U.S. Presidential Election 2012

Well, it's Presidential Election year in the U.S. - a fact that will have escaped the attention of very few no matter how apolitical they may be.

As something of a political junkie this is manna for the likes of me of course. But how well do most people, Americans included, understand the system that elects their President? Well without going through the whole process, skip the primaries, and try to get an understanding of the Electoral College. Check out this video;

I will be keeping tabs on how the race for the White House is going from primaries to conventions right through to the big day itself - Tuesday, November 6th - starting here.

 



 







                                   U.S. Presidential    
Election 2012

The U.S. Presidential Election of 2012, the 57th election for the Office of President is scheduled for Tuesday, Novemeber 6th, 2012. The current Officeholder, Barack Obama, is the 44th U.S. President. He will be the Democrat Party candidate. Who he will face in the general election is still undecided. The Republican Party (GOP) primary selection process rumbles on. As of today, March 12th, however it looks undoubtedly like a straight fight between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.

1,144 Delegates are required to secure the nomination at the GOP convention. Romney is on 454 to Santorum's 217. Newt Gingrich, former House Speaker, with 107 delegates is coming under pressure from the Santorum people to exit the race. Certainly, he needs big wins in the Southern State primaries on Tuesday March 14th. But would that be enough? Should he step aside to give the more Right wing Santorum a fair crack at Romney?

For one of the best GOP Delegate Trackers around visit http://projects.wsj.com/campaign2012/delegates

One thing is for sure - the way this Republican primary has panned out is putting pressure on GOP public and private resources to fight the general election - in two key ways.

1. The obvious one is money - this is a very expensive primary campaign. An example - Romney last week began making his first public appeals for money even though his personal wealth is estimated at $250 million.

2. More significantly, will this campaign cause irreversible fractures along the left/right GOP fault-lines? And is that maybe what this year is really about for the GOP? Are they giving up on the White House in order to get their own house in order first?

So a second "Super Tuesday" beckons......

More to follow....