And So It Begins

Iowa has spoken and the Presidential campaign now kicks into high gear. With the primaries so front loaded we may well be discussing the actual nominees and debating the general before Spring is sprung, and I find I am once again interested in writing about politics.

Those who've read my previous posts already know that I am at heart an Edwards man, though due to a peculiarity in the political process I am planning to take a Republican ballot in the primary and vote for Ron Paul, whom I don't actually support and would Never vote for in the general. (If this is confusing to you click here.) The media seem to be trying to spin Edwards' second place finish in Iowa as the death knell of his campaign (even though he placed ahead of the horrid Hillary whom they are not rushing to write off). But the fat lady isn't even warming up yet so clearly the media is per usual being premature in an attempt to sway the race to their corporate keepers' benefit and I continue to hold out hope of darkening an oval for John in November. But if Obama succeeds in using his bounce from Iowa to win again in New Hampshire, I may well jump right onto his bandwagon and begin flogging him like mad.

As for Huckabee, I will only say that I hope he continues to win and becomes the R's nominee since I am 101% certain that Americans are NOT under any circumstances whatsoever going to elect another Arkansas governor, let alone a frickin' Baptist preacher.

And all of this discussion of the early race quite fails to address what the real end game will be. Yesterday on Blog Catalog, for the first time in ages we had an interesting political thread when momoftwingirls posed the question "Do you think GWB will cancel the election and declare martial law?"

Few if any respondents considered this a likely scenario, but the question did lead us to consider the final outcome of the election. MadameX said that she had actually expected the 'cancel the election and declare martial law'-trick to be pulled last time and that she had not considered the possibility this time around as she is much less interested in the outcome of this one. I replied:

I did expect it in the last election and was not surprised that Ohio turned into another Florida instead. Who knows which state will be the surprise place it all turns out to hinge on but in my observation of the current ruling regime, they seem very much dedicated to the "stick to what worked before" school or totalitarian government. I personally will be shocked if we do Not have another outcome that boils down to The Supremes singing their classic hit "The Republicans Really Won Again" to the tune "Here He Comes Again" in the key of Rove.

And that's the real question, isn't it? Not 'whom will the voters select?' but rather 'how will the powers that be rig the outcome this time?' Since my political interest has been re-awakened I will probably be posting regularly about the horse race on this blog. But honestly, I will be shocked if the person actually selected by the majority of US voters takes the oath next January and moves to Pennsylvania Avenue. That hasn't actually happened in more than a decade.