US News
PREVIEW: Now it's up to voters in historic US elections
By Chris Cermak Nov 3, 2008, 6:01 GMT
Washington - After an historic 20 months of rallies, debates and countless commercials in the most expensive election campaign ever, voters will finally get their chance Tuesday to pick Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain as the next US president.
Across the country, state officials are preparing for record turnout and huge lines at polling stations, a testament to the massive interest that has been generated in an election widely considered the most important in recent memory.
McCain or Obama will become president on January in the midst of two wars, an economy tail-spinning into recession and a global financial system on the verge of collapse. The world will be looking to the next president to rebuild a US reputation tarnished during the eight-year administration of President George W Bush.
Some states are forecasting turnout of 80 to 90 per cent. That compares with nearly 60 per cent in 2004's presidential election, which already had the highest participation rate since 1968.
'We will get closer to 100-per-cent turnout on election day this year than ever before,' said Doug Chapin of electiononline.org, a non-partisan website run by the Pew Charitable Trust.
Tens of millions of people have already taken to the polls in recent weeks for early or absentee voting allowed in 31 states, including key battlegrounds Florida, North Carolina, Colorado and Nevada. As many as 40 per cent of voters are expected to have voted before Tuesday.
The election stands to make history regardless of which candidate wins on Tuesday. McCain, at 72, would be the oldest president to begin a first term, while Obama, 47, would become the first African- American president.
Opinion polls continue to give Obama a significant edge over McCain in the run-up to Tuesday's general election.
The economic crisis, compounding Bush's unpopularity, helped lift Obama and his message of 'change' from a race that was too close to call in August to a significant lead in opinion polls during the closing weeks.
An aggregate of major national polls compiled by realclearpolitics.com gave Obama 50.7 per cent to McCain's 44.3 per cent as of Sunday night. Of those heading to polling stations early, registered Democrats have outnumbered registered Republicans in some states by 2 to 1.
In an election climate stacked against the incumbent Republican Party, both Obama and McCain have promised change from what they call the failed policies of the last eight years.
McCain has leaned hard on his longtime reputation as a 'maverick' unafraid to take on his own party in the US Senate, while touting his 26 years in Congress, military career and expertise in foreign policy as making him the safer choice.
Obama has consistently sought to link McCain with the Bush administration, and his campaign was given last-minute fodder when Vice President Dick Cheney said he was 'delighted' to support McCain in a weekend speech in Wyoming. Both Bush and Cheney have been otherwise absent from the campaign trail.
The looming recession has become the dominant force in the race since September, overshadowing major foreign policy issues like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian and North Korean nuclear activities, and a resurgent Russia.
But McCain's campaign has vowed a comeback in the final days, pointing to polls that show as many as one in seven voters remain undecided.
Volunteers from both sides made millions of phone calls and knocked on millions of doors over the final weekend, while the campaigns made last-minute pleas for donations to mount massive television advertising.
Obama's campaign has been fueled by an unprecedented fundraising prowess that comes mainly from small donors over the internet. Obama raised more than 600 million dollars in the last 20 months, nearly twice as much as McCain, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Yet McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, predicted that his side would outspend Democrats by 10 million dollars in the final week.
For all the worldwide attention to the election, the outcome will come down to a handful of 'swing states' under the winner-take-all Electoral College. Even a narrow victory in a state ensures the winner gets all of the electoral votes - the number depending on the state's population.
Polls put Obama ahead in most of the usual major battlegrounds, including Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Demographic shifts have also helped Obama compete in some previously Republican regions, including Southern states like Virginia and North Carolina and Western strongholds Colorado and Nevada.
Both candidates planned one final, furious day of campaigning across key states on Monday. McCain was set for a seven-state tour that includes Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Obama planned rallies in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.
