Election Channel

Election Channel tag:www.electionchannel.com,2010-06-11://1 2012-05-11T18:02:39Z People, Policies & Politics | Worldwide Movable Type Pro 4.34-en Race to Pick Romney's Running Mate is Wide Open: VP Candidates All Over the Place tag:www.electionchannel.com,2012://1.72 2012-05-11T17:57:09Z 2012-05-11T18:02:39Z

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/

Now that the Kentucky Derby is over for another year, the year's next biggest race is focusing on who Radical Party Presidential candidate Mitt Romney will pick as his running mate in their face-off with President Barack Obama in the Nov. 6 presidential election.

Candidates are all over the place. Some are well-known. Others have been in recent limelights. Still others are dark horses.

Las Vegas bookmakers already are trying to set up a morning line. No favorites have yet surfaced. Neither have they in the following preliminary World Property Channel rundown.

The names and comments below are not meant to be taken in any particular order of winning potentiality. A follow-up rundown will be published as the date nears for Romney to pick his man or woman. Here goes:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: Strongest name on the list but he would out-shine Romney, a fact Romney is aware of.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: The Bush name is always good for a ton of votes.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio: Could be a huge draw with the growing Hispanic vote.
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez: Not enough name status.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley: Has name status.and could be a dark horse.
Former Alaska Gov. Sara Palin: Dead in the water.
New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte: Could help Romney with the independent women's vote.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty: Not enough fire power.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell: Definitely one to watch.
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman: Another good possibility.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels: Sharp but no great presenter.
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan: Great with numbers that won't sway voters.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal: Doesn't inspire easily.
Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum: Not compatible with Romney.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: Like Sarah Palin, dead in the water.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: Has the right personality but not one that Romney would be comfortable with.

There you have it. A 16-horse race at the starting gate. How will they finish? Stay tuned.

]]> Feisty Israeli Settlement Backer Opens Wallet to Defeat Obama tag:www.electionchannel.com,2012://1.71 2012-05-04T15:40:28Z 2012-05-04T15:46:02Z

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/

Mention the name Irving Moskowitz to most residents of Washington, DC and they will not know it. But at least two residents at 1600 Pennsylvania NW know the name well. They are President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Moskowitz is the 83-year-old retired physician from Hawaiian Gardens, CA, the bingo-playing capital of the U.S. He pledged $1 million in February to American Crossroads, the Political Action Committee orchestrated by Washington insider Karl Rove.

Rove is the same Karl Rove of Texas who politically guided the George W. Bush White House for eight years. American Crossroads is dedicated to regaining the White House for the Republican Party.

Now Rove and other wealthy anti-Obama cowboys are riding herd in an effort to unseat the President in the Nov. 6 election.

Street talk in Tel Aviv and Washington speculate that Moskowitz is ready to shell out millions more to oust Obama. However, Moskowitz hasn't said, so far, what he really thinks of Mitt Romney, the Radical Party's flag-bearer who will be opposing the President.

What he has said, over and over, is how he opposes Obama's and Clinton's negative stand on the creation of more settlements in Israel's controversial West Bank sector. Israel has controlled the West Bank since it defeated the Egyptian army in a military lightning-strike, six-day war in 1967.

Right-wing Israelis oppose giving up the West Bank and Gaza to their Palestinian neighbors. The Palestinians desire to build a separate state for themselves, just as Israeli immigrants had done in 1948.

Moskowitz first began stirring up controversy in 2010. At that time, he incited worldwide groups to oppose Obama's attempts to convince Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to impose a freeze on settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem

Although generally viewed as an Israeli citizen, Moskowitz is an American. He was born in New York City in 1928 to Polish immigrants. He spent most of his childhood and teenage years in Milwaukee, a city then teeming with Jewish immigrants from Germany.

At various radio and public guest-panel talks over the years, Moskowitz has stated he lost at least 120 family members in the Nazi-triggered Holocaust in Poland and Germany in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Real estate played an important part in forming the base of Moskowitz's wealth. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin Medical School, he moved to Southern California to start his medical career as a doctor.

