US Election 2012: It’s All About the Ground Game and Some Final Thoughts!

One More Sleep….

So on this eve of this historic ( they always say elections are historic) what will determine the outcome? Will it be, as they say, who gets out the vote better that determines the outcome in 2012?

Being as the Republicans wrote the book on Get Out The Vote ( henceforth known as GOTV) the Democrats better hope not. ( I know in 2008 the Democrats won this game but polls showed it was going to be a big win and most Republicans stayed home and licked their wounds.)

I can make that statement because as a Canadian Conservative I can tell you we have been using a facsimile of that book for our successful election campaigns of the past few years.

There are of course more factors than simply getting out the vote that determine an election outcome each unique to a specific election .

To Wit: When the race is close there is nothing like a good old fashion hurricane to get people to stand up and take notice of their politicians.

If you believe the mainstream media, the nod goes to Barack Obama for his handling of the recent crisis.

However it’s 2012 and as I have said before and so have countless others people want politics done differently and the nod might go to the Republicans for the way in which New Jersey Governor Chris Christie handled Obama and the situation. People might think this is a breath of fresh air and give the Romney team some support it hadn’t counted on.

If you believe what I have said about people wanting to do politics differently than you don’t have to look much farther than the stump speeches Romney and Obama have made in the last few days.

Romney has made speeches that detail Obama breaking this promise and that promise while Obama touts working together with people and families.

I think Obama has been saying what people want to hear lately more than Romney unless of course you believe they both have been preaching to the converted so to speak.

Ironic in that earlier in the campaign Romney offered the positive vision while Obama went negative and attacked.

Jobs and the economy will get people up and off the couches to vote. In the past week Obama got good news on the job front but he still broke his promise on cutting the deficit in half. Do people care? About jobs yes, about the deficit,no.

What does America need right now? Bold leadership with a vision that Romney can offer. He has the experience to get the job done.

Will they get that?

No.

I think they will get 4 more years of Obama and it won’t be quite as close as everybody thinks.

Why? Because Republican VP hopeful Paul Ryan showed his inexperience and made women feel stupid with his abortion discussion during the Vice Presidential debate.

Watch the exit polls on women’s voting tomorrow. They will determine the election outcome in 2012.

It will be THE STORY.

What do you think?

US Election Too Close to Call!

US Election: We have a Horse Race!

The latest polls are showing Obama and Romney neck and neck in this coming Tuesday’s election.

There is all sorts of speculation and suggestions on what could happen.

As I related in an earlier post there is even talk of a split White House with Romney as the President and Biden as the Vice President.

It could go down to the so-called swing states. Those states are: Wisconsin,Virginia,Ohio,Florida,New Hampshire,Iowa,Pennsylvania,Nevada and Colorado.

If you live in the Eastern United States or Eastern Canada you could be up late.

There are ramifications for the Canadian Economy too. The Democrats are known to be more protectionist than the Republicans. We shall see.

The other thing that could have an impact on the Canadian economy are the votes regarding the legalization of marijuana. Polls show in the state of Washington,for example,that the pro pot vote might win.

The great Canadian excuse for not legalizing the drug is that it would hurt relations with the US. This of course would no longer be an issue if they voted to legalize. The other thing worthy of note is the BC is responsible for a large amount of sales in Washington.

This would no longer be the case as they would be able to grow their own.

The impact on the BC economy could be quite shocking.

All in all it will be a very interesting night. Political Insider will be there to sort through all the news.

Stay tuned!

What do you think will happen?

Marissa and Kyle would like you to Help Christopher Speer’s Children!

Please help Taryn and Tanner!

October 16th marks the one year anniversary date of the death of my granddaughter Marissa and her dad Kyle.

As I was thinking about that the other day ( I think about that a lot) I received an email asking me to help out the children of Christopher Speer who was murdered in Afghanistan by Omar Khadr.

It goes without saying that even though I lost a granddaughter it is not the same as being a young kid losing a father and all the memories and fun times that that entails.

I think that Marissa and Kyle would like it very much if I reached out to you through my blog and asked for a little piece of your heart.

It would be great if you could help out, go to the website and help the cause. Contribute whatever you can even if it means at the very least sharing it on your Facebook page or Twitter account.

Together we can make a real difference in these children’s live and perhaps restore some of the hope that they lost when Christopher’s life was taken from them.

Marissa,Kyle and I thank you!

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Statesman of the Year!

Well Done Mr. Prime Minister!

Nice job Mr. Prime Minister, Statesman of the Year!

The award, given to those who champion human rights and freedom, is no doubt an honor for the Prime Minister as it is for those of us who worked hard to put him in a position to receive it.