COMMENT
blog comments powered by DisqusLatest Headlines in US
- 1. Mitt Romney Addresses Tea Party Summit Pictures
- 2. Seven injured as US Navy plane crashes into apartments
- 3. At least three injured in US Navy plane crash
- 4. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, others to face death penalty trial
- 5. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, four others to face death penalty trial
Older Talkback
page: 1
This presidential election comes down, as they often do, to trust. We must trust the person's competence, courage and ability to defend us from our enemies and to fight for the best economic conditions possible.
In both areas, John McCain stands head and shoulders above his rival. McCain has been tested as few men ever have, and he has never been found wanting. Barack Obama has no experience -- none. He may be the most unprepared major-party candidate ever. His own vice presidential pick says our enemies will test him quickly and severely. There is no good reason to take that chance.
Those who believe Obama's claims that he will reduce 95 percent of Americans' taxes, while he pays for near-universal health care, subsidizes clean energy, expands our military commitment in Afghanistan, adds to mass transit and highway infrastructure, etc., etc., are living in a dream world.
Fortunately, there seem to be fewer and fewer dreamers every day, as the polls tighten and people begin to really look at all the promises Obama has made.
John McCain promises us only his hard work and integrity, his experience and true grit, and a solid faith and optimism in America.
Party politics aside, McCain is the choice
Is John McCain really George W. Bush?
With the litany of maladies and calamities facing our country as we head to our voting booths on Tuesday, it seems hard to fathom that this single question seems to be framing one of the most important presidential elections of our lifetime.
Yet, there it is, sitting there right alongside what should be the real question voters take into their polling place on Tuesday: Who should be the next president of the United States at this profoundly critical juncture in our history: Sen. John McCain, or Sen. Barack Obama?
Our answer is McCain.
Like his opponent, McCain is a strong, talented, dedicated - and, yes, flawed - candidate, with a riveting life story. With the United States facing a time of challenge virtually unmatched in is history, we point to the experience, leadership, teamwork skills, dedication to country and bold independent streak of McCain as the best answer.
It's easy enough, and plenty tempting, to make the party with President George W. Bush as its leader pay for the misadventures and debacles of the past eight years. It's perfectly understandable that Obama would get considerable political mileage from railing against the president - those historically low poll numbers, after all, didn't happen by accident.
Only the most partisan among us would deny that if ever a firestorm of events gave voters the right to demand handing the keys to the White House over to the other side, this would be it. At the same time, only the most partisan of us cannot see how, now more than ever, this is a time to forget party politics, reject the partisan, toxic gamesmanship that has poisoned our nation's capital, and call on both sides to together find the solutions this country needs.
Obama says he believes he is that man, and we'll take him at his word.
McCain also says he is that man, and we'll take him at his word - and his record.
Time and time again through his career - and even at critical moments through the Bush years - McCain has stood up for what he thought was right, and against what his party, or his poll numbers, called for. More often than not, McCain did so at considerable risk to his political fortunes, yet, he plunged ahead.
Campaign finance. Immigration. Donald Rumsfeld's job security. Strategy and tactics once we were in Iraq. The Senate's consensus-building judicial filibuster compromise from 'The Gang of 14.' Each time, there was an easier way to go, and each time, McCain refused to take the bait.
Yes, McCain has voted with an unpopular president up to 80 percent of the time. He's also voted against him up to 33 percent of the time. We're guessing there's plenty of those votes on both sides he wouldn't mind having back. The same goes with Obama, who's voted with his party virtually 100 percent of the time, and with the president up to 40 percent of the time - including on the controversial 'Cheney Energy Bill,' the one McCain bucked his president and party over.
In the end, those statistics form a collage, and perhaps a mirage, of numbers. Parsing through old Senate votes and sifting through voting percentages can be dicey - either way, it's up to the voters to decide what the numbers mean.
We prefer to focus on direct examples of independent thinking and beliefs taking priority over party. That's where McCain delivered, and his opponent has a history of political caution - be it one of those many 'present' votes in the Illinois state Senate, or sticking to a straight party line.