In early 1969, he started buying up area hospitals in financial difficulties. Moskowitz would then quickly re-sell them to pay for land purchases in Jerusalem and for donations to settlers in the West Bank and Gaza.

His $1 million donation to American Crossroads is his biggest contribution to U.S. electoral politics to date. He has funded Republican politicians and organizations in the past with smaller donations.

Moskowitz's contribution to American Crossroads was made possible by the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling on Jan. 21, 2010 that freed corporations, unions and individuals to make unlimited contributions to independent electoral efforts. Five justices were for the ruling; four against.

Now the court is studying whether it should review the ruling for possibly another vote by the justices.

Moskowitz is just the latest sugar-daddy to back political candidates. Earlier this year, Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore casino entrepreneur Sheldon Adelson and his family pledged a total $10 million to the campaign fund of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Gingrich's fund is rumored to be $4.3 million in debt.

]]> Syria Parliamentary Elections Set for Early May, But Don't Bet It Happens tag:www.electionchannel.com,2012://1.70 2012-04-30T15:00:01Z 2012-04-30T15:02:53Z

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/

It's a cruel joke that while Syria President Bashar al-Assad orders his military to slaughter their own brothers and sisters, Assad plans to go ahead with Parliamentary elections to the Syrian People's Council on May 7.

The military has murdered 9,000 inhabitants since they started their peaceful demonstrations against the regime 13 months ago. The Assad family has ruled Syria for 40 years.

The May 7 elections were approved in a new constitution by a referendum on Feb. 26. The elections were previously postponed from May 2011 to February 2012. They stand a good chance of being postponed again since Assad's army continues to kill those who oppose the regime.

The 250-seat parliament's term expired last March but it has been extended by country's new constitution. Regime opponents call the constitution a laughable document. The U.S. State Department already has called it a fraud.

In a statement to the media, the head of the Elections Higher Committee Khalaf al-Azzawi said the new constitution marks the first step of a democratic process in Syria.

Under the new constitution, multiple parties would be allowed for the first time under Assad's rule. However, that move seems unlikely in the extreme because opposition to the regime is currently engaged in running street battles with government troops.

Azzawi said in his statement: the elections will be held "with utmost integrity, democracy and freedom so that voters can choose their representatives in the highest legislative authority in Syria".

Melhem al-Droubi, a member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the Syrian National Council, told Reuters in Beirut by telephone: "Of course we will boycott the elections because they will be fixed.

"But this is not a main focus for us. What we want is real change with a real presidential election, which Assad would surely lose."

If held, the May 7 elections will be the first to follow the constitution's new outline for political plurality, revoking a clause put in place by Assad's late father Hafez al-Assad. Hafez ruled Syria for 30 years until his death in 2000.

The old clause stated that Assad's ruling Baath Party was "leader of state and society". The Baath Party has ruled the country for 50 years.

Under the new constitution, a party cannot be founded on a religious, tribal, regional, denominational, or profession-related basis or be a branch of or affiliated to a non-Syrian party or political organization.

This would exclude the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood or Kurdish parties seeking regional autonomy. In July of 2011, the Syrian cabinet endorsed the general elections bill as part of the government's reform program to tamp down months of unrest.

The bill stipulates the formation of the Supreme Commission for Elections to manage the election process.

The world isn't holding its breath on this one.

]]> One-Third of Haiti's Senate Leaves Office as Country Scrambles to Show World it Can Operate Legitimately tag:www.electionchannel.com,2012://1.69 2012-04-27T16:30:51Z 2012-04-27T16:39:34Z

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/

It's like old political times in Port-au-Prince these days - bizarre.

Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, may face a new problem shortly besides its perennial crises with riots, coups, hunger and crime. The new problem is vacant seats in its Parliament. Elections are in mid-May.

