Donkeys, Elephants and the American Way

This week has seen the second round of selections for the US Presidential Candidates, despite the fact that Dubya doesn't officially step down from office for another year and a week.

Compared to the election process over here in the UK, the campaigning for which tends to last for about six weeks or so before the country turns out in pitifully small numbers to decide who will mismanage the government for up to another five years, the US system is mind-bendingly complex.

For starters, the voting public don't directly take part in the election of the President. Instead they choose 'electors' (collectively known as the Electoral College) who then pledge their allegence to the most popular candidate in a particular State. Each State then has a certain number of electors, depending on its population, and the winner of the popular vote then usually gets all of the Electoral College votes.

Still with me? Then consider this:

There are 538 electors spread over the various States, so this actually means that a candidate can get into the White House without actually winning the popular vote, as happened with Dubya in the 2000 elections.

So, the bottom line is that we've had two of these popularity contests so far, called either Primaries or Caucuses, so strap yourself in for many more as election year hots up and this ridiculously drawn out process grinds on for a few months yet before we actually get into the main event between the two candidates (or more, depending on whether an independent candidate suddenly turns up, such as Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor of New York), when the mud will really start to fly and the gloves come off.

I suppose it shouldn't really surprise us that it takes the US so long to go through this torturous procedure. After all, this is the nation who can make a ninety minute football game last in excess of four hours.

However, there is one positive outcome that is definitely assured, and that is the removal of George W Bush, one of the most reviled and unpopular Presidents in the history of the United States. Surely whoever replaces him at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue can't be any worse than Dubya, can they?