So who do you think will be the next president of the USA?

[Reaver]

	Quote:	Soultrader
	I dont follow US politics as much as before since moving to Japan. But it is pretty interesting that there is a possibility to see the first African American or female president of the United States. I am very supportive of this so would like to see either Obama or Clinton win.

Hey James, where did you live before Japan?

[Nick1984]

[Reaver]

	Quote:	Nick1984

LOL good one. heh heh

[Reaver]

Anyone have any opinions to add?

[Nick1984]

How long does your official election campaign last for in the US? Over here ours usually go for around 6 weeks with an official debate taking place between the two major parties. It looks as though the conservative party here will be thrown out. It was interesting to see that the Polish conservatives got thrown out just yesterday. Maybe theres a change in the world political climate?

[Reaver]

Nick,

it's hard to say...the candidates are already campaigning for the Primaries...and then the nominees have their individual campaigns...It lasts a long time...too long...the election isn't until next year and they have all been out their beating the streets for a while now already...

[Nick1984]

Ok Nate, you'll have to give me a crash course on the US political system. What are the primaries, and how do they differ from the individual campaigns?

Here in Aus we have our elections all in one lump (apart from state elections). Each electorate votes for the representative form the political party that they choose. The party with the majority of seats wins government and the leader of that party then becomes our Prime Minister.

The number of seats we have at parliament is determined by the number of people in a geographical area for each electorate. The more populus states therefore have a larger number of representatives in the lower house.

The senate here has two representatives from each state regardless of each states population.

Our Governor General is the most senior official as he is the Queen's repersentative here in Australia and has the power to dissolve parliament and fire the Prime Minister if he or she is doing an unsatisfactory job (It happened here in the 70's once).

Is our system very different from yours?

[aiki14]

As it stands now I think Clinton is most likely, the republicans are certainly running against her, and after the Cheney administration's disastrous handling of Iraq, and the religious right threatening a third party, I don't see them winning. JMHO

[Reaver]

	Quote:	Nick1984
	Ok Nate, you'll have to give me a crash course on the US political system. What are the primaries, and how do they differ from the individual campaigns? Here in Aus we have our elections all in one lump (apart from state elections). Each electorate votes for the representative form the political party that they choose. The party with the majority of seats wins government and the leader of that party then becomes our Prime Minister. The number of seats we have at parliament is determined by the number of people in a geographical area for each electorate. The more populus states therefore have a larger number of representatives in the lower house. The senate here has two representatives from each state regardless of each states population. Our Governor General is the most senior official as he is the Queen's repersentative here in Australia and has the power to dissolve parliament and fire the Prime Minister if he or she is doing an unsatisfactory job (It happened here in the 70's once). Is our system very different from yours?

Nick,

Actually for the most part, the systems are very similar...

Primaries are basically the time period where each party Democrat and Republican picks their strongest candidate to run head to head for the presidency....

Right now Clinton, Obama,etc for the democrats are competing for the democratic nomination as a presidential candidate, and Giuliani, Thompson, etc are running for the republican position...so whoever wins the primaries then runs for president against the other party's winner......that's when all the bumpr stickers and crap start coming out. ha ha

[WHY?]

Vote Obama??? You gotta be kidding!!

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-fi...ill-msm-notice