At that time, the terms of 10 Senators, one third of the Senate, expire. They have to leave their posts. If their seats aren't filled, the government will be disrupted, as it has many times over since Christopher Columbus first set foot on this Caribbean republic in December 1492.

Observers note that after having promised in December 2011, to start discussions with political parties for the establishment of an Electoral Council, the Executive seems to have finally decided to consider the organization of the senatorial elections, municipal and of local governments.

Prime Minister Garry Conille has met with leaders of five political parties to form a new Provisional Electoral Council (CEP). The parties include Rally of Progressive National Democrats (RDNP), the Christian Movement for a New Haiti (Mochrena), the Fusion of Social Democrats, the Organization of People in Struggle (OPL) and the Konvention Inité Demokratik (KID).

Conille says he wants to achieve the best elections in Haiti's history. Don't bet on it happening.

In April 2011, then-president-elect Michel Martelly called for the voice of the people to be heard by the power of their votes. Even as he spoke, the world watched as still another presidential and legislative election season surfaced with fraud and controversy -- including an arrest warrant against the President of the Provisional Electoral Council, Gaillot Dorsinvil.

Since then, observers say the Martelly-Conille government has not taken any steps conducive to holding fair and credible elections.

The "Provisional" Electoral Council is an unconstitutional body, observers maintain. It was set-up by the former President Rene Preval under "emergency" circumstances which allowed him to choose all nine members of the council. That council has nearly an irrevocable power over elections in Haiti.

Sen. Kely C. Bastien (Nord/Inite), former President of the National Assembly, has sharply criticized the Martelly-Conille government for not publishing the constitutional amendments accepted by parliamentarians eight months ago.

"The publication of this text would have facilitated the establishment of the Permanent Electoral Council through the submission of three members from each branch of government," Bastien has stated.

For Bastien, the Martelly-Conille government is incapable of managing the priorities of the nation simultaneously.

"Since its installation, the government tends to address issues on a case by case basis," Bastien has stated.

The Executive Secretary of the Civil Society Initiative (CSI), Rosny Desroches, agrees.

"I do not see what prevents the publication of the amended text of the Constitution which would have facilitated the creation of the Permanent Electoral Council to organize elections for the third renewal of the Senate," Desroches says.

To Desroches, the administrations actions are reminiscent of 1997, when then-President Rene Preval did not hold elections on time and allowed the mandates of some senators to end. Without holding elections and declaring the parliament dysfunctional, the Haitian state took a step back. The government was ineffective.

Defend Haiti has been keeping count. It has been over 200 days that Haiti has operated under a Constitution that is no longer legitimate, the activist group states.

Some in Port-au-Prince argue the entire Martelly-Conille government is illegitimate since the process for installing a prime minister and council of ministers did not go according to the amended version of the Constitution, accepted on May 13, 2011.

]]> Mali Readies for First Round of Presidential Election, Corruption Charges Still Haunt West African Republic tag:www.electionchannel.com,2012://1.68 2012-04-23T14:35:31Z 2012-04-23T14:41:49Z

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/

French-speaking Mali in West Africa prepares for the first round of a Presidential Election and a constitutional referendum April 29, but old corruption charges and military instability still plague this republic of 14.5 million inhabitants.

If the first-round vote is close, a second election is scheduled for May 13. Legislative elections will follow July 1 and July 22

About seven million residents are eligible to vote - but they won't be voting for a better quality of life. About half the population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day - despite the country's inventory of natural resources such as gold, uranium, livestock and salt. The country's economic structure centers around agriculture and fishing.

Mali's majority party, the Malian Alliance for Democracy (ADEMA), has picked Parliament Speaker Dioncounda Traore, the current acting president, as its presidential candidate.

ADEMA holds 54 of 147 seats in parliament and has dominated the chamber since former president Alpha Oumar Konare was elected in 1992.

The constitutional project, already adopted by parliament and now being put to the public, foresees the eventual creation of an upper house Senate.

Government coups come and ago in Mali. But the country is trying hard to show the world it is living by most accepted democratic standards.

