Sally Redux

The run-up is so delightfully short over here. Hardly even noticed there's an election imminent.

username.exe

We still have almost a year until the Iowa caucuses .

I have to admit, I still enjoy the political bloodbath that comes with the party nomination fight, and there's still plenty of time for another 'Obama' figure to enter the fray from nowhere.

Sally Redux

I just wish the money and effort involved could be used to do something good.

MMcD

Exactly

That's what makes it so profligate

sir_eccles

See trickle down does work!

Those people that make the little signs people put everywhere, they do alright.

As do the pepper spray and baton manufacturers when it comes to party convention season.

scrubbedexpat099

As long as it is not Hillary.

scrubbedexpat091

We have been living (in Canada) a non-stop election for like 10 years now.... The government runs TV ads all the time about how great they are and blah blah. They might not be "official" campaign ads but they sure feel like it sometimes.

We actually have an election scheduled for this fall, so we will get to listen to the real political ads for a month or 2, whatever they allow.


The state my vote goes to (California) will go to a democrat in the real election, I can't see any republicans that could win California's electoral votes in the next election.

I am not even sure out of country ballots get counted quickly, pretty sure the winners are usually announced before those ballots are counted.

Michael

California promotes and heavily uses mail in ballots. During the 2012 election 65.15% of the voters in the primary election used mail in ballots and 51.16% used mail in ballots in the general election. Apparently many people that don't use mail in ballots didn't think it was worth it to go to the polling place during the primary election.

Since mail in ballots are a majority, I suspect that they are counted before the polls close.

scrubbedexpat091

Possibly by now. I just remember at some point they were said the ballot may not be counted until after results were in from local ballots.

I registered again, have to do it every time I move. I only get to vote for selected federal stuff though, California doesn't allow oversea's voters to vote in local or state related things. (some states apparently do)

Generally just get to vote for president, as well as federal senators.

Apparently now they can email the ballot out, so that will help speed up getting it. Last election I got it on the Friday before the election, had to Fedex it overnight so it arrived on time. Cost a small fortune too.

HumphreyC

Cruz would be a good candidate to get the nomination from the Democrat's point of view because he is too much of a polarizing figure to be electable. Unfortunately he's unlikely to make it through the primary; the GOP tends to put forward moderates, he doesn't have enough support from the party bigwigs and he polls badly among Republicans as a whole.

The most likely 2016 matchup is still Hillary Vs Jeb Bush (possibly Scott Walker).

robin1234

Interesting difference, I didn't know that. My son in England always gets the same big paper ballot we do (small town New York State,) everything from dog catcher to POTUS.

scrubbedexpat091

All depends on state. I am not sure if California has changed their ballot for oversea's since the last election, but they were just cutting out the federal part of the ballot then they xerox copied it and that was the ballot, all very ghetto and if it were not for the official envelope it arrived in and sent back in, you would never think it was a real ballot.

Now they apparently email the ballot, so not sure what to expect, maybe just a PDF of the copy to print at home.

Steerpike

Since my favorite form of entertainment on TV is shows like 'The Daily Show' and 'Real Time with Bill Maher' (and HOPEFULLY whatever Colbert does SOON ....), I'm quite looking forward to the 2016 elections in an abstract sense, and miss the craziness of it all.

I'm firmly rooting for a Democrat so that Obamacare can take root, and the current economic recovery can continue (yes, I think Obama did OK given the pile of poo he was handed). I'm hoping for a good old slug-fest amongst the Republicans like last time, with Ted Cruz, Herman (Uzbeki-beki-stan-stan) Cain, Michele Bachmann, all trying to out-'right' each other.

I don't know much about Jeb Bush but I love his comments on immigration (which seem to be his Achilles heel in his own party) and he does seem smarter than his brother (not hard!). If he won I wouldn't get suicidal, which is how I'd be if a moron like Cruz got in.

Is Leslie still around ...? Her insights into the elections are always worth a read. I know she's worried about 'voter fatigue' with the Democrats, and she understands the 'swing states' issue better than anyone.

How big a deal could the current 'email' issue with Hilary be? It does seem really stupid to me (as a security-oriented IT professional) that she would risk using a personal email account for official international affairs business (at least theoretically; in practice her email was probably more secure than the govt!).

I do dislike the money that is poured into this, but as Sir Eccles said, a lot of it probably does trickle down. All that money goes into the economy in some fashion. Look at it this way ... it's coming OUT of the pockets of evil nasty buggers like the the Koch Brothers ... better out than in, as they say!

Tegwyn

I think Hillary will get in even though I am not a fan of hers. There is simply no really good choices out there. Hillary will probably have to chemically carstrate Bill though as he is going to have a lot of free time on his hands. Either that or we end up with two presidents so he can keep his mind off ...other things.😄

Michael

If Jeb got elected, I think he would be a force for moderation in the republican party. However the Tea Party seems to think that they are running the country even with Obama as president and wonder if Jeb could hold off the assault since John Boehner doesn't seem to be able to.