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2008 United States Presidential Race
Let's dive into this topic....
From Wikipedia
The United States presidential election of 2008, scheduled to be held on November 4, 2008, will be the 56th consecutive quadrennial election for president and vice president of the United States. This presidential election schedule coincides with the 2008 Senate elections, House of Representatives elections, and gubernatorial elections, as well as many state and local elections.
Under Article Two of the United States Constitution, as amended by the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, an Electoral College will elect the president. These electors are appointed by mechanisms chosen by each state's legislature (prevailingly, by popular vote of the voters of each state). The individual who receives a majority of votes for president — 270 votes are needed for a majority — will be the president-elect of the United States; and the individual who receives a majority of electoral votes for vice president will be the vice president-elect of the United States. If no presidential candidate receives a majority in the Electoral College, then the president-elect will be selected by a vote of the House of Representatives, with each state receiving a single vote. If no vice presidential candidate receives a majority, then the vice president-elect will be selected by a vote of the Senate. Although rare, these latter scenarios have occurred twice in America's history, in 1825 and 1837.
As in the 2004 presidential election, the allocation of electoral votes to each state will be partially based on the 2000 Census. The president-elect and vice president-elect are scheduled to be inaugurated on January 20, 2009.
Some interesting notes about this particualr election that make it significant --
1) This is the first time since 1928 that neither an incumbent president nor an incumbent vice president running for his party's nomination in the presidential election. This fact in particular is what makes this race so variable.
2) The first viable african-american candidate in history
3) The first viable female candidate in history
4) The campaign is costly -- The two leading democratic candidates have raised close to $200 million dollars together
5) The internet is having a significant impact. Numerous campaigns have use the net to make it easier for people to donate. Also, Ron Paul has successfully used the net to become a viable candidate
6) Numerous states have moved their elections to an earlier date, allowing for (depending on the outcome) the possiblity that one or more parties could achieve a nominee by Feb 6th.
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So the question --
These people are running (note: these are the four parties who generally get the most votes, they are not all the parties):
Democratic Candidates
Republican Candidates
Green Candidates
Libertarian Candidates
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Who would you want to be president? I'd love to hear what everyone around the world thinks too
**NOTE: MODs - please keep a sharp eye on this thread***Our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, because our destiny lies above us. - Matthew Mcconaughey - Interstellar
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01-13-2008, 08:35 PM #2j7wild Guest
I am not voting for Hillary, that's for sure.
She's a liar; she's two-faced; she has no stand on any issues - she changes her answer when asked about key issues like Economy and Abortion and Employment just to give people what they want to hear.
I fear many women are going to vote for her just because she is a woman and they are not going to bother to even research what she really stands for!!
I also think Obama not going to win - this country is still not ready for a Minority President, much less an African American President.
I have to stick with my old party!!
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01-13-2008, 09:14 PM #3
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As much as I would love to follow what's going on down there, I find your system to be way too complicated. I don't see what the point of all these primary's are. Why don't they just hold one vote for the party members to elect the candidate?
You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can't be sure. But it doesn't matter - because we'll be together.
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01-13-2008, 10:09 PM #4
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In a way, they do. There is one primary per state. In other words, each state's Republicans and each state's Democrats get a chance to vote for who they think the candidates should be for each party. The official candidate for the party will be announced in the summer, although it may or may not be determined before that (our primary in Indiana isn't held until May... we should have a good idea of who will be the presidential candidates by then). In the final election, only one person per party can run for any given office.
But primaries are used to determine the candidates for the various parties for all sorts of political offices, not just the president. It is just that the president is the one office that everyone in the country votes for, so it gets the most attention. I remember a few years ago, in a town of 14,000, we had 9 Republican candidates for mayor in the primary election. Only one of those went on to run for office in the final election.
I haven't made my mind who I want to be president, but I agree with j7... http://anyonebuther.net/.
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01-13-2008, 11:34 PM #5
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In our system (Parliamentary) it's a little different. Each party has a leader who then becomes the Prime Minister if said party is elected. The party with the second highest number of seats won, their leader becomes Leader of the Opposition.
