Global News Post: U.S. Presidential Election

Obama Defeats Romney

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">By Kent Klein<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt;">Photo © Four more years<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Barack
Obama has won a second four-year term as president of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>.  The Democratic incumbent defeated Republican
Mitt Romney in Tuesday's <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
presidential election.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">America</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">'s first African-American president won more
than the 270 electoral votes he needed to secure four more years in the White
House.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">After
clinching the victory, Obama told a crowd of thousands of supporters in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:city> he is more determined
and more inspired than ever to tackle the country's challenges.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"You
voted for action, not politics as usual," he said. "You elected us to
focus on your jobs, not ours.  And, in
the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working
with the leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve
together."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The
president says he will work in his second term to reduce the </span><st1:country-region style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';" w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> government's budget deficit, reform the tax
code, reform the nation's immigration system and reduce </span><st1:country-region style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">'s
dependence on foreign oil.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Obama
congratulated his opponent on a hard-fought campaign and applauded Romney and
his family for their tradition of public service.  He says he will reach out to Republicans to
seek solutions to the country's problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"In
the weeks ahead I also look forward to sitting down with Governor Romney to
talk about where we can work together to move this country forward," said
Obama.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Former
Massachusetts Governor Romney, speaking to supporters in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Boston</st1:place></st1:city>, conceded the election a short time
earlier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"I
have just called President Obama to congratulate him on his victory.  His supporters and his campaign also deserve
congratulations," said Romney. "I wish all of them well, but
particularly the president, the first lady and their daughters."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Romney
says he and his running mate, Representative Paul Ryan, gave their all in the
campaign and he thanked their supporters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"I
so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a
different direction.  But the nation
chose another leader and so Ann and I join with you to earnestly pray for him
and for this great nation," Romney said. "Thank you and God bless <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>.  You guys are the best.  Thank you so much."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Obama
won almost all of the so-called "swing states" that he and Romney
both needed for victory. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">U.S.</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> presidential elections are not decided by
the popular vote, but by the Electoral College, in which each state's influence
on the outcome approximates its population.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Both
candidates made a final push for votes Tuesday, almost until the polls
closed.  Turnout was reported high in
many parts of the country, with some voters standing in line for hours, despite
a record amount of early voting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Although
the economy was the main issue of the campaign, Obama was the first president
in many decades to be re-elected while the nation was suffering from high
unemployment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Meanwhile,
Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives in Tuesday's
voting, but Democrats blocked the Republicans' effort to take control of the
Senate, where roughly one-third of the 100 seats were up for election.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Democrats
will replace Republican senators in <st1:state w:st="on">Massachusetts</st1:state>
and <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>, an independent will succeed a
Republican in <st1:state w:st="on">Maine</st1:state>, and in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">Connecticut</st1:state></st1:place>, a Democrat will take the place
of retiring independent Senator Joe Lieberman.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Japanese-born
Democrat Mazie Hirono, who was elected in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hawaii</st1:place></st1:state>, will be the first Buddhist U.S.
Senator.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">And,
the Senate will have its first openly gay member, with the election of Democrat
Tammy Baldwin in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">Wisconsin</st1:state></st1:place>.
---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Obama Defeats Romney

By Kent Klein Photo © Four more years pic.twitter.com/bAJE6Vom Barack Obama has won a second four-year term as president o...

