Sunday, July 13, 2008

2008 Presidential Candidates

Last week I wrote about how disinterested I am in the national elections this year. This got me to thinking about who the candidates are and what choices we really have. For good or bad, the only candidates with a real chance of actually winning are the Democratic and Republican (I did that alphabetically only with no intended implication of one being better than the other) candidates. However, they aren’t the only guys running for our highest office. I did some checking and was really surprised at how many people were vying for the job. Vote Smart has the full list, check it out here.

Because the popular vote does not determine the winner in the Presidential election (it’s all done by the Electoral College) it is pretty useless to vote for anyone other than one of the two main candidates. The absolute best person for the office could be running under some other party and they have virtually no chance of winning the election, even if they get the most [popular] votes.

How does someone win the election? All they need is 270 Electoral College votes. It’s that simple. And you thought your vote mattered! Eight years ago we had an election where the popular vote went to one person and the office went to the other. Check out this link to find out what the current standings are.

Still want to vote for one of the two main candidates? Not sure which one? Take the quiz at the Washington Post to see which one of them is closest to you on important issues.

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