
Here's just one: Obama wins OH, WI, NH. Romney wins FL, VA, NC, IA, CO, NV (and all other states go as expected).
Result: a 269-269 tie.
I am not saying this is likely to happen. But it is far from impossible.
Don't believe me? Play the electoral game yourself at ABC's Gamechanger's electoral college map.