The 2012 Political Race Thread!

**ghp0wn3r** · Joined: 09 Sep 2008 Posts: 211 Location: Concord, NH

As the title suggests, this is the thread for all discussion regarding the 2012 Political Race. Just a few ground rules:

1) We all have many varying opinions about policies on everything from taxation to foreign policy to government spending. Please remember that just because a point you bring up may be completely valid, there's always a flip side: in conclusion, don't turn a blind eye/deaf ear to another's point and insist they're wrong. Discuss it, don't make it a "you're wrong, stop trying" situation.

2) For the love of all that's good, please don't flame about certain policies/how things should be run. There's a huge difference between a civil debate and outright cynicism/flaming.

3) Virtually anything can be discussed in this thread, so long as it corresponds to the candidates, a comment from them, their record, etc.

As of now, here's a list of the candidates in the race for president. The list will be updated if and when necessary, and will include when a nominee is elected from BOTH parties (I'm pretty sure it's academic that Obama's incumbent.)

Republican Presidential Party Candidates:

- Rick Santorum, Former U.S Senator from Pennsylvania

- Mitt Romney, Former Governor of Massachusetts

- Rick Perry, Current Governor of Texas

- Ron Paul, U.S Representative from the state of Texas

- Michelle Bachmann, U.S Representative from Minnesota

- Herman Cain, Businessman, Politician and Media

- Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker of the House

- Jon Huntsman, Former Governor of Utah and Ambassador to China

- Gary Johnson, Former Governor of New Mexico

- Fred Karger, Political Consultant & Gay Rights Activist

- Andy Martin, Internet Powerhouse

- Jimmy McMillan, a boss

- Tom Miller, Career flight attendant

- Buddt Roemer, Former Governor of Louisiana

- Matt Snyder, "common man's representative"

- Vern Wuensche, businessman

Democratic Presidential Party Candidates:

- Barack Obama, incumbent, current President of the United States

- Randall Terry, Pro-Life Activist

Libertarian Presidential Party Candidates:

- Roger Gary, Former Chair of the Libertarian Party of Texas

- Carl Person, New York Attorney and founder of the Paralegal Institute

- R. Lee Rights, Libertarian Activist

Independent Presidential Party Candidates:

- Danny Woodring, Vietnam Vet & Recipient of the Purple Heart

- Stewart Alexander, Political Activist (PFP & Socialist presidential candidate)

Withdrawn Candidates:

- Thad McCotter, (R), U.S Representative from Michigan

- Tim Pawlenty, (R), Former Governor of Minnesota

Potential Candidates:

- Scott Brown, Republican, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts

- Robert Burck, Independent, 'Naked Cowboy'

- Charlie Crist, Independent, Former Governor of Florida

- Rudy Giuliani, Republican, Former Mayor of New York City

- Lindsey Graham, Republican, U.S. Senator from South Carolina

- Charles Harvey, Independent, Retired Middle Class American

- Roy Moore, Republican, Former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court

- Wayne Allyn Root, Libertarian, Entrepreneur, author and political commentator

- Becky Rusher, Independent, Computer Technician

- Joe Scarborough, Republican, U.S. Representative from Florida

- Allen West, Republican, U.S. Representative from Florida

Declined Candidates:

- Haley Barbour, Republican, Current Governor of Mississippi

- Mike Bloomberg, Independent, Current Mayor of New York City

- John Bolton, Republican, Former Ambassador to the United Nations

- Jeb Bush, Republican, Former Governor of Florida

- Chris Christie, Republican, Current Governor of New Jersey

- Mitch Daniels, Republican, Current Governor of Indiana

- Jim DeMint, Republican, U.S. Senator from South Carolina

- Mike Huckabee, Republican, Former Governor of Arkansas

- Bobby Jindal, Republican, Current Governor of Louisiana

- Bob McDonnell, Republican, Current Governor of Virginia

- Sarah Palin, Republican, Former Governor of Alaska

- Mike Pence, Republican, U.S. Representative from Indiana

- David Petraeus, Republican

- Marco Rubio, Republican, U.S. Senator-elect from Florida

- Paul Ryan, Republican, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin

- John Thune, Republican, U.S. Senator from South Dakota

- Donald Trump, Republican, Business Magnate

helpful links: These are all useful sites if you wish to know more about the candidates.