Former President Amadou Toumani was overthrown in a military coup this year on March 21. He was first elected in 2002 and would have had to step down next year at the end of his second term, if he had not been ousted.

A day later, on March 22, a group of junior soldiers seized control of the country's presidential palace and declared the government dissolved and its constitution suspended.

On April 6, rebels from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) declared the secession of a new state, Azawad, from Mali.

The territory claimed by Azawad borders Mali to the southwest, Burkina Faso to the south, Mauritania to the west and northwest, Algeria to the north, and Niger to the east and southeast. It straddles a portion of the Sahara and the Sahelian zone. Gao is its largest city and the temporary capital.

The MNLA officially announced its independence from Mali on its website - but so far, nobody around the world seems to be listening.

Mali's capital, Bamako, is 4,400 air miles from New York City but it's a good bet few Americans are making reservations these days to visit the 479,000 square miles that make up the nation that was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade; the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire (from which Mali is named), and the Songhai Empire.

]]> Israeli Strike on Iran Would Shoot Down Obama tag:www.electionchannel.com,2012://1.67 2012-04-20T16:30:23Z 2012-04-20T16:33:17Z

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/ The only thing that will defeat President Barack Obama in his November re-election bid will be an Israeli air strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Oil and gasoline prices would shoot up and the U.S. economy would go through the toilet. Voters would have no alternative but to elect a candidate from the Radical Party, meaning the Republicans.

That candidate would probably be Mitt Romney unless the GOP poobahs decide to bring in another contender at the 11th hour. He could be Jeb Bush of Miami. Although I think the country isn't quite ready to embrace a third Bush in the White House at this time.

Still, the Bush name has immediate recognition to voters, unlike many of the other would-be contenders over the years.

Before writing off Obama, however, consider the deal the President must have hammered out with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his recent visit to Washington. Money talks and right now the U.S. gives Israel $3 billion a year in foreign aid. Only Afghanistan ($3.9 billion) and Pakistan ($3.1 billion) receive more.

It wouldn't be too far-stretched to assume Obama played the money card and dangled more greenbacks in front of Netanyahu for a promise to hold off any Israeli strike on Iran until after the November election.

There is still another important factor to consider in evaluating Obama's re-election chances. And that is the Jewish Vote.

Like the Hispanic Vote, the Black Vote and the Evangelical Vote, the Jewish Vote is the Liberal Vote - the vote that pushed Obama into the White House and the vote that can get him just as quickly removed from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Should the Israelis hit Iran between now and November, causing the economy throughout the world and in the U.S. specifically to nose-dive again, the Jewish vote would not hesitate to drum Obama out of office and replace him with almost anybody else.

This isn't the first time that fireworks in the Mideast have devastated the U.S. and world economies. Remember the early 1990s when the OPEC oil embargo and the Iraq invasion of Kuwait sent prices soaring?

But not to $4 a gallon where the average price now stands in the US. Should the Israelis strike Iran, it isn't preposterous to envision gas prices at the pump soaring to $8, $9 or even $10 a gallon over a short period.

Administration officials acknowledged the dangers to national security and the economy from an Israel-Iran battle.

In November 2011, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned an attack would damage the nation's economic recovery. In an interview with The Washington Post's David Ignatius, Panetta said he personally felt Israel would strike in April, May or June of 2012.

Well, that hasn't happened and won't happen because of the deal Obama has with Netanyahu.

You heard it here first.

]]> U.S. Presidential Elections on Same Date as China Swears in Top Leaders tag:www.electionchannel.com,2012://1.66 2012-04-18T13:00:01Z 2012-04-18T13:27:52Z

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/ The Presidential Election in the U.S. are being held on the same date China swears in its top leaders. Is there an omen here?

We know there will be a changing of the guard in China. But will it be the same in the U.S. where Barack Obama seeks a second and final term as President in November? China's general elections were in January.

