US elections focus

As I’ve said before on this blog, it is almost inevitable that all US A2 exams will carry a question or two on the 2008 race for the presidency, and for this reason alone students should keep abreast of the latest developments stateside.

But the race for the White House can also be fun to follow purely for the intrinsic benefits of learning more about the motivations of American voters. Here I draw your attention to a twin set of articles in this week’s Economist

The first is the latest in a series of articles which look closely at the key swing states that may well determine the final outcome of this year’s race. I find that these articles are also a fascinating eye on America; its geography, demographic shifts, history and culture.

Suburban cowboys begins:

‘IN ONE episode of “South Park”, a potty-mouthed cartoon set in Colorado, a film festival comes to town. At first the locals are delighted. The visitors boost the economy and the films, which feature gay cowboys eating pudding, are better than expected. But the festival turns out to be a dastardly scheme, devised by Californians, to ruin pretty mountain towns and turn them into versions of Los Angeles. The natives must fight back.

This is pretty much how Coloradoans view their state. Not so long ago, the natives will tell you, it was a beautiful place filled with hardy individualists—“a leave-me-alone kind of state”, according to Jon Caldara of the conservative Independence Institute. It was also solidly Republican. Since the 1960s Colorado has voted for a Democratic president only once, in 1992, when Ross Perot and George Bush senior split the Republican vote. Then the Californians and other newcomers arrived, sprinkling their monstrous houses over the hills and upending the state’s politics.’

But recent changes in the state have given the Democrats the upper hand and it is no surprise that Obama leads McCain by about the same amount that Bush beat Kerry four years ago.

Nationwide a different picture emerges, and Lexington poses the question as to whether voters are tired of the Democrat nominee. It always seemed likely that voters and the press would be able to keep up the same level of frenzied excitement that surrounded the Democratic primary, and it was unclear how this would impact on the campaign. At the moment things seem to be favouring McCain, but there is a long way to go and we will have to wait and see if this is a short term or long term change.