LESS than two months, or 55 days, before the November 5 elections in the United States of America, the race to the White House between reelectionist President Barack Obama (Democrat) and former Gov. Willard Mitt Romney (Republican, Massachusetts) is still too close to call.
This was the statement of Fred Yelinek, an American engineer married to Dabawenya, in an analysis of the ongoing US presidential campaign.
Yelinek spoke on the U.S. presidential campaign fellow members of the Rotary Club of East Davao headed by banker Florante Santiago and guests in yesterday’s weekly meeting at the ballroom of The Marco Polo Davao.
As provided for by the U.S. Constitution, the presidential election is the indirect type, wherein the contenders will compete for a total of 538 electoral votes. The candidate who gets 270 electoral votes wins the election which is held every four years.
According to the latest surveys conducted almost daily to track the campaign, Obama is leading by only a slight margin, but that he is perceptibly pulling away.
The two candidates are concentrating their drive in 10 small states, popularly called the “battleground” or “swing” states, which could seal the victory or defeat for either protagonists. The 10 toss-up states are Florida with 29 electoral votes, Virginia (with 13), Wisconsin (10), Ohio (18), Indiana (11), Colorado (9), North Carolina (15), Pennsylvania (20), Missouri (10) and Michigan (16). In the 2008 election, Obama won in nine of the 10 battleground states, with only Missouri going to opponent Republican John McCain.
It was McCain who defeated Romney in the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
Yelinek said there are at least eight major issues involved in the 2012 elections in America. They are:
• Employment base shrinking, now at 63 percent;
• The national debt which hit the $16 trillion mark, which means that each American is indebted $50,000;
• Funding entitlements promised by the government;
• Medical costs soaring;
• Government spending $1 trillion plus, more than what government is taking in;
• Regulations and taxes/fees soaring, small business hurting;
• Raging Reproduction Health debate; and
• War. [AMA]
This was the statement of Fred Yelinek, an American engineer married to Dabawenya, in an analysis of the ongoing US presidential campaign.
Yelinek spoke on the U.S. presidential campaign fellow members of the Rotary Club of East Davao headed by banker Florante Santiago and guests in yesterday’s weekly meeting at the ballroom of The Marco Polo Davao.
As provided for by the U.S. Constitution, the presidential election is the indirect type, wherein the contenders will compete for a total of 538 electoral votes. The candidate who gets 270 electoral votes wins the election which is held every four years.
According to the latest surveys conducted almost daily to track the campaign, Obama is leading by only a slight margin, but that he is perceptibly pulling away.
The two candidates are concentrating their drive in 10 small states, popularly called the “battleground” or “swing” states, which could seal the victory or defeat for either protagonists. The 10 toss-up states are Florida with 29 electoral votes, Virginia (with 13), Wisconsin (10), Ohio (18), Indiana (11), Colorado (9), North Carolina (15), Pennsylvania (20), Missouri (10) and Michigan (16). In the 2008 election, Obama won in nine of the 10 battleground states, with only Missouri going to opponent Republican John McCain.
It was McCain who defeated Romney in the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
Yelinek said there are at least eight major issues involved in the 2012 elections in America. They are:
• Employment base shrinking, now at 63 percent;
• The national debt which hit the $16 trillion mark, which means that each American is indebted $50,000;
• Funding entitlements promised by the government;
• Medical costs soaring;
• Government spending $1 trillion plus, more than what government is taking in;
• Regulations and taxes/fees soaring, small business hurting;
• Raging Reproduction Health debate; and
• War. [AMA]
