Does anyone care about the US election campaigns?

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I can't believe the amount of airtime given to the election campaigns. Nowhere near as much coverage of leadership battles in the UK.

I care.
Go Obama!

Obama was the only one out of the whole lot of them not to vote for the war.

Well, to be fair, that's because he wasn't in the Senate at the time. Since becoming a senator, he has sometimes voted against measures in support of the war, and sometimes abstained.

Admittedly he's more anti than HC.

i find it all quite interesting.especially once the primary part is over and the real political warfare starts. i just think the republicans will systematically dismantle obama (i mean any presidential hopeful who admits to taking cocaine must have a few skeletons in the closet).
so come on mccain

interesting article by Jonathan Free-thingy in the Grauniad today. His gist is, HC and BO and going to spend so much time and energy dismantling each other that they're going to give McCain a free ride, and do a lot of his campaigning for him. JF seems to think that HC should pull out now for the greater good.

I can see his point, but it reminds me of those who blamed Ralph Nader for GWB's election. Blame the feckers who voted for him, I say.

The US economy is in a terrible state (no pun intended).

Iraq is an obvious centre for argument, but the economy needs serious consideration. Obama is good at platitudes, but far more is needed. I've yet to hear anything from him that truly impressed me.

McCain is older than Methusaleh. And he is a Republican. Two excellent reasons for not voting for him.

(That's the feckers who voted for GWB, not Nader.)

I must say since the yanks took 3 weeks (or whatever) to struggle to a conclusion as to who should be president (Dubya - well that was worth the wait) my enthusiasm for US elections has somewhat waned.

If they now take another 6 months to decide on a Democratic candidate before they even START the real presidential campaign, I'm afraid I will have zero interest whatsoever in the actual election

Less information over a shorter time period would keep my interest I'm afraid

I had this conversation with my Dad last night,PW.

I think if they allow re-voting in Florida and Michigan (where HC won both) the battle could be far from over. I don't agree that she should step aside. Where there's life, there's hope.

I think a lot of coverage of the actual election is justified because it's useful to help understand the policies of the Republicans and Democrats, so you know what the world is being let in for. But I can't see the point of the endless coverage of the primaries, there will be plenty of time to find out how the winner interprets Democrat ideals after they've been chosen - at the moment it's all too vague.

Yes GOH, I think I agree - although I'd prefer her to hold back on the negative campaigning.

i don't know if mccains age has anything to do with it.if up against obama his age/experience and the fact he served his country will all work in his favour. personally i really hope tha obama doesn't win as i honestly believe that would be a victory of style over substance.

Well it would be nice to know who will be giving Brown orders after Bush

And it could be the first black president or the first woman one.

I want Hilliary to win.

Kimi - lol re Brown's orders!!!! I would rather see him take orders from McCain - he would be grinding his teeth down to stumps again.

I started off being a bit jaded by HC and her meticulously crafted political moves, also not impressed with some of the Washington people supporting her.
Was impressed by BO but as the primaries have gone on, the more light-weight he seems.
Maybe I'm not as receptive to his stirring oratory. And I don't think I've ever seen him smile - a real from the heart smile. Not that that should be an important criterion...
The reality is that pushing any legislative programme through is exceedingly hard and I think HC is more able to do that as she knows the intricacies already.
Plus BC, consummate politician that he is - can't deny it adds to her appeal
The neg campaigning is tough - balancing legitimate questioning against mud-slinging. Some talk yesterday of HC's campaign altering photos of BO so that he looked blacker? Wtf? There's so much media & blog reporting that it's not always clear who's saying or doing what.

a Harvard professor at her age?

policywonk - I don't agree with that J Freedland argument. As long as the contest doesn't get too acrimonious (and every minor spat will be magnified - the media love a fight) I think it highlights how lacklustre the Republican nomination is. For now anyway.
Though the Florida & Michigan primaries & delegate status could be more than acrimonious.

McCain was written off last year, has no huge fan base among conservatives, was considered a traitor by many for his anti-torture bill and is over 70. Hardly a poster boy for the Rs. He's the best they've got

Pro-D sites I was reading today were quite shocking - talk about eating their own. HC is "evil", "a cancer" - if that becomes more widespread or widely reported then an HC vs BO fight would indeed be v bad for the Ds.

For poll fiends lovers:

reading polls beats spring cleaning

PPH, the official candidate for each party is never announced until the convention time.

The race is always this long, even when there is a candidate who will obviously clench the nomination, because that is the way the system is set up.

Nothing to do with indecisiveness.

The race for each party's candidate always begins around the same time in every election year.

I hope I never see hte day when I vote for a candidate solely because of their age, race or gender.

I think US politics nad many voters have been clock-watching the end of GB's presidency for so long that this primary season was always going to excite people.
BC in 92 went on for ever as well I (dimly) recall.
It is a good question why the seemingly blow-by-blow account though. Maybe we tune out the English stuff. I seem to remember endless reports of GB vs TB and Brownites and back-stabbing Blairites etc - it did go on for years, let alone months. As a political journalist I reckon you could trot out an article every 6 weeks on that restaurant conversation - till we all felt like we'd been there and chosen the wine ourselves!

At a purely personal level, I love the backstabbing and intrigue (loved the Blair/Brown stuff too, even though it seemed to get in the way of government, to say the least).

Yes, I agree about Freeland, fink. I think the process should be allowed to run its course. Are you an American or just unusually interested, btw?

Oh, yes, policy, the latest is an Obama aide overheard calling Hilary a 'monster'.

obamaaide

Ooh, am def a backstabbing and intrigue-loving unusually-interested politics fiend Love it, warts 'n' all.

Expat the Harvard prof link was to the aide who resigned.

there's another one from our local - around here, that is.

i usually just go onto my hometown's paper - the Houston Chronicle.

it's hotting up in there!

The Scotsman is apparently a fave "let's leak it here" destination of US politicos & associated lobbyists. Always wondered why I saw so many refs to it.