All set for Super Tuesday?

[Arianwen]

I have found this thread very interesting.

Here most people have a polling booth in walking distance. There are two in my village!!! But it is normally a simple cross on a piece of paper not the high tech some of you mention. Even postal votes use the same system.

I was in America in the run up to an election a while back and found it strange - especially the TV advertising. Here the coverage has to be strictly balanced between the main parties (plus time allocated to more minor parties according to how many votes they polled in the previous election). There is a strict cap on what any party can pay for advertising (none of it on TV). The adverts were a complete culture shock - both that they were happening and that most were more negative towards the opposition rather than trying to sell the positive.

On the other hand, I was really impressed by how people were really talking about the election which I though was brilliant.

[bluemilk]

Locally, Sherrod Brown was elected state senator,the school levy passed,AS did the transit levy! This area is rust belt and SDTRICTLY Dem. The rest of Ohio,not so much. I do believe the G.M. plant in Lordstown was a factor in the election.

[tigre86]

Here the coverage has to be strictly balanced between the main parties (plus time allocated to more minor parties according to how many votes they polled in the previous election). There is a strict cap on what any party can pay for advertising (none of it on TV). The adverts were a complete culture shock - both that they were happening and that most were more negative towards the opposition rather than trying to sell the positive.

I wish it was that way in the US. The amount of money that is spent on campaigns is ridiculous and there is very little advertising for the third party candidates. The negativity is also outrageous...it fosters a lot of negative feelings between parties which is not a good thing. I want to know what a candidate stands for, not why I shouldn't like their opposition. That kind of advertising just makes me not want to vote for/believe in either party.

[scottd]

I think the figure was $1 billion USD this year.

The 2 party system is really bad. I know we have other parties but they don't get a single seat in Congress so you can't really say they're in the race.

We're going to have at least another 2 years of government grid lock.

[spirite]

Originally Posted by tigre86

I wish it was that way in the US. The amount of money that is spent on campaigns is ridiculous and there is very little advertising for the third party candidates. The negativity is also outrageous...it fosters a lot of negative feelings between parties which is not a good thing. I want to know what a candidate stands for, not why I shouldn't like their opposition. That kind of advertising just makes me not want to vote for/believe in either party.

If you have enough money, you can run and get a good amount of support, even if you have zero experience (remember Ross Perot?). Then there's the fact that of a 4 year term, after 2 years, it's back on the campaign trail. How is anyone getting anything done?

Arianwen, it's similar in France. Any candidate (I believe it's something like 100,000 signatures to get on the ballot) gets equal advertising time on TV, it's free, and either no donations are allowed, or there's a cap. I don't believe there are ads in newspapers. There's also a two-tier system: the top two vote-getters advance to the 2nd round. Although it almost always comes out to the center-right and center-left (some would say left) candidates - essentially the equivalent of Democrat and Republican - representation in the National Assembly goes according to the number of votes received by each candidate's party in the 1st round, so the representation is much more diverse.

Plus, the percentage of people voting is around 70%.

[pookieboy]

Even tho my state is traditionally "red", I am "blue" thru & thru. I also voted by mail. My sis & I were on the road on election day & every poling place we passed was jammed-packed with cars.

I must give credit to the citizens of my state for NOT voting in wacko Richard Mourdock for senator in DC! Yeah, he's the dude that said abortions should be outlawed without exception! His stance on that was what trounced him in the end and A Dem got in !

[scottd]

Originally Posted by pookieboy

Even tho my state is traditionally "red", I am "blue" thru & thru. I also voted by mail. My sis & I were on the road on election day & every poling place we passed was jammed-packed with cars.

I must give credit to the citizens of my state for NOT voting in wacko Richard Mourdock for senator in DC! Yeah, he's the dude that said abortions should be outlawed without exception! His stance on that was what trounced him in the end and A Dem got in !

Claire McCaskill was reelected too instead of the "a woman's body has a way to prevent pregnancy in the event of a legitimate rape" guy being elected. That's right ladies, your bodies can prevent pregnancy if you're "legitimately raped". I'm still confused about what illegitimate rape is.

[spirite]

Originally Posted by scottd

I'm still confused about what illegitimate rape is.

lol! Did he ever define what he meant by "legitimate rape"? You can just imagine what the Republican party leaders were thinking when that got reported!

Did anyone watch any coverage on Fox "News"? When I went to bed after Obama's speech, he was up nearly a million votes. The next morning, two of my students, at least one of whom said she'd been watching Fox "News", told me that Romney had won the popular vote by a million votes. I didn't challenge them, thinking maybe a bunch of returns had been counted overnight. Then I got home and saw that it was nearly a 3 million vote advantage for Obama. I really wonder if Fox "misspoke" as they often do when they report something they don't like. They don't ever bother correcting themselves, so the idiots who rely solely on them for news remain idiots.

[Penguin_Dreams]

Originally Posted by pookieboy

I must give credit to the citizens of my state for NOT voting in wacko Richard Mourdock for senator in DC! Yeah, he's the dude that said abortions should be outlawed without exception! His stance on that was what trounced him in the end and A Dem got in !

That was you? Thanks so much for giving him his pink slip!

[scottd]

Originally Posted by spirite

lol! Did he ever define what he meant by "legitimate rape"? You can just imagine what the Republican party leaders were thinking when that got reported!

Did anyone watch any coverage on Fox "News"? When I went to bed after Obama's speech, he was up nearly a million votes. The next morning, two of my students, at least one of whom said she'd been watching Fox "News", told me that Romney had won the popular vote by a million votes. I didn't challenge them, thinking maybe a bunch of returns had been counted overnight. Then I got home and saw that it was nearly a 3 million vote advantage for Obama. I really wonder if Fox "misspoke" as they often do when they report something they don't like. They don't ever bother correcting themselves, so the idiots who rely solely on them for news remain idiots.

I'm not sure but he did say that he seriously thought what he said was true.

At one point, Romney was winning the popular vote but Obama was winning the electoral vote but that was before all ballots were near being counted. There's no telling what Fox said though.