http://2012.presidential-candidates.org/ <--- Gives a run-down of the candidates, a basic synopsis of their political history, and links to both their views on current issues and their personal websites. I was way too lazy to get all of them over here. Anyway, this is a great aite to start looking at the candidates in depth.

http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/pres12.htm <--- Lists all of the candidates by their respective parties, including the many minority parties running (i.e the reform party, Prohibition party, etc.)

http://www.politico.com/2012-election/calendar/ <--- keeps tabs on all of the movements of the campaigning candidates, tells where they held town meetings, talks, speeches, all that jazz.

http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/ <--- AMAZING site, a great mix of opinionated comics and facts. Keeps up-to-date reports on the progress of the race, as well as reviews from major debates.

If there are any suggestions as to revisions or additions to this OP, feel free to let me know! I'll keep it as up to date as possible with the candidates, who's dropped out, who's endorsed who, etc.
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Dat Accomplishment Thread tho

Fug wrote:

MOM is the easiest imo. The only hard part about the song is listening to it.

**blingdomepiece** · Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 4358 Location: Ottawa ON Canada

I have watched the last four debates. Best of luck America.

EDIT: Ok, a bit more.

The main thing I was interested in seeing tonight was how the candidates would handle the "ask each other questions" bit. Not surprisingly most people directed their questions at Romney, and he was well-rehearsed enough to knock them all out. Perry was in serious trouble going in tonight and now I think he is finished. Bachmann went after Perry, which I first thought was to get control of the Tea Party vote, but then when it was Romney's turn to ask a question, he asked Bachmann a softball ("Tell us more about your economic policies") which makes me wonder what magic these two are up to.

Right now it's Romney's to lose. He can only get so high in the polls because the base doesn't like him but they can't find anyone to knock him off this time (in 2008 they chose McCain over him which was already quite a pill for them to swallow). Cain and Paul poll #2 and #3 and neither is a serious candidate. Perry is finished, Bachmann was finished a month ago but may now be sneaking onto the VP ticket, Santorum and Gingrich are wasting everyone's time, and I keep waiting for Huntsman to turn it around and give Romney a run but he's still polling somewhere around 0%.
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**krisdaschwab912** · Joined: 24 Jan 2007 Posts: 6567 Location: UW-Eau Claire

**bclare** · Joined: 21 Jun 2008 Posts: 6048 Location: Boston

**ghp0wn3r** · Joined: 09 Sep 2008 Posts: 211 Location: Concord, NH

What I think is outrageous is Florida's move to an earlier primary that has spearheaded a massive headache among other early primaries, and even some caucuses. I'm from New Hampshire, and not only is our first-in-the-nation primary important to us politically and as a matter of pride, but it was signed into law. The law states that our primary will be a first-in-the-nation, and therefore, whenever a state moves a primary date ahead, we may have to reconcile and change ours. Now, originally, ours was scheduled for February. Then good 'ol Florida Repunblicans decided to throw their two (crazy) cents into the mix and move their date to January 31st. This created a ripple effect for other states, including New Hampsire, that have laws in place dictating what spot or date their primary is held. I'm not suprised this is happening, it's become common knowledge that states bicker over the dates. But this is a new one. At the rate all the states are having to shift their primary, New Hampshire will be having our primary...in December. The 2012 votes in 2011. It's outrageous. And the states themselves aren't the only ones suffering from this radical motion. Not only are current candidates having to scramble (they all have back-up plans, it would be negligent not to, but their back-up plan is a back up for a reason, and their go-to ones are being put on the back burner), but any other candidates that may have been planning on entering the race fashionably late have had their hand forced, and are no longer able to enter due to a time crunch, i.e Sarah Palin, not that I'm complaining. However, NJ governor Christie may have been a very good candidate for the race, but due to the sudden time revision, he hasn't had time to adequately pull together the stuff for a successful campaign, and has since had to announce that he will not be running.