Prime Minister Harper is a principled leader who is not afraid to take strong stands on the issues that matter as evidenced by the recent closing of the embassy in Iran.

With all the economic turmoil and instability in the world, Canada is lucky to have a leader like Stephen Harper.

Well Done sir and thank you for making Canada look good once again on the world stage!

Romney Adds Ryan: Now the U.S. Election Gets Interesting!

A fiscal Conservative: Now things will get interesting!

Mitt Romney adds running mate Paul Ryan and now the US Presidential race gets interesting.

It gets interesting because not only do we finally have a real Conservative to choose from ( Romney and Obama are both Liberals) but also because Romney and Ryan are polar opposites.

Moments ago Romney after hearing Ryan”s plan to cut medicare, he said that would never happen as long as it was his campaign.

Romney of course is campaigning on restoring cuts that Obama made to seniors Medicare.

Ryan’s plan would not restore them.

Ryan has been blunt and to the point on what cuts and what direction the country would have to go to clean up its fiscal house.

The discussions over the next few months will make the run up to the US election very interesting.

Our neighbors to the south are going to have a discussion they have been putting off for some time.

What path do you think they should take: Stimulus or Cut? Romney or Ryan?

Will the two of them last through the election or will there be a dust-up?

How do you spell Screwed?

How “Bold” is that?

R-I-M

As in worse than people thought

As in 5,000 jobs lost

As in delaying the introduction of technology that may not be relevant if and when they get around to it.

As in time to ditch the Blackberry and switch to Android or Iphone

As in Sha na na na way hey goodbye

What do you think?

The markets today? Broke even.

What will the markets think tomorrow?

World Markets today!

Up a bit today!

What do you know the markets were up a bit today but traders are still very cautious with the EU summit just around the corner.

Numbers at Close:TSX — 11,410.94 +76.52 0.68%

S&P 500 — 1,331.85 +11.86 0.90%

Dow — 12,627.01 +92.34 0.74%

Nasdaq — 2,875.32 +21.26 0.74%

Tomorrow; Rim Q3 earnings. Analysts expect 1 cent per share,we will see!

TD Bank says without steps toward fiscal integration the crisis will not be contained.( Think we kind of knew that)

Lets see what tomorrow US and Friday’s Canadian economic numbers say as we head into the weekend.

Stay tuned!

World Markets- Down again!

One common denominator between then and now is the public’s attraction to socialist parties!

I know the market has been down 8 of the last 9 Mondays so no big deal right?

Uh no? Economists around the world think we are on the way to a depression never mind a recession.

After the market got hammered on Thursday, it more or less broke even on Friday. This was probably because most traders headed for the hills and regrouped over the weekend?

The market today lost anywhere from 1-2 % depending on where you live.

Factors to watch tomorrow:

1) Moody’s said after closing that last week changes to mortgages are good but maybe to little to late.

2) Moody’s downgraded 28 Spanish banks due to increases debt risks.

3) Greece’s Finance Minister resigned due to ill health. He had been on the job a whole week and suffered abdominal pain, nausea and dizziness.( How else would you feel after looking at their books)

Lets see what happens.

What do you think?

UPDATE:North American Markets Tank!

Here we go again!

The freight train known as a world-wide recession hurdled itself into on coming traffic in North America today with our own TSX dropping nearly 3% today.

Speculation abounds that at some point later this afternoon Moody’s will Down Grade 17 banks around the world including our own RBC .

In addition,Bank Of Canada Governor,Mark Carney reminded us that our economy has been running on the fumes the fumes of borrowed money.

Oil also dropped to $78.20 per barrel.

Manufacturing around the world also hit lows although you can’t always believe figures from China until the goods are on the boat.( It’s probably worse than they say)

The Big Elephant in the room? Spain? No that’s tiny compared to Italy!

What do you think will happen?

Stay Tuned!

Update: As expected Moody’s cut ratings including RBC.

Greece Elections: We are not quite out of the woods yet!

I won! now what?

The Pro Bailout forces have prevailed in today’s Greek elections.

However there are still a couple of things to watch for:

1) Will they be able to form a coalition that lasts ? ( Unlike the last one that didn’t)

2) Will the New Democracy part back off their idea of trying to re-negotiate the bailout agreement?

If they don’t and the folks in Berlin don’t like what they see and hear all bets are off. ( This relates to any monkeying around of deficit targets the Greeks might want to change)

So keep your hand basket at the ready.

What do you think?

Will cooler, saner heads prevail or will today’s result no matter what happens just prolong the inevitable?