The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
An American Election Is Coming - Part 1 A Right Corner article this summer commented on voting systems and the Fair Vote Canada organization's accusation that only three of the major nations in the world ? the U.S., Britain and Canada ? do not have a form of proportional representation. Veteran Winnipeg councilor Jae Eadie, an astute political historian pointed out to The Corner that India, the second largest populated nation in the World, has "the first past the post system" and shows no sign of changing. He does not see changing our election system desirable or likely to happen. In the U.S.A., some States such as Louisiana do have a 50 per cent plus one requirement for election of Senators and others. If no candidate gets a majority, a run-off election is held between the top two, so voters have to vote twice. Of course this is not the case in the race for President where the candidate who gets the most votes in each State gets all of the "electoral votes" in the State, with the electoral numbers depending on the State's population (California has the most). With this system a part of the U.S. constitution there is no way this will change, fair votes or not. A pair of articles in April dealt with the American Presidential race which has been heating up for months and will get even hotter as November 1st approaches. With all members of the House of Representatives, 1/3 of the Senate, and the Top Job at stake, there has been a whole lot of spending going on ? over a billion dollars in total by the end of June. The parties are now unable to take corporate or union donations, so all of the money is from individual donors, the so-called "hard money". President Bush spent $209 million by the end of July with John Kerry close behind. By the way, non-party interest groups such as "Swift Boat Veterans For Truth" and many others, both on the right and left, can still raise money from business, unions and others ("soft money"), and are raising it and spending millions at an escalating rate on TV and other media ads, and on workers to get out the vote. Interestingly, a couple of American Democrats living in Winnipeg are doing their best to round up Americans living in Western Canada and convince them to cast their ballots for Kerry. The Republicans are doing the same as the parties are leaving no stone unturned. In his "I am the great I am I am, I am the great I am" acceptance speech at the Democratic National convention, John Kerry made himself and his war record the centre of his campaign, as foreign affairs dominates the electoral fight, especially the war in Iraq. Kerry, who is still relatively unknown to many Americans, mentioned himself ? I, I, I, many times in his speech and constantly referred to himself as a war hero in comparison to President Bush. In doing this, the junior Senator from Massachusetts set himself up for Anti-Kerry groups such as "Swift Boat Veterans For Truth". This group, which includes veterans who fought in Vietnam with Kerry, funded by a wealthy Texan sponsored "attack TV ads" later picked up by all the media, knocking Kerry's campaign off stride. The group claims Kerry lied to get his hero medals with testimony from some who were there with him, and even one accused him of the senseless killing of a young Vietcong boy. A follow-up ad condemned his anti-war actions when he returned home, especially his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971, which they say he alleged war crimes and other bad things were done by American soldiers. Kerry fought back accusing the American President of "dirty politics" and tried to reclaim his hero status. He got some help from a fellow "hero" who claimed John deserved at least one of his medals. Polls showed the attack ads were working with Kerry losing support. The Senator's campaign desperately wants the campaign to get back on Iraq and domestic issues, but he is reaping what he sowed. John Kerry has been promising something for everyone, obviously hoping to gain the support of veterans, seniors, young, old, the military, etc. He promises to bring home thousands of troops from Iraq after he is elected by repairing the rifts with allies and getting the assistance of NATO. His promise was attacked by Bush as giving support to America's terrorist enemies, with really no realistic plan. Bush's announcement that he will bring home 70,000 troops from "old Europe" and Japan, which will of course save the U.S. millions of dollars, was attacked by Kerry who claims keeping them where they are will help the war on terror. The Democratic candidate has also promised to open the door for drug purchases from Canada to save seniors money which prompted Canadian Internet pharmacy groups to claim he doesn't understand the issue. They warn that a wholesale buying of drugs from Canada could cause serious Canadian shortages and more problems for us with the large drug companies. Unlike "down-home type" George Bush, the cool, patrician blue blood John Kerry is not personably likable, a situation he is desperately trying to overcome with humor and personal local comments as he travels throughout the U.S. Remember "all politics is local", but it can also set him up to be viewed as a phony person, just appealing for votes from the locals. The uncontested Democratic convention and the choosing of "picture-poster boy" John Edwards, a rich trial lawyer and one-term Senator as his running mate, did not give Kerry the boost in popularity he thinks he deserves. Most of his promises and issues have not caught on with the public to date, although the war in Iraq remains dominant. Negative politics in this campaign? So far the negative Canadian election campaign was all hugs and kisses in comparison to the U.S. contest. As mentioned earlier, things are going to get hotter (and dirtier) in the next few weeks. More to come.