Agree or disagree with McCain on these issues, there can be no doubt he took the sides he did without considering its impact on his popularity. With each decision, as with his then unpopular support of a troop surge in Iraq, he was told by many in and outside his party that his vote would ruin his chances of becoming president. Undeterred, he did what he felt was right, something we should all be looking for in a president, regardless of party.
Partisanship is not always a dirty word. Both candidates could never say it out loud, but you can't govern if you can't win. We know that nobody truly knows exactly what either man will do in office. There's an inherent gamble in any vote for the leader of what is still the greatest nation in the world. Who will work with the other side? Who won't? Who will have to? Who won't?
We do know this much. Almost certainly, Americans will wake up Wednesday with the Democratic party firmly in control of the House and the Senate - perhaps with a filibuster-proof majority. For an inexperienced President Obama, who has spent most of his one term in the Senate running for president, that would mean unparalleled power.
While some wonder why Obama hasn't broken ranks with his party on one truly significant issue of concern when he's had the opportunity, we wonder what will happen when he doesn't have to.[,,,]
From the war to the economy, Obama is certainly having little trouble getting his message out, and drowning out McCain's. And we find this more than a little troubling. Obama is pouring it on in campaign spending - shattering previous records in money spent, including an astounding $230 million in television ads - in no small part because of a broken promise to join McCain in sticking to public finance limits.
That doesn't exactly seem like the transformative, new-era politics we heard so much about.
For all Obama's eloquence and considerable gifts, watching such a core foundation of his candidacy being undercut so blatantly is disconcerting, and raises the question: Which Obama will settle into the Oval Office this January?
At its core, when all the dust has settled, and all the pundits have finished arguing each side, America is a centrist nation. It's a country crying for the best man or woman for the job, and determining how they will mix in with a Congress that is almost certain to be ruled by one party.
It is a mess of historic proportions awaiting the next president. Wars on at least two fronts, a financial crisis of historic proportions, a deficit swelling to equally historic proportions, economic uncertainty, a housing crisis, and a country fractured at the seams but united in its belief that nobody in Washington seems to know how to - or cares to be bothered to - work together to solve all our problems.
There is no perfect answer on Tuesday's ballot. The best advice we can offer is to find who you think is the best man - not the best party - for the job. To us, that means McCain. He is not President Bush, and he's earned a shot at his greatest round of public service yet.
In above posts you'll find little about the economical situation and the way the GOP wants to solve the crisis.Well,no need for that indeed,the recipe is already known and has been tried for decades:massive tax breaks for the corporate tycoons,massive military spending resulting in even more massive profits for a few croneys from the GOP,underfunding of education,health care and welfare ,resulting in a widening gap between not only the haves and the have-nots but also the educated and the uneducated.Poverty reproduces itself from generation to generation.
The bottom 50 percent of the population are supposed to wait for the trckle-down effect from the tax breaks for the richest amongst you.Unles you own a ferrari or porsche-dealership,you will never notice that.
On top of that the ideology of the GOP puts the blame on the victims of this crisis;you have read often enough in their posts that the USA is a meritocracy,meaning no less that if you are not rich ,that is only because you have no talent for it.'You can make it if you want',if you can't then you must be stupid.Lies,lies and more lies,it goes against reality and statistics .But no worries,even whn you're down and out they will sell you something else to cram your head:you are now part of a new elite:the real americans:no money,little health care or education but the proud feeling to belong to a superior nation ,capable of striking anywhere in the world ,constantly fighting wars against some dark forces somewhere in the world,always winning,always looking for another enemy.Most of this myth is based on lies and exaggeration.The only interest served is that of the military industrial complex that Dwight Eisenhower has warned you against.Washington'sK street,the White House and the Pentagon are crammed with lobbyists from the armament industry,they fill the highest ranks inside the government,switching job and sides yearly,working one year for the pentagon and the year after for the military contractors ,at ten times the previous wages.Amongst the republicans these flagrant conflicts of interest ,that cost your government multiple billions every year in expenses,is widely accepted as normal businness practise.The most flagrant example being Dick Cheney,toied to Haliburton and KBR.
