[geeks] I'm glad I don't live in the US!

[Michael Horton]

elections are not won by inducing members of the other side to defect.

votes for democrats and republicans remain consistent throughout modern
elections.  (an the percentages are relatively the same for each party.)

elections are decided by those in the so-called "middle".  these people
may be registered as democrats, republicans, independents, etc. but have
no party loyalty and cast their votes on a different basis.  (they
represent ~14% of the voting age population.)

therefore, neither party seeks to persuade its "own" to continue to vote
for that particular party.

for example, i have a friend who is a self-described socialist.  he will
always vote for the democrat the is running in any election.  while he
continues to vote for democrats, he continues to complain (and loudly)
at every tax increase and every tuition increase.  the republican part
or candidate will never persuade my friend to vote for a republican.

-----Original Message-----
From: geeks-bounces at sunhelp.org [mailto:geeks-bounces at sunhelp.org] On
Behalf Of Lionel Peterson
Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2004 8:41 AM
To: The Geeks List
Subject: Re: Re: [geeks] I'm glad I don't live in the US!


> From: Nick <nick at pelagiris.org>
> Date: 2004/07/10 Sat PM 11:58:01 GMT
> To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
> Subject: Re: [geeks] I'm glad I don't live in the US!
>
> On Sat, Jul 10, 2004 at 07:54:31PM -0400, The Renaissance Man wrote:
> > The phrase "at all costs" always frightens me.  But maybe I just
> > have a better idea than many people of what "at all costs" can
> > entail.
> Heh.  I was considering voting for kerry if he picked Nader as his VP.

> Someone pointed out Kerry had a very very slim chance of surviving his

> term with Nader as his VP.  I can't honestly say I'd have a problem
> with that.

I loved the quote from Bush #43 when asked his reaction to Edwards as
Kerry's running mate/VP Candidate: "Cheny can be President." (I
paraphrased, but think I am 99% accurate)

What I find interesting is that neither side seems to be doing a good
job of "winning" votes from the other side - they seem focused on
ensuring good turnout from their side on election day.

Oh, and another issue for the democrats is that festival of futility
called the democratic primary, where darn-near each candidate seemed
perfectly comfortable trashing the others, ensuring "the other side" had
ample ammo no matter which candidate gets the nomination.

And finally, let me be the first to predict that this election will be
horribly mired in confusion and annomolies, culminating in an election
won (by either side), based on some arcane electoral college rule...

Sorry, I tend not to "stoke the flames" of political flame wars, but I
felt compelled to contribute...
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