Continuity the Key for World Leaders as Obama Returns

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<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW</span></st1:city></st1:place><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (RIA Novosti) --- World leaders
congratulated US President Barack Obama on Wednesday on his return to the White
House for a second presidential term after an election victory that was far
from certain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Chinese
President Hu Jintao hailed the “hard work of the Chinese and American sides”
over Obama’s first term.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Maintaining
the healthy and stable development of China-US relations not only benefits the
people of the two countries and is in the common interests of the people of the
two countries, but also helps to maintain peace, stability and development in
the Asia-Pacific region and the world as a whole,” the Chinese leader said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Japanese
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, whose country is <st1:state w:st="on">Washington</st1:state>’s
biggest ally in Asia told reporters that <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Tokyo</st1:city></st1:place>
“looks forward to continued cooperation.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Western
leaders also welcomed Obama’s reelection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Warm
congratulations to my friend Barack Obama,” tweeted British Prime Minister
David Cameron. “Look forward to continuing to work together.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Australian
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said: “<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place> leadership remains vital to
meeting global challenges; international financial stability and global
economic growth, peace and security, and the impacts of our changing climate.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">European
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the organization looked forward
to “continuing the close cooperation established with President Obama over
these last four years, to further strengthening our bilateral ties and to
jointly addressing global challenges, including in the fields of security and
economy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In
the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said “the strategic alliance
between <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> and the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place> is
stronger than ever.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“I
will continue to work with President Obama in order to assure the interests
that are vital to the security of the citizens of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
head of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the military alliance expects
“continued cooperation with Barack Obama so NATO remains effective against new
threats.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But
congratulations from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city></st1:place>
were muted, with President Vladimir Putin preferring to wait and send a
telegram rather than call Obama in the hours after his election victory over
Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Putin’s spokesman said, however, that the
Kremlin was, “in general, extremely positive” about Obama’s election victory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Continuity the Key for World Leaders as Obama Returns

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) --- World leaders congratulated US President Barack Obama on Wednesday on his return to the White House for a secon...

Indian PM Congratulates Obama

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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">NEW DELHI  (NNN-UNI) -- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
today congratulated Barack Obama on his re-election as the President of the
United States and said he looked forward to contnuing their ''rewarding
association'' to further build on the enduring partnership and advance peace
and stability, expand mutual shared values and accomplishments of the past four
years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">In his congratulatory message to
Mr Obama, the Prime Minister said he had no doubt that there was much more they
could do together to further strengthen the India-US economic opportunities,
harness the potential of science and technology, innovation and higher
education and empower the people to address global challenges.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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He said he personally valued his friendship with the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> President.<br />
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''I have personally valued our friendship and I look forward to continuing our
rewarding association in order to build further on the enduring foundations of
our shared values and the accomplishments of the past four years.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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''I have no doubt that there is much more we can do together to further
strengthen the India-US partnership and thereby advance peace and stability,
expand mutual economic opportunities, harness the potential of science and
technology, innovation and higher education and empower our people to address
global challenges,'' the Prime Minister said in his message. -- NNN-UNI<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Indian PM Congratulates Obama

NEW DELHI (NNN-UNI) -- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today congratulated Barack Obama on his re-election as the President of the Unite...

Obama, Romney Tied Up in Chances to Win Election - Poll

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">WASHINGTON
(RIA Novosti) - With the US presidential election just around the corner, a CNN
survey shows that President Barack Obama and his Republican rival Mitt Romney
have almost equal chances to win the race.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">According
to the poll, 49 percent of potential voters are ready to cast their votes for
either Obama or Romney. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
poll was conducted on November 2-4, just two days before the election and after
hurricane <st1:city w:st="on">Sandy</st1:city> devastated the eastern part of
the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>
leaving at least 50 killed and causing damages worth some $20 billion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">According
to the poll, 68 percent of the surveyed approved how Obama handled the
situation during the storm, while 15 percent disapproved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">According
to another poll, conducted by NBC News/Wall Street Journal, Obama has the
support of 48 percent of likely voters and Romney enjoys the support of 47
percent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Obama, Romney Tied Up in Chances to Win Election - Poll

WASHINGTON (RIA Novosti) - With the US presidential election just around the corner, a CNN survey shows that President Barack Obama and...

