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2012 US Presidential Election

Has anyone come across anything about how Sandy will infringe on the elections?
 
Sandy = ensures Obama win

That's what commentators are saying on TV. Obama gets to be allover the place in the media being pres and making sure he doesn't stuff it up like Bush - and he hasn't, he has been so pro-active they can't complain, he's cut red tape and done everything right....

So, it's predicted disasters handled well = incumbent safe, and nobody is looking for Mitt right now.
 
Sandy = ensures Obama win

That's what commentators are saying on TV. Obama gets to be allover the place in the media being pres and making sure he doesn't stuff it up like Bush - and he hasn't, he has been so pro-active they can't complain, he's cut red tape and done everything right....

So, it's predicted disasters handled well = incumbent safe, and nobody is looking for Mitt right now.


Thank the angel Marconi for that, phew, I was getting worried NATO would enforce the wearing of the secret sacred Mormon undergarments.
 
From CNN:

5 things to watch in hurricane-wracked campaign
By Paul Steinhauser, CNN Political Editor
updated 7:43 AM EDT, Tue October 30, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Campaign events were largely suspended Monday as Sandy approached the East Coast
  • Obama: "I'm worried about the impact on families and I'm worried about the impact on our first responders"
  • Romney: " A lot of people are enduring some very difficult times, and our hearts and our prayers go to them"
  • The storm could also affect TV ads, early voting, and polling in some of the battleground states

Washington (CNN) -- While the presidential election has topped the news much of the year, it has been pushed aside by Sandy as the storm crashed into the East Coast. Both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, their running mates, and backers have pretty much curtailed campaigning, some fundraising and advertising as they wait to see the severity of damage from the storm.

Here are five things to watch for in the storm and its aftermath:

1. Playing the commander-in-chief card

President Barack Obama canceled his appearance at a campaign event in Florida on Monday to return to Washington to monitor the federal government's preparation and emergency response for the hurricane.

Soon after his arrival back at the White House, the president spoke to reporters in the briefing room.

Asked how the storm would impact next week's election, Obama said, "I am not worried, at this point about the impact on the election. I'm worried about the impact on families and I'm worried about the impact on our first responders. I'm worried about the impact on our economy and on transportation. The election will take care of itself next week."

Before leaving for the abbreviated campaign visit to Florida a day earlier, Obama stopped by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for an update on preparations for the coming storm and told reporters that, "it's so important for us to respond big and respond fast as local information starts coming in."

Call it the power of incumbency.

"The beauty of being a president and a candidate is that when a monster storm stalks up the East Coast, you can run over to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and be seen as a president on the job, which also works if you are re-applying," said CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley, host of CNN's "State of the Union."

But there can also be a downside for the president: If the federal government's response to storm damage is deemed slow and inefficient (remember Hurricane Katrina?), Obama may pay a political price just days before the election.

President George W. Bush's approval rating never recovered from Katrina, and that was a contributing factor in his party's defeat at the polls 15 months later in the 2006 mid-term elections.

2. Romney low profile, but for how long?

About three hours after the president canceled his appearance at a campaign rally in Florida and hopped on Air Force One to Washington, the Romney campaign announced that the Republican nominee would cancel his event Monday night in Wisconsin.

The campaign also announced that Romney's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, would cancel events Monday in Melbourne and Lakeland, Florida, and both candidates' events for Tuesday were also being scrapped.

"Out of sensitivity for the millions of Americans in the path of Hurricane Sandy, we are canceling tonight's events with Governor Romney in Wisconsin and Congressman Ryan in Melbourne and Lakeland, Florida," Romney Communications Director Gail Gitcho said in a statement to reporters just before noon ET on Monday.

And on the campaign trail Sunday and Monday before he suspended campaigning, Romney continuously mentioned those in harm's way of Sandy.

"On the eastern coast of our nation, a lot of people are enduring some very difficult times, and our hearts and our prayers go to them as we think about how tough it's going to be there," Romney said at a rally in Avon Lake, Ohio. "So I'd like to ask you who are here today to think about making a contribution to the Red Cross or to another relief agency, to be of help if you possibly can in any way you can imagine to help those who're in harm's way."

The optics are easy to understand. Campaigning does not look good while millions of East Coast residents are getting pounded by what may end up being a very devastating storm.

"Just the forecast of a potential disaster can make politics look small," Crowley added.

Both campaigns stopped sending fundraising emails to supporters in the states affected by the storm, and the Romney campaign announced that in North Carolina, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia, it was collecting supplies at its campaign offices to help local storm relief efforts. In Virginia, the campaign was loading storm-relief supplies onto the Romney bus to be delivered.

While he can't compete with a sitting president leading the federal government's storm response, Romney did reschedule a campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio Tuesday and is transforming it into a disaster relief event.

3. Knocking the final campaign ad assault off the air

t's as simple as this: If the storm knocks out your power, you can't watch TV.

Both campaigns are planning to spend tens of millions of dollars on a final assault of campaign commercials. But Sandy could knock those plans off the air in such battleground states as Virginia, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and the lean Obama-state of Pennsylvania, which are all in the storm's path. And while it won't get a direct hit, battleground Ohio will also feel the wrath of Sandy.

"In areas without power and thus without either TV advertising or TV news, the race is likely to be frozen in place," said Elizabeth Wilner, vice president at Kantar Media/Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political ad spending on broadcast and national cable TV.

But she said it was rare for an entire media market to be without power, so advertising would continue in those markets with both campaigns hoping for a restoration of service as soon as possible.

