I watch cable TV and this has been a dirty election campaign. If the Democrats gain a majority in both Houses, Bush will not be a "lame-duck" President but a "trussed Thanksgiving turkey." And yes, I thought of that phrase first! I do not expect his bombast to decrease, rather he will become more angry and more dangerous.

It consistently worries me that our major political parties send experts to learn from the US - negative ads; push-polling; wedge politics etc. I think '07 will be a nasty, highly-personalised poll. How can it be otherwise when our pollies behave as they have over the past 20+ years and it won't get any better, Kevin Rudd notwithstanding. I would like to see the ALP ignoring fringe groups and looking to what is best for us all. Being relatively non-partisan, I think 10 years in power is too long for one party. We cannot afford 3 more years of crazy levels of overseas debts, outsourcing and privatisation of everything. It is a tough ask for Labor and we don't want any more damage from the likes of Barry "Montgolfier" Jones or factional brawling. The ALP should have learnt by now that it is better to be in power than divided and always on the back foot.

If the US elections were conducted under the standards we take for granted in Australia the Republican party would be routed on 7 November. However, the election systems that apply in the US allow for rorting that we would never stand for. This includes electronic voting machines that can easily be manipulated, provide no paper trail and are supplied by companies that support the Republicans (eg Diebold); arbitrary removal of Democrat supporters from the electoral roll; putting more voting machines/booths in Republican favoured areas and fewer in Democrat areas. Anything that can be done to manipulate the results in favour of the Republicans will be done. It happened in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004; these were just the most blatant and most documented cases. So don't be surprised if there is a result which goes against all the polls. The US claims it wants to promote democracy around the world but it needs to get its own house in order first.
Oh did I say we wouldn't stand for it here? the Howard govt has already used control of the Senate to push through changes to voter registration and political donations which will favour it over other parties. How many people know or care?

On negative advertising...the funny thing about negative advertising is that everyone who complains about it seemingly cannot watch enough of it and loves to comment on it. It's called freedom of speech, and if you don't like it, watch something else.

"...much will depend on whether George Bush can learn from defeat, as both Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan did after previous electoral setbacks..."

You're kidding, right? Bush doesn't need to learn. He gets all he needs to know from you-know-who. It bugs me no end to know he'll walk away in 2008 STILL believing his own propaganda.

First a smidgeon on the coming US elections which remember still has GWB's extreme religous right with no-where else to put their votes but with the republicans. Also there are the US graingrowers, whom if they ever lose their subsidies it will be from the dem's not the repub's. Regarding subsidies there was also the report not long after GWB was first elected that to capture the graingrower vote, mostly from the Midwest, GWB had gazetted 80 billion dollars over the next ten years not only to convince rural voters that to stay right-wing was an insurance towards their future, but to make sure that the next two terms would be again republican.

Or course, what we can learn frome the above is how the mighty dollar and a Christianity that the real Jesus would not have had a bar of, can be a recipe for future political success.

However, though our so-called liberals are now trying to follow the Americana line, our dearly beloved Laborites must get back to their grass roots. First, economic rationalism, which though naturally right-wing still suited Bob Hawke for the time to sneak in around behind the Libs helped somewhat by Paul Keating, should now be thrown out and slatingly termed economic irrationalism - with a change back not only for Labor but also many farmers. A change back to the successful simplicity of Keynesian economics, which incidently is being modernised to suit and straighten-out our present political problems.

blah blah blah,

People give politics in America way more legitimacy than it deserves, you can't even think of running for congress without millions of dollars in corporate support, the two party corporate backed system is even more rigid than it is here.

all this talk of of polls and what not just adds to the myth that americans have some sort of choice, they don't.

I wish we could all start calling a spade a spade, the last two american presidential elections were rigged, (diebold voting machines people) and there is a good chance this one will be too.