The GOP has plundered the state,as they do every time they are at the helm,they fed you not with education but miliarism and paranoia.They make you believe you are a nation at war,an eternal war in which theend will never be reached.How convenient.The tax payer is funding the military industrial complex for eternity now;spending half of it's budget on weapons,spending also half of the world's budget on weapons.
These staggering sums can only serve to feed the military industrial complex,no such insane sums are relevant to what ought to be directed against terrorism.
If such amount of money needs to be spent,then terrorism will win,as their budget is not higher than the budget of one of your municipalities.
Police actions are to be mounted as police actions,not needing half of your state budget.That way the fight will be efficient and well spent.
The only result of the unjust occupation of Iraq has been to boost the powers of Al Quaida and shrink the reputation of your country all over the world.And that is precisely oneof the main reasons why the rest of the world overwhelmingly hopes Obama will win.You'll be better off and so will we.
The best way to portray a positive image of your country is by making it the shining example of success,not in fighting unjust wars but by being the showcase of education and health care,high living standards for all,not just a financial elite.
What bothers me particularly is that the GOP presents a shallow image of your ideals,one in which educated people aer mistrusted,contrary to the financial elite they are distrusted,they ae branded as unamerican,as opposed to the mediocre couch potatoes they want you to be.
Osama bin laden, reportedly from his secret base in Texas, issued an endorsement of McCain for US president. Bin laden said that the neocon republicans have made an outstanding effort of not finding him, and he believes that McCain is best suited to follow in GWB's footsteps. He also hinted that he is hoping for amnesty to be granted to him, by either the outgoing Bush, or the new republican president after the election.
Whne John McCain looks in the mirror, he sees George W. Bush. When we look at his record, we see George W. Bush!
Why, four more years in the same mode as the last 8 years? No, but thank you!
The average citizen is f**ked either way. Wake up and smell the politics!
McCain is not Geo Bush, of course, but he's his twin. He has been with Bush constantly until it looked like it wasn't going to do him any good.
His negative campaigning and the moose hunter hung around his neck have not boded well for him. He is sorely lacking in good economic policies, and just the possibility of a President Palin is the stuff of nightmares.
I interviewed two plumbing company owners over the weekend about Barack Obama's economic proposals for small business.
One has 15 employees and 12 trucks. The other has 52 employees and 34 trucks. They're Joe the Plumber, writ large.
Both owners had the same reaction to Obama's proposed new taxes and mandates. To not have their bottom lines reduced by government fiat, both said they'd be forced to lay off employees.
Specifically, here's what the owner of the larger firm said regarding six of Obama's key proposals for the small-business sector: The average wage at his company, figuring the 52 paychecks of his office staff, installers and service workers, is $31,200, $15 an hour.
First, 'Barack Obama and Joe Biden will require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year,' states the Obama campaign's Web site. 'I give three paid sick days,' explained the business owner. His extra cost for this one new regulation would be $24,960 (4 extra days, 52 employees, at an average of $120 per day). 'That's one of the women in the office,' he said. 'I can make up that cost by letting one of the office people go.'
Second, Obama states that employers will be required to pay 100 percent of the cost of health insurance premiums for 100 percent of their employees or face a tax penalty. 'I pay 75 percent of their coverage,' explained the owner. 'The family policy is about $11,000. For single guys, it's about $5,000.' At an average annual cost of $7,000 per policy, his additional cost for 52 employees to cover the 25 percent of the premiums that he currently doesn't pay is $91,000. 'That's the price of three installers,' he said. 'Just to stay even with where I am, I'd have to fire three more people or raise some prices and fire two.'
The result is more unemployment or more inflation, or both.
Third, with the estate tax, Obama is calling for a top tax rate of 45 percent on estates valued above $3.5 million, producing an estimated 'death tax' of $675,000 on an estate of $5 million. 'You're kidding,' he said. 'They took half my income on the way up and now they want another half when I die?' He estimated that his business is already valued at more than $3 million, in addition to the value of his home and investments. 'Why,' he asked, 'would I want to grow to 100 employees? What'll stop them from changing it to 75 percent?'