Wilner adds that the campaigns may be forced to go heavier on the ground, or do more radio or print ads, in order to reach areas that remain without power well into the week.

4. Will the storm stifle early voting?

The answer is yes, but not in states that are in play. Maryland and the District of Columbia suspended early voting Monday because of Sandy. But the president is expected to easily carry both.

The storm did impact some early voting in some of the eastern portions of the swing state of North Carolina, and could put a damper on some early voting in northern and eastern Ohio. And in the battleground state of Virginia, which allows limited absentee voting in advance of Election Day, some counties Monday canceled such in-person absentee voting.

If the storm does put a dent in early voting, the Obama campaign would feel the bigger impact, as it seems to rely more on pre-election day voting than the Romney campaign.

"Obviously we want unfettered access to the polls because we believe that the more people come out, the better we're going to do, and so to the extent that it makes it harder, you know, that's a source of concern," Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod said on "State of the Union."

5. Pulling the plug on polling

With just a week to go until Election Day, expect a flood of final polling. Or maybe not.

The storm is washing out some polling organizations' plans. Both Gallup and Investors Business Daily/TIPP announced Monday that they were temporarily suspending their daily national tracking polls. And in some of the states directly impacted by the storm, polling may become much more difficult, as Sandy knocks out phone lines and some cell service.

Source.

Links to other articles on that page too. One from Australia:

http://www.news.com.au/national/hur...october-surprise/story-fndo4eg9-1226505394426
 

I thought I'd see what Fox News were predicting, to see if they're any different:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2012-presidential-race

The states to watch according to those two pages:

Florida - 29 electoral college votes.
Pennsylvania - 20 votes, CNN has it listed as leaning Democrat.
Ohio - 18 votes.
Michigan - 16 votes, CNN listed as leaning Democrat.
North Carolina - 15 votes, leaning Republican according to CNN's predictions.
Virginia - 13 votes.
Arizona - 11, leaning Republican
Wisconsin - 10 votes.
Colorado - 9 votes.
Iowa - 6 votes.
Nevada - 6 votes.
New Mexico - 5 votes, leaning Democrat on CNN.
New Hampshire - 4 votes.

270 needed to win.
 
I thought I'd see what Fox News were predicting, to see if they're any different:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2012-presidential-race

The states to watch according to those two pages:

Florida - 29 electoral college votes.
Pennsylvania - 20 votes, CNN has it listed as leaning Democrat.
Ohio - 18 votes.
Michigan - 16 votes, CNN listed as leaning Democrat.
North Carolina - 15 votes, leaning Republican according to CNN's predictions.
Virginia - 13 votes.
Arizona - 11, leaning Republican
Wisconsin - 10 votes.
Colorado - 9 votes.
Iowa - 6 votes.
Nevada - 6 votes.
New Mexico - 5 votes, leaning Democrat on CNN.
New Hampshire - 4 votes.

270 needed to win.


Fox news is owned by Murdoch and dangerously extreme right wing. You can't trust anything they report since they have hidden agendas.
 
That's why I went there, to see the other side of the story. I've been going mostly to CNN and BBC and was wondering how differently it was being reported on conservative news sites.
 
Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, both in New Hampshire, have this tradition of all voting at midnight so they can be the first to publish their election returns. It's 1am on Election Day, so their votes are in.

Barack ObamaMitt RomneyGary JohnsonTotal Votes
Dixville Notch55010
Hart's Location239133
Total Votes2814143

Obviously they won't sway the election 99% of the time, but it's fun to indulge in. I'm just rooting for Nate Silver's model, really.
 
Some timezone information for the US:

http://www.worldtimezone.com/time-usa12.php

Currently 4:10am on the east coast, which includes the battleground states Florida (29 electoral college points), Pennsylvania (20), Ohio (18), North Carolina (15), Virginia (13) and New Hampshire (4). Not sure if all states close at 6pm, but that's 14 hours from now, so 10am AEDT tomorrow.

Edit: That's most of Florida sorry, part of the west of the state is an hour behind.

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/usa/florida/
 
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Whatever happens, we'll start to get some indicators shortly after the first wave of poll closings at 7 p.m. ET. Battleground states in that group include Virginia and much of Florida, with Ohio following at 7:30 p.m.

The portion of Florida that's in the Central time zone and many Midwestern states follow at 8 p.m. ET. West Coast states and Hawaii stop voting at 11 p.m. ET, and the last Americans will cast their ballots in Alaska by 1 a.m. ET Wednesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/06/politics/election-timing/index.html
 
Hope it's conclusive. Don't want to go through another ballot fiasco like Florida... although wtf is with the polling booths. People having to wait 4-5 hours??? They only get 50% turnout on a good day. I thought this was the greatest democracy on earth!
 
As for TV coverage, Nine, ABC and SBS all have something scheduled, not sure if the other channels will too. Just flicking through my TV, WestTV has already started for anyone in WA.
 
Hope it's conclusive. Don't want to go through another ballot fiasco like Florida... although wtf is with the polling booths. People having to wait 4-5 hours??? They only get 50% turnout on a good day. I thought this was the greatest democracy on earth!

Quite horrific really. I remember the fiasco of the Haitian elections, the US isn't much better and is only better because media/social media holds it more accountable.

I'm from New Zealand where voting isn't compulsory, we get about 75% turn out and I never had to line up. It was made very easy to vote and I think the voluntary turn out reflects that.
 
the problem is. that each state determines its polling hours and so on.... counties that swing the other way, generally have shorter hours so not as many votes get through....

dems have filed a lawsuit about it against GOP
 
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