USA Presidential Candidacy - Santorum drops out of the race to the White House

Something interesting finally happened!

My sincerest apologies for not having covered the last month of the US elections but to be fair, not much had changed, even after Super Tuesday. No doubt the papers had caught on to this, churning out one generic article after another – 500 words built around a single sound bite... Although to be fair, that is all news nowadays.

Super Tuesday's outcome was predictable as they come. Romney did well, winning 6 States. Bible Belt States, of which there were three, were winners for Santorum and Gingrich won in his home state of Georgia.

Gingrich mindlessly continued on, much to the detriment of Santorum's campaign. Gingrich's votes would have no doubt gone to Santorum, thereby granting him a win in many states that he ultimately lost by a small margin to Romney. And so it went on for weeks, Romney clearly in the lead but no one backing down. And then something actually happened yesterday. Santorum announced his departure from the race for Republican Nominee, backing down due to his daughter's health. Would I be cynical to imply that it is an empty excuse to walk away from inevitable failure? Perhaps. Still, his continuing lack of support for Romney has an air of bitterness that quite frankly doesn't surprise me about Santorum.

I fear prematurely declaring Romney's got it in the bag now. The last time I made a concrete statement regarding a US election, had someone held me to it, I would have literally have had to consume my footwear for I uttered these infamous words in 2004, “If Bush wins a second term I will eat my shoe.” Of course I was young and angry, I'd just seen Fahrenheit 9/11 and I had no idea the Democrats candidate had been branded 'out of touch'. And who the hell does Romney have to compete with? Gingrich? Who's so unpopular that he couldn't get a back scratch from a horny gorilla. His refusal to back down, even at this stage, does not sit well with the majority of his Party. And as for Ron Paul? I'm sure the only reason he remains in the race is because he's happy to get the air-time. I'm not particularly a fan of Ron Paul, but I'm happy for him to continue spreading his anti-war message best he can.

Is Santorum out of the running a good thing or a bad thing?

On the one hand, while I have a great many criticisms of Obama, I'm curious to see what he can achieve in a second term in office and, let's face it, I'd rather have a Democrat in the White House than any Republican no matter how flippy-floppy-flakey, sorry I meant to say moderate, how moderate they are. So it could be seen as a bad thing. With Santorum out of the race, Mitt Romney's moderate Republican values are likely to appeal to swing voters unhappy with Obama's tenure. Of course, if this whole charade carries on any longer even swing voters will steer clear of the clearly delusional and gaff prone bagillionaire. But who knows what America will be thinking in November.

Here's the thing though, whether it's bad news for Obama or not, one thing is certain, I'm happy Santorum's stepped to one side because I can't look at his face any more. I was actually starting to sympathise with Romney. That's how much I hate this man. His views on ethnic minorities and homosexuals is appalling. I'm tired of his lecturing on what marriage 'traditionally is'. Yeah, its traditionally about rape and ownership – something he appears to be an expert on.

I've had it with his accusations towards the black community, that they're the main receivers of welfare – because there's no unemployed white folk in the US is there? And his backwards views on education, and health care. He's rich. He can home school his kids and send them to private clinics. What a relief for him because if he was poor or unemployed, according to his rhetoric it would be just fine for his daughter, who suffers from a serious genetic condition, to be denied healthcare. And this war on women's rights is a disgrace. I've had enough of hearing about contraception being against God and children born of rape being a gift. I'm sick of hearing about women with little or no choice, being chastised and abused for making the most difficult decision of their lives. He is one of the catalysts for suffering all across America. For stereotypes that discriminate and make peoples lives miserable. He is a disgusting man and I'm relieved for America that this man is, at least for now, out of public view.

USA Presidential Primaries - Florida sees rise in vicious Super PAC attacks

Super-PACS, lies and Videotape...

The run up to the Florida Primary the contest was clearly between front-runners Gingrich and Romney. With Romney ahead in the polls, Gingrich desperately clung to his victory in South Carolina with both chubby little hands. And was once again accusing Romney of traits I thought were just plain old fashioned conservatism. Gingrich has already been 'told off' as it were for attacking Romney's aggressive capitalist agenda. Now he's been accusing Romney of being anti-immigrant because Romney makes a case for legal rather than illegal immigration, something that Gingrich isn't exactly an advocate of himself. Of course, its all about preaching to the crowd you're in front of in this election. Florida has a large Latin American population, a sizeable fraction of which are registered Republicans and their votes count big time.

What Gingrich didn't seem to realise is how much it's hindered his own campaign, effectively isolating himself from factions of his own party and fuelling an unpopularity that has already convinced most of his party that he is incapable of winning in November against Obama.

So, here's what I find amazing about US elections – their financing through Super-PACS and the detrimental affect they have on broadcasting during an election year. Forgive me, my British up-bringing limits my understanding of this election tool. But here's a rough explanation:

PACS (Political Action Committees) are groups of people or organisations that lobby or campaign to elect individuals to government. These committees could only use up to $5,000 each to campaign. However, rich individuals, who didn't need the help of others had no limit to the amount of money that could be injected into their campaign. Over the years, in an attempt to ensure that less wealthy individuals could pool their money together towards an election campaign the Super PAC was eventually created. A committee can essentially raise as much money as they like for a particular candidate up for election as long as they campaign independently of the individual candidate.

What the term 'independently' means is anyone's guess...

Any how, with the money raised, these Super PACS have been causing havoc on the radio waves, TV channels and just about every walk of life for the common American. Between them, Romney and Gingrich's Super PACS forked out almost $12M before the election in Florida on Tuesday. The ads focus on smearing their opponents, and they're very good at influencing people's minds. Of course, if an ad airs 7 times in the space of a couple of hours during prime time, chances are you're going to pay attention to it at least once. I shudder to think how unbearable an election year can be for the average American, especially those that do not have the slightest interest in politics.

Here's just a sample from Restore Our Future (Romney's Super PAC - that, fyi, is filled with people who sat on the board of directors in many of his companies) and Winning Our Future (Gingrich's Super PAC - clearly borrowing a slice of Charlie Sheen's successful delusions of grandeur) respectively:

Other pre-Florida vote madness included; Santorum talking about how rape victims who fall pregnant should consider a child born of that rape as a gift from God. Gingrich promised he would colonise the moon by the end of his second 'and even less likely than a first' term in office. And Ron Paul went home to have a nap. The poor dear is 76 years old after all...