And so it goes on....

And what better way to start this new chapter in my blog with a look at the chaos that is the 2008 presidential election. Or rather not, as this is still just the prelim of selecting a candidate. To say that TV and new coverage is rather saturated with the whole shebang would be an understatement. Barely a newspaper is printed, or commericals go by without there being something said by some candidate. Now, as a non-US citizen, you can imagine that it's rather frustrating given that i can't do much of anything about it, but i also get the sense that a lot of my american friends and colleagues are just sick of hearing about it all already. Given how much exposure the public have to this kind of thing, it actually seems no real surprise that by the time the real elections roll around in November, the voter turnout is low. I'd quite frankly be sick to death of it all.

That aside, this race is shaping up to be reasonably interesting for both parties as there has yet to be a clear leader of the pack. For the democrats, we have the competition between two potential firsts - the first woman and the first black man run. For the Republicans, well, if i'm honest i don't pay much attention to them as they're frankly far too conservative for my tastes. Suffice to say, it's still all up in the air. However, as with all political races, both here and back in the UK, there nearly always seems to be some focus on sniping and putting down your opponents rather than selling yourself well on your ideas and platforms. After the months of campaigning and watching the same commercials again and again, with the same speeches again and again, I ultimately reach the conclusion that all politicians are the same. Which is not a new one at that. And, in the long run, despite all the promises and pontificating, i doubt that very much is going to be different after all is said and done.