It's official: With President Barack Obama's acceptance speech in Charlotte Thursday night, both the Republicans and Democrats have formally chosen their nominees for the 2012 presidential election. Let the real race begin.
A lot can change between now and Nov. 6: Gaffes, scandals or even major international news events could shift the dynamics of the campaign.
The latest Gallup Polls show registered voters preferring Obama to Mitt Romney by just one percentage point, 47 percent to 46 percent. A USA Today/Gallup poll taken just before the party conventions found American voters think Obama is more likeable, but trust Romney more to handle the economy.
Pundits have been busy for months handicapping the major-party candidates on various factors: incumbent advantage, fundraising clout, even religion.
Patch wants to know: Regardless of who you support for President, who do you think will actually claim victory in November?
Vote in our poll below, and let us know your reasoning in the comments.
Well once Obamacare kicks in full swing. The death panels will be telling us what we can and can't eat, drink, drive, smoke and everything else. Also which procedures you can and can't have. See I too can be as paranoid as the best of them.
I agree that neither are ideal candidates. I'm not sure how anyone can be excited about either candidate. (And thanks to Patti H for the rationale response that actually contained meaningful content.)
Plus, keep in mind that we all have to work with one another after the election. I wouldn't take anyone seriously who has the attitude of some of those above.
Those 'death panels' hide in plain sight http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20120819/OPINION03/208190321/Those-death-panels-hide-plain-sight UK’s Death Panels Kill, Obamacare Won’t Be Different http://www.westernjournalism.com/uks-death-panels-kill-obamacare-wont-be-different/ Brain surgeon confirms Death Panels http://www.therightscoop.com/shock-brain-surgeon-confirms-obamacare-rations-care-has-death-panels/
For Democrats to whine that the Republican side of Congress didn't cooperate enough after the 2010 midterms does nothing to explain the total lack of Economic Leadership and Initiative by President Obama and his Congressional leadership ... not a single budget proposed, and the findings of The President's own Simpson-Bowles study completely ignored. So what exactly leads people to believe that things will be better the second time around is beyond me.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2121647,00.html Ummm.. The white house has submitted a Budget proposal every year http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/apr/06/mitt-romney/romney-says-obama-failed-pass-budget/ Lets see suggested white house job initiatives. There was the Jobs bill, which the republicans balked at as a second stimulus. (plus to pay for itself it actually had some tax raising aspects oh no!) http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/subjects/economy/ a bunch of random stuff there. A stimulus bill that was smaller then he wanted. As well as numerous other tax credits and cuts done to stimulate other parts of the economy as well as trade agreements signed. and your derp about the Healthcare law, it's great to just disregard a giant change in the way our healthcare is provided as just a pet project by liberals (most liberals would have gone for the public option or Universal Healthcare and not some Romenycare clone. ) I could keep going. Things are not great, but they are definitely better then 4 years ago when credit was completely locked up, the economy was in freefall and it looked like we were going to be going into a depression worse then the great one.
Simpson-Bowles, as the President's very own commission, should have been the jumping off point for serious negotiations. Instead, he dropped it like a hot potato! Leadership sometimes means trying the difficult-to-impossible if for no other reason than it sets a framework for potential progress in the future. Personally, I can't figure out the Lack of Courage to push and push, because - as a "leader" - it's part of the job to use all your political capital and resources to get the job done. It's been obvious that not only did President Obama lack the will to do what was necessary, but that he also lacked a chunk of support from his own party in Congress. Complete Lack of Leadership ...
Here are numbers they are NOT telling you: 1) 368,000 people STOPPED looking for work in August. Meaning they CANNOT be counted as unemployed. These people have no more unemployment benefits to claim and have realized there are zero jobs out there for them. If you were to re-calculate those numbers and include the people who are no longer looking for work, the unemployment rate would be 12%. This number does not include the UNDEREMPLOYED, or the people who have stopped looking for work over the past 3 years; that number would be an astonishing 23%. 2) 69% of men are working. Meaning 31% are not. The lowest % of working men since the 1940's. 3) The number of employed Americans is at the lowest number in the past 31 years. An incredible number considering there are more people now in the USA than there were in 1981. 4) A record high of 88,921,000 Americans whom are not in the civilian labor force. 5) Manufacturers have cut the most jobs in August than at anytime in the past two years. 6) The supposed "job growth" each month is LESS THAN the number of people LEAVING the workforce every month. People leaving the work force CANNOT be counted as unemployed.
The problem is the large Corporations run the economy. We need to use the existing Anti-Monopoly laws to break up the the large coorporations so we can have more competition. No one can open a store and compete with Wallmart, Home Depot, or any of these super chains. The Super Chains will only hire part time so they dont have to pay benefits and you cant open your own hardware store and compete. As long as Large Coorporations care more about the shareholders than the people they employ this economy will never get any better no matter which idiot gets elected.
Lets not forget those four who were left to be slaughtered in Benghazi... Every voter needs to read this excellent article... Very well worth your time... http://spectator.org/archives/2012/11/01/benghazi-obamas-core-deceit/ These are pretty good as well: http://www.gazette.com/opinion/romney-146793-obama-benghazi.html http://frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/benghazigate-obamas-many-lies-about-libya/ http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/50657 http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/10/25/CBS-Busts-Obama--and-Itself-Hidden-60-Minutes-Clip-Proves-White-House-Lied-About-Benghazi Romney/Ryan 2012
First, the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9% and the year-to-date monthly average of 157,000 payroll jobs is barely enough to keep up with population growth -- much less make up for the 8 million jobs lost during the Great Recession. Second, the so-called real unemployment rate (U6) remains elevated at 14.6%, albeit down from 14.7% the prior month. Similarly, the labor participation rate is at 63.8%, up from its multi-decade low but still incredibly weak. Third, average hourly earnings fell a penny in October and average hours worked fell to 34.4 from 34.5 in September. Stagnant wages means "we're not generating income," Reinhart says. "That's a problem in terms of the durability of an economic expansion, which is usually fueled by consumption. To get consumption you've got to generate income." Also, just look at your checkbook. We are paying a lot more for everything now than we did in 2008. The price of gas has doubled. At the same time, wages have gone down, and that's if you're lucky to have a job. In 2008, 25 banks went out of business. In 2012, 48 banks have gone out of business. Almost double the amount. Does that sound like recovery to you? Don't believe the Obama lies!! Romney/Ryan 2012