The cost in jobs that will never be created in the U.S. economy because of this single disincentive to growth? Incalculable.
Fourth, Obama's economic plan calls for a hike in the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour within three years. The business owner's reaction? 'That's bad for two reasons. I don't have anyone at minimum, but raise the bottom by $3 and a guy making $15 wants $18. Plus it's bad for productivity when people think their pay raises are coming from government instead of from their own individual effort.'
Fifth, saying he'll 'play offense for organized labor,' Obama is proposing that workers should be denied the right to a private ballot at work in deciding whether to unionize. 'That'll never be,' said the plumbing entrepreneur. 'I'm in business because I'm independent, not to take orders from a grievance chairman. I'd shut down.'
Sixth, the increase in taxes on this small business owner from Obama's proposed hike in the income tax rate from 36% to 39.8% on incomes above $200,000 and the proposed increase in Social Security taxes comes to $32,000 per year. 'That's another employee,' he said, referring to the termination of another installer in order to just stay even.
And the jobless plumbers? They can be re-socialized to work for ACORN.
As Obama explained in July: 'We cannot continue to rely on our military to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded.'
As 'well funded' as our Armed Forces personnel comes to $119 billion per year in paychecks for 'community activism,' a lot of money for registering dead voters, caulking windows, making sure that all the guns are locked up at the municipal buildings, and monitoring the airways to make sure that conservatives don't have too many talk shows.
Bottom line, Obama's economic plan doesn't hold water. Neither will our pipes.
Many posters accuse us God-faring and humanitarian Reps of being 'prejudiced', 'racist' or plain 'nigga bashers'.
We don`t all go around dragging these guys behind our trucks, it uses up too much gas.
It just ain`t fair, we don`t deserve being slammed like this.
There`s a little lady going around these sites posting a huge article entitled 'PLEASE VOTE FOR JOHN McCAIN'. Now you can`t be more polite than that can you, when dealing with the masses of uneducated rabble that make up the Dems, can you ? They don`t know what PLEASE means, but the poor girl`s trying VERY hard to treat them like decent Rep-abiding people.
Now for undisputed proof of our total compatibility with all these nigga`s ;-
We have had and still do have a number of these people in our administration, in very high positions of office.
NOW ! Why would we do that if we did`nt like them ? Not ALL nigga`s end up in prisons - most do of course, but not all. Some even swing around the White House balconies and dangle from the chandeliers. Come in handy at times for dusting the ceilings.
THEN, the most racial-loving act of all - every one of us Reps have color televisions in our own homes. How can you be so cruel as to call us
'racist' with such a benevolent attitude towards coloreds ?
God how much more proof do you need ?
My own daughter even broke a lifetime of strict Rep discipline and actually avoided running a nigga over on a road crossing the other day. Took some doing that did.
Some guy in reply to this affectionate poster, even said 'ALL MEN ARE BORN EQUAL'
Now there`s no bigger lump of garbage than that statement.
SOME men are born MORE equal than others - well look at our own Presidential champion John Mac - HE was never born at our level of equality, was he ?
THEN some men are born black - now that just ain`t as good as being born white, is it ?
You see, even this Demo statement is totally wrong, just like Obama.
SO you Dems - YOU`RE WRONG. SAY SORRY.
page: 1
What We're Fighting ForNov 3rd, 2008 - 06:08:55
By JOHN MCCAIN
The presidential election occurs at a pivotal moment. Our nation is fighting two wars abroad, suffers from the greatest global financial crisis since the Great Depression, and is facing a painful recession. I believe in the greatness of America. I believe in our capacity to prosper, and to be safer and remain a beacon of light on the global stage. But we cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: waiting for our luck to change. We have to act immediately. We have to fight for it.
The institutions that we counted on -- Wall Street banks, our elected leaders in Washington -- failed us. We must reverse the corruption and arrogance that have overtaken these institutions, and we must place our trust in the hands of those who have never let us down, especially the American family and small businesses.