China's 18th Party Congress, which will be in session during the U.S. Presidential elections, is expected to formally announce Vice President Xi Jinping will succeed President Hu Jintao, and Vice Premier Li Keqiang will replace Premier Wen Jiabao.

The scenario of new faces in China, and possibly in the U.S as well, is seen in world political circles as the most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century.

In the long term, analysts see the U.S. election as supporting bilateral efforts toward global rebalancing and lower bilateral trade deficit. But in both cases, appropriate solutions can only be multilateral and international.

In the short- and medium-term, however, analysts speculate the U.S. election may destabilize the current environment. That scenario will have China remaining a major creditor nation and the largest foreign holder of U.S. public debt, while the U.S. will continue to be the major debtor nation with massive trade and budget deficits.

Another part of the implications of the 2012 election is that it will pave way to the most complicated international power transition in the past 140 years, according to some think-tank observers.

Dan Steinbock, a Visiting Fellow at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, notes that in the early 1870s, the United States, the largest emerging economy of its era, took over the United Kingdom, as measured by gross domestic product.

Three decades later, Americans caught up with the British also in terms of wealth, as measured by Gross Domestic Product per capita.

"During this historical hand-off of power, the Victorian Britain had to come to terms with the relative decline of the Empire and its free-trade doctrine, even as it sought to manage America's relative rise and its trade protectionism," Steinblock says.

If the next president will govern two terms, "he will likely also have to lead this unique relationship during a period, when China will take over the U.S. economy, in terms of total GDP, whereas the catch-up in terms of average prosperity (in China) will take decades longer," Steinblock points out.

]]> Muslim Brotherhood Egyptian Presidential Candidate Promises New Powers to Clerics tag:www.electionchannel.com,2012://1.65 2012-04-17T15:43:21Z 2012-04-17T15:47:10Z

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/ Democracy in Egypt is arriving slowly but when it does surface completely, it may have a peculiar face to it. Religious clerics could have the power to scrutinize all laws of the land, ostensibly to make sure they conform with Islamic Shariah law.

That action is unprecedented in Egypt. But it is what Egypt's most visible Presidential candidate, Khairat el-Shater, is promising clerics in this land of 82 million residents. Many of them will vote for the first time in a Presidential election May 23.

The Brotherhood made a similar pitch in the 2007 elections when it was still banned as a political party. The group later withdrew its platform after running into fierce opposition.

And even late last year, while the Brotherhood was campaigning for Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliament elections, it was silent on a proposal to give clerics an insider position on government strategy.

The Brotherhood even promised, at one stage, not to run a Presidential candidate, but only to remain on the sidelines, ostensibly to help Egypt become a more democratic state.

El-Shater's pitch to the clerics is a sham, of course. He wants to lock up the religious vote, even though the Muslim Brotherhood currently already controls just under 50 percent of the seats in parliament, making them Egypt's strongest fundamentalist group.

The Salafis, movement is the next strongest party, with about a 20 percent presence in parliament. The Salafis is the most hard-line religious movement in Egypt today.

The Brotherhood has made other promises before to Egyptian voters and then reneged on them. , Brotherhood leaders have insisted throughout the campaign that implementing Shariah law in Egypt is not their immediate priority. Salafis, however, are more assertive on making all laws of the land adhere to Shariah law.

By offering clerks a voice in the government, El-Shater hopes to avert a split in the votes of religious conservatives. Several other Islamists are also running for the top post. Among them is Hazem Abu Ismail. He has strong support among Salafis.

El-Shater's proposal came after meeting with a panel of Salafi scholars and clerics. The clerics call themselves the Jurisprudence Commission for Rights and Reform,

The group disclosed El-Shater's pitch on a posting on its Facebook page.

The commission, comprised of diverse parties and loyalties, was created after last year's uprising against President Hosni Mubarak. It was set up to represent Islamic factions, mostly Salafis, though the Brotherhood is also represented.

Waiting in the wings is the Egyptian military which still oversees the country. The military has no desire to rule Egypt - only to side with the winning Presidential candidate. That will ensure their lifetime pensions and huge real estate holdings will remain intact.