The candidates really need to spice up their ad campaigns, in my opinion. I've never been one for the endless commercials, but I've barely seen anything. Whether it be a commercial, a big talk with a q&a, anything. Besides the talk at Dartmouth, I haven't heard anything from anyone besides Romney, Paul (that's a given though, Paul is the new Ralph Nader in terms of getting that swing of votes) and a bit of Bachman. Hell, I had to brush up on Cain online before watching the interview so I knew what he was about! And i'm interested in politics and the curent race, so imagine someone who isn't as involved, if they saw his name on a ballot, they probably wouldn't know much about him at all!

Well, I guess we just need to sit back and see the fireworks from here till the new year (or earlier, thanks again Florida).
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Dat Accomplishment Thread tho

Fug wrote:

MOM is the easiest imo. The only hard part about the song is listening to it.

**PiemanLK** · Joined: 03 Dec 2007 Posts: 4711 Location: /export/home

**GuitarHailz** · Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 4910 Location: Austin, Texas

My knowledge of the election so far comes solely from The Daily Show and the Colbert Report, because I don't have cable. So I'd like to think my opinion on the matter is similar to that of the "average American." Somebody who doesn't totally pay attention but forms opinions anyway.

But to be serious, I've done my best to research what's going on and when it's all said and done, I will probably vote for Obama again, though I am happy to acknowledge Ron Paul's success and if I were to vote for a Republican candidate he would be my #1 pick. I don't agree with him on everything, but he's genuine and doesn't flip flop his stances on things in order to get elected. He is the only candidate that I would say has integrity, but that is my opinion of course. My only concern with him is his age. :/ I can only hope I am nearly that awesome when I'm 76.

Anyway, it's really disturbing how many of the candidates are saying that they will reinstate DADT if they get elected. Yeah, like that is a top priority right now... geez...

All that being said, no matter who gets elected, I really pity them. I mean nobody wants to start a new job with all of the odds stacked against you from the start, and that is what will happen here. Believe it or not, the president can't fix everything that is wrong with our country no matter how much he intends to or tries to. So no matter who we elect, nobody will be happy with it because it's an impossible task for just one man.
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**blingdomepiece** · Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 4358 Location: Ottawa ON Canada

**PiemanLK** · Joined: 03 Dec 2007 Posts: 4711 Location: /export/home

**retop56** · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 1:06 am Post subject:

Herman Cain is a joke. He's insulted the African-American community on multiple occasions and his comments about "Uzbeki-beki-beki-stan" (that's not even a country....) were hilarious and make him look like a dumbass....Obama will probably win even though he hasn't acted like the "progressive" he campaigned as...whatever.
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**Hobo111** · Joined: 27 Dec 2009 Posts: 3414

The thought of Bachmann becoming president gives me nightmares.

**ghp0wn3r** · Joined: 09 Sep 2008 Posts: 211 Location: Concord, NH

**bclare** · Joined: 21 Jun 2008 Posts: 6048 Location: Boston

**PiemanLK** · Joined: 03 Dec 2007 Posts: 4711 Location: /export/home

**ghp0wn3r** · Joined: 09 Sep 2008 Posts: 211 Location: Concord, NH

Update: There was an overview on Good Morning America this morning about the Political debate @ Dartmouth. Their main conclusion from the debate? Herman Cain is now tied for the frontrunner position with Romney.

They're confusing spotlight with political following. Yeah, he's recieved a lot of hype for his 9-9-9 so-called "plan", but just cause he gets publicity doesn't make him the frontrunner by any stretch.
_________________

Dat Accomplishment Thread tho

Fug wrote:

MOM is the easiest imo. The only hard part about the song is listening to it.