The Official 2012 Presidential Election Thread

[Hauldren Collider]

i'll trade, ben, gribby, can i trade with ben

[giblets]

No, you can't upgrade your Obama avatar to a Mitt Romney avatar.

[Hauldren Collider]

[Ben Kenobi]

I'm here to SAVE AMERICA!

[Boris Godunov]

While Obama's victory was rather expected all year, the Senate outcome is a stunning, utter defeat for the Republicans. They were expected to take the chamber and net 4-5 seats this year. Instead, it's looking like the Democrats will actually gain 2 seats. I guess this is what happens when Tea Party lunatics pick your candidates.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Are people now willing to accept that Ron Paul might not win?

[Ben Kenobi]

Boris, going through it all - it all came down to Turnout. Obama lost some votes.

Romney managed to depress conservative turnout by 10 percent from McCain's level.

I've got something I wrote down - back while I was banned. I said exactly that nominating Romney would elect Obama as Conservative turnout was depressed. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened here.

[Alexander's Horse]

Are people now willing to accept that Ron Paul might not win?

Never - Ron Paul was my favorite candidate. He looked and spoke like someone's crazy uncle who had wandered onto the set. I expected security or men in white coats to take him away at any moment. I hope he runs again.

[Aeson]

The Senate makes sense. The Senate is there to make sure that low population states don't get run over. It actually does achieve this and is a good thing IMO.

The EC does not make sense. The only argument for it is completely backwards. The EC does not make small states more relevant. It makes some close states (which may be big or small) all important and everyone else's vote is useless. The electoral college is there to ensure we can never break out of a two party system, fix medicare, get rid of farm subsidies, or vacation on the beaches of Cuba.

[Ben Kenobi]

The EC does not make sense. The only argument for it is completely backwards. The EC does not make small states more relevant. It makes some close states (which may be big or small) all important and everyone else's vote is useless. The electoral college is there to ensure we can never break out of a two party system, fix medicare, get rid of farm subsidies, or vacation on the beaches of Cuba.

What it does is make elections decisive which is your real reason for opposing it in favor of some kind of party list system to ensure perpetual coalitions.

[Aeson]

What it does is make elections decisive which is your real reason for opposing it in favor of some kind of party list system to ensure perpetual coalitions.

Actually I oppose it as it hinders my quest for world domination. But don't tell anyone.

Any election which elects a single person as President would by definition be decisive. I have no idea what you're babbling about in that regard. As for perpetual coalitions, that's exactly what we already have. We call these coalitions Democrats and Republicans.

[Ben Kenobi]

Any election which elects a single person as President would by definition be decisive. I have no idea what you're babbling about in that regard. As for perpetual coalitions, that's exactly what we already have. We call these coalitions Democrats and Republicans.

So you aren't in favour of some hippy dippy PR system?

[regexcellent]

It's time to buy some more guns! Heading down to shoot some trap today and the despair in the air at the club will be palpable.

[Lonestar]

It's time to buy some more guns! Heading down to shoot some trap today and the despair in the air at the club will be palpable.

The local gun stores are going to get cleaned out as a thunderering herd of panic buyers head to them. Gonna push ammo prices into LEO again

[Dr Strangelove]

Actually the EC was founded back when a fledgling nation nearly the length of Europe lacked telegraphy to link it together.

This week it occurred to me that another situation in which the electoral college might be useful is when part of the couhtry is nearly paralyzed by a natural disaster - the region retains its impact even if the voter turnout is suppressed due to circumstances beyond anyone's control.