Iowa Hiho!

[IQS.RLOW]

I see youre an Obama fan AiA

Can you outline why you think he is the best choice for the US moving forward given the obvious disappointment from a large majority of the US population compared with when he first took office?

From what I can see, he is like quite a few leftwing politicians. Very good on oration, ballistic of rhetoric, short on detail, woeful on implementation and ultimately full of fail...I'm not across all US issues either, but I gather that would be why Romney is generally considered to be ahead in the polls?

Is it because the leftys use their rhetoric to tell the voters what they want to hear but what is not possible, thus inevitably disappointing them hence their lack time overall in the chair? Has the great black hope over promised and under delivered?

[AiA in Atlanta]

Can start with healthcare reform. The push for reform began in 1910. Obama accomplished, albeit imperfectly, what no other president could do or wanted to do in a century.

[IQS.RLOW]

Other than his flawed obamacare?

[annielaurie]

True that Obamacare is flawed, but there are some perks for all age groups and income levels which we didn't have before.

[annielaurie]

Saw that clip. Obama isn't sweating Trump at all.

Trump is a lovable sort of clown, it's hard to hate the guy. You just have to laugh.

[Super Nova]

Obama must be understand some pressure. He needs to givet his disaster some priority and not do a Doubleya.

Obama will have to go off the campaign trail and be seen to lead them through this... 20 dead... so far.

To the guys in the US, will this have an impact on the election, that is, if Obama shows strong leadership... will it influence the result at this late stage?


It's a pity it didn;t happen a couple of weeks ago.
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has declared a state of emergency in the nation's capital as Hurricane Sandy approaches.

The White House said in a news release that the president on Sunday signed the state of emergency declaration, which had been requested by Mayor Vincent Gray. It says federal aid should supplement the city's response efforts due to the emergency conditions.

Obama's action authorizes the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts, and to provide assistance for required emergency measures. The order clears the way for FEMA to mobilize and provide equipment and resources to help.

The move follows the federal government's decision to close offices on Monday. Washington's Metro system will also be shut down on Monday, as will most school systems.

[Super Nova]

They are both being careful around appearing to be responsive to this emergency.

President Obama is canceling some campaign events in Virginia and Colorado so he can monitor Hurricane Sandy during and after its expected landfall on the East Coast.

After a campaign event Monday in Youngstown, Ohio, Obama will return to the White House as states from the mid-Atlantic to New England braced for what forecasters called a massive storm, according to the White House. Obama plans to skip campaign events in northern Virginia on Monday and Colorado Springs on Tuesday.

GOP challenger Mitt Romney has canceled planned events in Virginia, and will head to Ohio instead. The monster storm, which could bring high winds and heavy rains from North Carolina to Maine, is complicating plans by both campaigns to turn out their voters in several battleground states.

http://www.kwch.com/news/campaign12/sns ... 2951.story

[boxy]

Is there any precedent around postponing elections due to natural disaster?

[annielaurie]

I don't think a hurricane has ever devastated the eastern seaboard right at the time of a presidential election. But this time it is a close call.

Most hurricanes form from September to December in north America, but only last several days. Of course the damage some of them cause lasts much longer for many folks in many areas.

It's hard to say with the November 5th election so close. Sandy is causing a hell of a lot of damage in that area right now as I am typing this.

[Mattus]

No there is no precedent, but the option exists due to the nature of the bizzare us electoral system.

In fact the president is not elected on November 5th at all. November 5th is when the states select their delegates to the electoral college (for more information on this scroll up to Annie's post a few days ago, or my even more dumbed down post some months back talking about how many points each state is worth).

While the result is known based on hw many delegates pledged for each candidate are selected on November 5th, these college delegates don't actually meet to formally elect the president until December 17th. Therefore it is conceivable that some states who are worst hit by a sudden disaster could delay their vote until later in November or even early in December.

This is a pretty dangerous precedent and I think what is much more likely to occur is that some states might simply be more flexible about how you vote. Perhaps keep the polling booth open fr two days, or go to much greater effort to allow regional proxy voting to those cut off by the storm. In a close election this could mean the results if the nov 5 election won't be known for a month or more after the date, as these proxy votes may be late to arrive and require additional scrutiny.

Either way, the incumbent nearly always experiences a transient bump following a natural disaster (followed a few months later by accusations that Bush Knew (TM)). It could certainly nfluence the result of this election against Romney.