Show of Shows: Pageant of American Democracy Hits Feverish Climax

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">By
Christopher Boian  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">WASHINGTON
(RIA Novosti) – Magnanimous and archaic, visionary and impure, enthralling in
its promise but noisy, bewildering and illusory in its delivery: The chaotic
pageant that is American democracy hits its fevered climax Tuesday with
selection of a leader who can plausibly claim to have obtained the consent of
the governed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
current occupant of the White House, President Barack Obama of the Democratic
Party, hopes he will be given another four-year term to “finish what we
started” in 2008. His main rival, Republican Party nominee Mitt Romney, says
Obama has made a colossal mess at home and around the world that only a new
leader – such as him – knows how to clean up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">There
are four other candidates on the ballot in most states too – Jill Stein of the
Green Party, Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party, Virgil Goode of the
Constitution Party and Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But
apart from Stein, who has been arrested twice in recent weeks – once in a
protest at her exclusion from a presidential debate in New York and again at a
protest in Texas over controversial plans to build a new oil pipeline – these
challengers have received next to zero national media attention and are
generally considered to have no chance of winning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">On
Tuesday, tens of millions of voters in the 50 <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region>
states and the country’s capital, the <st1:state w:st="on">District of Columbia</st1:state>,
will make their way to thousands of polling places across the country to push
computer buttons or mark paper ballots and express their will of who they would
like to see designated the official leader of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">At
the same time, a little more than half of the approximately 207 million
eligible <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place>
voters will make choices on numerous other ballot questions ranging from
electing legislators and judges to deciding if marijuana and same-sex marriage
should be legal and if rich corporations should be permitted to spend unlimited
amounts of their money to support particular candidates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
undertaking appears enormous and the stakes are, in theory at least, high, not
just for Americans. At issue are questions of public policy, governance and
personality, but also of national character, morality, societal values and even
basic dilemmas of the human condition today that will color future discussion
within the United States but also far beyond US shores.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
real question is not whether the selection of a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place> leader today and the host of
other issues Americans will confront on Tuesday are important, but rather: Is
the bewildering, wooly American electoral process truly what it purports to be
-- government of the people, by the people and for the people?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Champions
of the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
political system that will reach another apogee on Tuesday argue that, at the
very least, it offers wide and fertile ground for the unrestricted public
airing of all manner of ideas. Critics however assert that it does nothing of
the kind and, in fact, even actively discourages truly free thought.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Essentially,
the election is a method of marginalizing the population,” Noam Chomsky, the
political activist, writer and linguistics professor at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology noted for his outspoken liberal views, wrote of the US
political system ahead of the 2004 US presidential election that pitted
Republican incumbent George W. Bush against his Democratic adversary, John
Kerry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“A
huge propaganda campaign is mounted to get people to focus on these
personalized quadrennial extravaganzas and to think, ‘that’s politics’. But it
isn’t. It’s only a small part of politics,” Chomsky wrote in an article
published in the Dubai-based Khaleej Times daily.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Other
critics point to features of the US presidential election system such as the
preponderant role of private finance, supervision of the voting process by
partisan officials, inadequate public campaign funding and the electoral
college voting system as just a few of the elements that conspire to keep the
people at as far a distance as possible from genuine political participation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“The
political class fears a truly engaged citizenry,” political commentator Steven
Rosenfeld wrote last month in an article published on the salon.com and
alternet.org websites.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Anyone
who has looked at how elections are run outside the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place> knows how backward key pillars
of our election system are. … Too much of the process doesn’t measure up to
21st-century standards.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Even
the live, nationally-televised, one-on-one debates between those determined to
be the “main” candidates – Obama and Romney had three in the past month – often
held up as proof of transparency in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place> political process, are, critics
charge, really little more than a superficial side-show.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“It
is not really a debate but a glorified press conference,” commented one blogger
on the Open Salon platform. “Journalists hurl softball questions at the
candidates giving each the opportunity to regurgitate their perfectly rehearsed
sound bites.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
staunchest defenders of American democracy admit that the process does not
always protect the interests of all voters. But they argue that, despite a
litany of flaws ranging from wildly skewed voter registration lists in some
parts of the country to documented, serious problems in actually counting
votes; it remains the closest thing to allowing people to choose their leaders
themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
process that will crescendo on Tuesday is vulnerable to cheating and
oppression, riven with flaws and injustices, complicated, often opaque and
confusing for many. But, its proponents say, it works.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Obama
and Romney are presenting clear and contrasting visions of the future. That
debate may get raucous, even shrill and angry. Nonetheless, on Nov. 7, one
candidate will concede and the other will govern,” said Terrence Casey,
political science professor at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“This
is the essence of politics — free men and women collectively resolving our
great questions through deliberation and debate. It is how divided societies
like ours rule themselves without undue violence.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

Show of Shows: Pageant of American Democracy Hits Feverish Climax

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