]]> Hispanic and Mexican Vote Will KO Romney in November Elections tag:www.electionchannel.com,2012://1.64 2012-04-11T13:00:34Z 2012-04-11T13:13:29Z

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/

By now, it should be fairly clear to most tube addicts that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will be wearing the Republican Party colors when he enters the Presidential Election ring against President Barack Obama in November.

Romney's challengers at this time are only window dressing for the Grand Old Party which should be renamed The Grand Old Radical Party.

Romney won't last one round with Obama. Hispanic and Mexican voters will crucify him. They won't let him forget his strong stand against illegal immigration and amnesty for immigrants who have lived and worked in the U.S. for years without legal status.

Just as a recap, here is what Romney said in a Feb. 8, 2007 Radio Iowa News interview:

"I love immigration. I love legal immigrants coming into our country ... My guess is everybody in this room is a descendant of an immigrant or an immigrant himself. So we love immigration as Americans. Immigration brings us education, new cultures, ideas, innovative talent. It's wonderful to have legal immigration.

"(But) I don't like illegal immigration."

On amnesty, Romney told the Midland, TX Reporter-Telegram Sept. 13, 2007:

"Illegal immigration has got to end and any form of citizenship amnesty is troublesome."

On May 23, 2007, he told Newsmax.com: "The idea of an amnesty-type provision is something I oppose and continue to oppose."

In a Sept. 2, 2011, speech to the Republican National Hispanic Assembly Convention in Tampa, FL, Romney said, "We must stop providing the incentives that promote illegal immigration... As governor, I vetoed legislation that would have provided in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants and I strengthened the authority our state troopers had to enforce existing immigration laws."

In that same speech, Romney said about illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border: "We must do a better job of securing its borders, and as president, I will. That means completing construction of a high-tech fence, and investing in adequate manpower and resources."

Now I know that many will disagree that the Hispanic and Mexican vote is so important that it will sideline Romney quickly. They argue that the immigration issue is not the key issue in this year's Presidential Election. But I say the immigration issue is important because it is tied to the economy issue which is paramount at this time in voters' minds.

Obama and his gang haven't made great points on the economy, either. In fact, if The Grand Old Radical Party (call them Republicans if you wish) had anyone else but Romney to send into the ring against Obama in November, it would be a toss-up.

Unfortunately for the American voters, they have no other choices at this time. Look for Obama to hold his title for another four years.

]]> Look for Sarkozy to Win a Second Five-Year Presidential Term in France tag:www.electionchannel.com,2012://1.63 2012-04-09T17:09:41Z 2012-04-09T17:13:18Z

You can't tell the players without a scoreboard but you don't need a scoreboard to know Nicolas Sarkozy will be France's president for the next five years again when the election polls close Sunday April 22.If there is a runoff,...

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/ You can't tell the players without a scoreboard but you don't need a scoreboard to know Nicolas Sarkozy will be France's president for the next five years again when the election polls close Sunday April 22.

If there is a runoff, the final votes will be tallied May 6.

Elections in France are historically held on a Sunday. This will be Sarkozy's final term in office. Presidents in France, as in the U.S., may only serve two terms.

Sarkozy has been in the headlines almost daily since elected in 2007. He is a right-winger with the Union for a Popular Movement Party (UPM) and is expected to overcome a current slight lead in the polls by Socialist Party major challenger François Hollande.

Also in the running are Marine Le Pen, National Front Party (FN); Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Left Front Party (LFP); and François Bayrou, Democratic Movement Party (MoDem)

Sarkozy, like President Barack Obama in the U.S., is the most visible politician in France. His wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, like Obama's wife, Michelle, is just as photogenic and just as well-known. Carla is a former Italian-French songwriter, singer, actress, and model.

The public in France likes the way Sarkozy handled the recent Toulouse killings by self-professed al-Qaeda gunman Mohamed Merah. Police shot and killed Merah as he sought to escape through a bedroom window at his apartment.