We need to grow our small businesses, not tax them. I will fight the Democrats' plans to redistribute the fruit of America's labor and turn our economy into a full-fledged disaster. I will cut taxes on families, seniors, savers and businesses. We need to double the child deduction, cut the capital gains tax, and keep jobs in America with a lower business tax.
I will make government finally live on a budget and enforce that discipline by the power of veto. I won't spend nearly a trillion dollars more of your money. I will impose a short-term spending freeze and rid the government of waste, duplication and fraud. And I will chart a different course than the administration and Barack Obama and not spend your money just to bail out Wall Street bankers and brokers. I have a plan to protect the value of homes and get them rising again by refinancing mortgages so your neighbor won't default and further drag down the value of your house.
I will end three decades of failed energy policies; stop sending $700 billion to countries that oppose American values and finance our enemies; and drill for oil and natural gas. We must strengthen incentives for all energy alternatives -- nuclear, clean coal, wind, solar and tide. We will encourage the manufacture of hybrid, flex fuel and electric automobiles. We will lower the cost of energy, and create millions of new jobs.
I will not impose 'one size fits all' health care on families and small businesses through expensive mandates and fines. I will bring down the skyrocketing cost of health care with competition and choice, reform the insurance market to be fair, and allow you to keep the same health plan if you change jobs or choose to stay home.
One in five jobs in the U.S. depends on trade and I will fight the threat to those jobs from Democrat plans for isolationism. I won't make it harder to sell our goods overseas and kill more jobs. I will open new markets to goods made in America and make sure our trade is free and fair. And I'll make sure we help workers who've lost a job that won't come back find a new one that won't go away.
Senator Obama wants to raise taxes and restrict trade. The last time America did that in a bad economy it led to the Great Depression.
While most Americans are rightly concerned with the economic crisis, a world of pressing national security challenges also awaits the next president.
The gains our troops have made in the past 18 months in Iraq could be lost if we pull our troops out prematurely and regardless of the conditions on the ground. We have also dealt devastating blows to al Qaeda, especially in Iraq, but terrorists have found sanctuary on the Pakistan frontier among those trying to topple governments in both Kabul and Islamabad.
Afghanistan is reaching a crisis point, just as Iraq did in 2006. As an early supporter of the surge strategy in Iraq, I know that turning around this situation will require more than just increased troop levels. We also need a new, comprehensive strategy, one that integrates civil and military efforts and engages with various Afghan tribes.
Other major threats loom on the horizon: the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs; aggressive Russian behavior toward its neighbors; Venezuelan adventurism; genocide in Darfur; and global warming. And those are only the dangers that we know of. Just as few expected the Russians to invade Georgia, we remain unaware of precisely where our next crisis will erupt, or when. The only certainty is that, as Joe Biden guaranteed, the tests facing the next president will be more severe if he is seen as weak in national security leadership.
I have devoted my life to safeguarding America. Former Secretary of State George Shultz compares diplomacy to tending a garden -- if you want to see relationships flourish, you have to tend them. I have done that, by traveling the world and establishing ties with everyone from dissidents to heads of state. There is great need for American leadership in the world, and I understand that only by exercising that leadership with grace and wisdom can we be successful in safeguarding our interests.
When I am president, I will not offer up unconditional summit meetings with dangerous dictators, nor will I foreclose diplomatic tools that serve our interests. I will respect our trade agreements with our allies, not unilaterally renounce them. I will close the Guantanamo Bay prison and ban torture. I will expand our armed forces and transform our civil and military agencies to win the struggle against violent Islamic extremism.
I believe that America is an exceptional country, one that demands exceptional leadership. After the difficulties of the last eight years, Americans are hungry for change and they deserve it. My career has been dedicated to the security and prosperity of America and that of every nation that seeks to live in freedom. It's time to get our country, and our world, back on track.
Posted with permission.
Report this comment