Get the Facts When Voting

For anyone who is taking an interest in the upcoming 2008 general election I would highly encourage you to find out the facts behind each of the candidates instead of relying on our "wonderful" media to form your opinion for you. I've personally looked at various individual candidates websites which has been helpful but I've found a phenomenal website that has more information than you could possibly dream of.

WWW.VOTESMART.ORG

This website is run by a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of almost all volunteers located high above in the Rocky Mountains in my very own state of Montana! They refuse to take money from any PAC's, special interest groups, lobbyists, or large corporations. Information provided by them includes candidates voting records, endorsements, public statements & speeches, background information, and even the sources of all the money they get to finance their campaigns. So if you'd like to know that John McCain drives a Cadillac CTS while Mike Huckabee prefers a 2007 Chevy Tahoe it's right at your fingertips. Or how about the fact that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards' number one donors came from the legal (law/lawyer) industry while Rudolph Giuliani received the majority of his donations from donors in the Securities and Investment industry.

There's also a lot of useful information such as how to register to vote in your state. You can also find out how a primary works and what a caucus actually is. I hope you all find this website useful and educational. Remember the more you know the better decision you can make in November.

Clear as Mud = America's Beloved Democracy

If you're anything like me then understanding the American Democratic process is about as simple as sputtering through characters 127 to 189 of the Chinese language using a British accent in front of a group of "no hablas ingles" Mexicans. Nearly impossible is what I'm trying to say in other words.

For example, all those incredibly gifted politicians who manage to balance our national budget every year have a very interesting way of tallying up the final votes in our primaries and caucuses. Iowa produced the following results for the Democrats:

1st Place - Barack Obama - 940 votes
2nd Place - John Edwards - 744 votes
3rd Place - Hillary Clinton - 737 votes

But we all know that for some unexplainable reason that votes don't actually count for real in our democracy because the official results are determined by the total number of delegates a candidate receives. And who are these "delegates" anyway? Do delegates major in voting in college? Maybe that's why they have the expertise to elect a president for all of us peon citizens who think our opinions matter. I wonder what a typical college day of classes are like for delegates? I bet they start off with Lobbying 101 their freshman year and then proceed to more advanced courses like How to Cover Up Political Scandals 560 their senior year. Anyhow why don't we examine the number of delegates each Democratic candidate won in the Iowa caucuses:

1st Place - Barack Obama - 16 delegates
2nd Place - Hillary Clinton - 15 delegates
3rd Place - John Edwards - 14 delegates

Hmmmmm..... Clear as mud right? So getting 2nd place in the popular vote means you actually get the shaft in what actually counts for making your run for the White House. But then I thought to myself that maybe it's just those crazy Iowan's who can't count correctly and like to make up their own rules if they don't like the outcome of the game. Iowa does stand for Idiots Out Wandering Around you know.

As we head off to the New Hampshire and Nevada maybe we can get a clearer picture of how this whole American pastime of voting works. Here's the results:

New Hampshire

Votes:
1st Place - Hillary Clinton - 112,251 votes
2nd Place - Barack Obama - 104,772 votes
3rd Place - John Edwards - 48,681 votes

Delegates:
1st Place(tie) - Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama - 9 delegates
2nd Place - John Edwards - 4 delegates


Nevada *98% precincts reporting

Votes:
1st Place - Hillary Clinton - 5,355 votes
2nd Place - Barack Obama - 4,773 votes
3rd Place - John Edwards - 396 votes

Delegates:
1st Place - Barack Obama - 13 delegates
2nd Place - Hillary Clinton - 12 delegates
3rd Place - John Edwards - 0 delegates

I'm starting to get that feeling I had when I took my first semester of calculus in college from a Russian professor who spoke with an accent as thick as the underground mafia and failed to provide subtitles for his corresponding lessons. Are things a little cloudy for you too?

Wait a second! I completely understand now. This whole political process makes our $9 trillion national deficit all make sense now. Is there a CPA running for president this year? Where's Ross Perot when you need him?!

Good luck at the polls everyone! May the electronic voting booths be kind to you. I think I'll vote for Bill Clinton so his wife loses her delegates to Dennis Kucinich which will put John Edwards and Barack Obama in a tie for first & fourth place right behind their arch rival Mike Gravel in tenth place with -2 votes.