Parties choose their leader during leadership conferences. It's like a mini-election with members of that party chose the leader. There's a leadership campaign leading to the vote at the leadership conference which is held in one city over the course of a weekend. There sometimes can be and usually is several ballots eliminating contenders until there is a clear winner. I guess this is similar to your primaries but a little more central.
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The biggest difference with our system is that we don't vote for Prime Minister (your President). We elect Councellors in our respective districts, which equal seats in Parliament. The party with the most seats wins, and that party's leader becomes Prime Minister.
The problem with this is, you may not like a party's councellor, but you do like it's leader. In order for that leader to become Prime Minister you have to vote for that councellor.
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i have to disagree, i think either Hilary or Obama have a shot at winning. the primaries have already proven that the real race is between these two. with the way the Republicans have screwed this country up the last 8 years, i dont see them as having a chance at all - in fact, i have no doubt that the presidency will go to the Dems this time around. personally, i would have liked to see Jesse Ventura run, or at least someone not associated with the two choices we have, Repubs or Dems...Green, Libertarian or Independant would be better as it seems they have more of an understanding of common americans rather than the career politians who never leave washington.
"I hate to advocate weird chemicals, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone …
but they've always worked for me,"
Hunter S.Thompson
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01-14-2008, 09:54 AM #8
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Actually, in our country, in the presidential election in November, we technically don't vote for the president, either. Most people in the U.S. either don't know this or ignore this fact, but it is true. In the U.S., we vote for electors. You hear the term "electoral votes" tossed around a lot in the final election. Each state has at least 3 electoral votes (one for each member of the House of Representatives, which is based on a percentage of population with no fewer than one, and one for each Senator, every state automatically has two Senators).
When a certain presidential candidate wins a state, then the electoral voters from that candidate's party (who are chosen by the party) votes on who should be president. That election, the REAL election, occurs in mid-December. While it is traditional and expected for those electors to vote for the candidate from their party, they can vote for whoever they want to vote for, and in fact, according to Wikipedia, there have been 158 times when the elector voted for someone other than who they were supposed to vote for (although to be fair, 63 of those were in 1872 and were changed because the candidate died between the general election and electoral vote). The last time an elector voted for someone other than who they were supposed to vote for was... the last election. Someone in Minnesota voted for John Edwards for Democrat President instead of John Kerry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithless_elector
So we don't vote for the president, we vote for someone else to vote for the president.
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I think and hope that Obama will win.
"A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism." / Carl Sagan
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I have a question for the US citizens movie-list members conceirning this topic which I follow up with great interest. It's pretty clear who the main democratic candidates are but it's very unclear who'll be the main republican candidate (and his runner-up). I'f you believe the Internet-buzz that would be Ron Paul, our media suggest Rudy Guliani and accodring to the current pre-elections the conservative Mike Hukabee and John McCain are doing well now.
Who do you believe will be the republican strong man and who would you like it to be?I'm a mog, half man, half dog, I am my own best friend.
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01-14-2008, 12:09 PM #12
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I haven't had a chance to study the candidates as much as I would like, so I can't give you an answer to that yet. Of course, by the time the primary for Indiana rolls around in May, it will probably already be decided for both Republicans and Democrats.
But one of the talk radio people I listen to had a good point the other day. Since 1980, we have had either a Bush or a Clinton in the Whitehouse (either as President or as Vice President). It is time for some new names. "Surely, somebody from another family is fit to be in the Whitehouse." I definitely agree with that, no matter which side you are talking about.
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01-14-2008, 12:44 PM #13j7wild Guest
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01-14-2008, 02:06 PM #14
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Sorry, I'm not old enough. I need to be at least 35. (Maybe in 2012.)
My wife could run, however. She just turned 35 in October.
I'd suggest j7 except that I know that he isn't eligible since you have to be a natural citizen to be elected President (in other words... you have to be born here).
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01-14-2008, 03:05 PM #15j7wild Guest
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