Among Republican candidates, Canadian respondents favoured the most socially liberal one.

In a hypothetical presidential election between Obama and Romney, respondents favoured Obama 49 per cent to 11. And if only Conservatives voted, Obama would still have won by a 50-17 margin.

The telephone poll of 1,000 respondents was conducted Jan. 3-6, and has a plus or minus 3.1-percentage-point margin of error, 19 times out of 20.
__________________________________________________

Seriously though - we decided to archive the US forum over a year ago, because we thought they could be easily combined.

We can discuss this further in rabble reactions if you'd like.

[ 07 January 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

For some reason I like it like it is.

And I have hunches at least of substantive arguments in favour. The US is such a parochial country. No surprise there. But the rest of the world also too easily looks at it that way. Proximity of threads in the forums does have a cross-over effect.

Not to mention the interplay between internal US politics and the superpower in the world.

As to the attention devoted to US politics. Partly thats junkies being junkies. And I don't think it displaces attention to Canadian politics.

Some of us do also try to look for what might apply in Canada, sharpen our strategic thinking in general ways- that stuff.

Maybe you'll be glad to know that when I have taken how to teleconference courses from Dem activist groups... I don't see much in the way of even indirect applications because the political dynamic and machine phenomenas of the 2 countries are SO different. The material of the courses is very concrete and hands-on for the Americans, but very general for me- so much so that I'm aware that if I ever do figure out ways to apply and adapt... it'll be something I'll know I could never have predicted.

BTW. I don't think the interest is mostly the Leder of the Empire thing. For all the differences I have alluded to- especially the mose and elephant comparison that has its reflections in the political parties of the 2 countries [the US parties take up 100 times the space of Canadian political parties, not the 10 times proportional to population]... and the wild ideological bizzarities of our neighbour... they are still more like us than any other country. Which is why despite the differences, there are things to be learned about Canada from watching US politics.

[ 07 January 2008: Message edited by: KenS ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Noise:
Poll goes to show that almost all Canadians are scared shitless of Republicans, even our Conservatives I wonder how much of the Democrat 'vote' in Canada is in favor of Democrat policy vs. how much is simply anti-Bush and his current reign of terror.

---

Probably most is the latter. I actually don't know anybody in my personal life who has much good to say about the Democrats lately. They certainly haven't distinguished themselves in this second Bush era.

http://tinyurl.com/3lj5rd

quote:

---

... The Clintons are still scratching and clawing, but most observers believe Barak Obama has sewn up the Democratic nomination for president. Now things get interesting. Question of the day: Are Americans ready to vote for a black man as their head of state and commander-in-chief? One might, in passing, ask why the son of a Kenyan father and white American mother should be defined so firmly as "black" when, in fact, he was raised by his mother and white grandparents. However, his adult ties, family, professional and religious, are mostly African-American, so I guess it's fair. But will non-blacks give him a fair shake in his bid to become their leader? I think they will. There has been a revolution in our lifetime, south of the border. As the Economist noted recently, when Obama's parents married in 1960, such a union between a white woman and a black man was illegal in more than half of the states in the U.S. "Now their son stands on the threshold of the White House." It's breathtaking, when you think about it - the before as well as the after.

There were other barriers in the old world. Some of us who awoke politically in 1960 remember the huge issue of Jack Kennedy's Roman Catholicism. And when I covered the British election of 1979, much was made of the fact Maggie Thatcher was that worrying thing, a woman - albeit the toughest, gruffest female since Boadicea, as the Argies would learn to their cost in the Falklands.

In each case, when the crucial moment of decision arrived, those great disqualifiers of religion and sex proved to be passing piffles. Hillary Clinton's strong run for the presidency is just more proof. Here in Quebec, Pauline Marois is very credible as a potential premier of the province. An anglo premier? Maybe not tomorrow ...

---