It seems to me that some very real questions about the far reaching political and cultural implications of Romney being a Mormon need to very widely known. A good place to start would by the essay by Frank Schaeffer titled : Neoconservative Jingoism Plus Mormon Delusion Equals Perpetual War.

Speaking of neo-"conservative" jingoism Tony Abbott made a speech in the belly of the beast, namely at the Heritage Foundation when he was recently in America.

Another essay by Frank Schaeffer is also relevant : How Christian Fundamentalism Helped Empower the Top 1% To Exploit the 99%.

Both essays are available on Alternet.

I doubt Romney can win the Presidency. While the national polls measuring the popular vote are very close and might have Romney slightly in front, the state by state polls, particularly in the battleground states show Obama between 25 and 40 electorate college votes ahead.

It's worth remembering that the electoral college system favours states with small populations. This was one of the compromises reached in framing the American constitution as the price of bringing all states into the Federation. It's somewhat similar to the Australian Senate arrangements which favour Tasmania, for example, in order to ensure the Senate is a States Rights house. Without this arrangement, it's possible Western Australia would not have joined the Commonwealth.

Romney will have got an uptick in his performance in the third debate (yet to be factored in by the polls). His pitch was to swinging voters to damp down fears that he is another Bomber McCain. He IS another Bomber McCain, and it's all over the public record, but Obama failed to call him out on it despite dozens of recent published Romney quotes. George W Bush also played Mr Peacenik before the Supreme Court appointed him in 2000.

It is a lot like Oz really.

The drovers dog would be better than Obama, who is a real catastrophe, just like our lot. If they don't get rid of him this time, it is move over Greece, here comes the US.

I wonder if there would be any room left for us.

Hopefully Obama will win once again, he deserves to, after picking up the total mess left by Bush.

Romney is no full and a great improvement on Sarah Palin, but he comes with a lot of baggage, such as the Neocons and the tea party etc. Even his deputy is a fanatical Catholic, keen to stop all abortions,so things would go back 100 years in the US.

Then we have the tea party, like this guy, who thinks that if women
are raped, the child is a gift from god. Scary times indeed when
the Christian Taliban have their influence on the most powerful Govt
on the planet.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/republican-candidate-says-pregnancy-from-rape-intended-by-god-20121024-2863o.html

So Hasbeen, if your daughter was raped, would that be a gift from
God? Your judgement skills are clearly failing as you age.

Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.

A popular saying, and a very true one, variously attributed to Robert Storm Petersen, Neils Bohr, Mark Twain, Yogi Berra and Samuel Goldwyn, to name but a few.

Here's a prediction I found earlier, from the last US election cycle.

"...despite almost universal disdain for George W., the issue of national security could trump all others and keep the White House in Republican hands".

I trust the author of this piece won't mind if I remind him of the words he published here on 9th May 2008.

Apart from that, I suspect his takeaway from the final debate is a touch premature. But it is almost certain to be a very close race.

Almost.

Almost certain.