Police had tried to negotiate with the killer for 32 hours before storming his apartment.

Similar public sentiment arose in the U.S. when Obama ordered the successful May 1, 2011 assassination of terrorist Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan.

France, like the U.S., is entangled in debt. Still, Sarkozy tells the voters, he will not raise taxes if elected. He is against a surge of pending immigration to his country, a move his challenger embraces. New immigration and lax border security will drown France, Sarkozy warns.

Those are the two main issues on which Sarkozy and Hollande are battling. But like U.S. voters, the French are far more concerned about the economy, employment and purchasing power. Sarkozy faces sharp dialogue from opponents on those points.

However, he is pleased with new data that show France had avoided falling into recession. The economy grew by 1.7 per cent last year.

But Sarkozy's momentum could be blunted by potentially explosive allegations that he received 800,000 euros of cash ($1 million) from ailing L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt to help fund his 2007 presidential campaign.

A judge investigating alleged illegal party funding as part of the complex Bettencourt scandal has discovered two suspicious cash withdrawals by the octogenarian billionaire's ex-wealth manager, Patrice de Maistre.

These coincide with a meeting between De Maistre and Sarkozy's former campaign treasurer and, some witnesses alleged, with another to the Bettencourts by Sarkozy himself. Sarkozy has denied receiving any illegal funds.

His main challenger, Socialist François Hollande, is worried by Sarkozy's latest surge in the polls but also by leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the Left Front party. Melenchon is now polling at around 13 per cent.

He is about three points behind National Front candidate Le Pen and just ahead of centrist François Bayrou. Mélénchon wants to confiscate all annual earnings above 360,000 euros ($426,510 US).

Come April 12, the numbers will be all for Sarkozy.

]]> Deal-Hungry West Watches as Aung Suu Kyi and NLD Party Dominate Burma Parliamentary Elections tag:www.electionchannel.com,2012://1.61 2012-04-02T16:59:29Z 2012-04-02T18:07:44Z

Burma or Myanmar, either is correct, one of the world's richest countries in untapped gold, copper and gemstones, held Parliamentary elections Sunday April 1 and political activist Aung Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party swept the...

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/ Burma or Myanmar, either is correct, one of the world's richest countries in untapped gold, copper and gemstones, held Parliamentary elections Sunday April 1 and political activist Aung Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party swept the table.

Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest because of her pro-democracy activism, was voted the representative for the Kawhmu constituency.

The NLD claims it won all 44 constituencies. The Union Election Commission says its numbers show the NLD won 35 of the 45 seats in parliament.

Burma's Parliament has 662 representatives. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party still controls 80 percent of the seats.

In her victory address to supporters, the 66-year-old Suu Kyi said the important result that came out of the elections was that voters finally got to participate in a democratic process.

That wasn't the case in the 1990 general election. Then, Suu Kyi's party won 392 of the 492 seats. But the government refused to recognize the results.

Nobody knows what Sunday's election results will eventually mean for the country. If Burma President Thein Sein and the military continue to loosen controls over the population, the country could eventually become the next economic frontier of Asia.

Sein was elected in 2010 under questionable voting guidelines. The army has controlled the country for 49 years.

Western countries are eager to lift sanctions and let their companies invest in the once-isolated state.

China already is preparing to set up shop once the country looks kosher again to the world. The U.S. and Great Britain are also trying to figure out how to lift years-old sanctions on Myanmar, now that the elections appear to have been legitimate.

The government won points by grudgingly allowing a proper monitoring mission over the April 1 elections. It invited a team of five Southeast Asian observers and asked the United States, the European Union and others to send in two people each.

But even if international corporations are permitted to set up shop in Burma, there is little discretionary income among the country's 64 million inhabitants. Most are dirt poor.

Many of the sanctions from a host of countries can't be lifted overnight. Western investors are frustrated as they hear of Asian firms closing up deals and business delegations already pouring into the country to scope out opportunities.

Hotel prices in Yangon, the former capital and largest city in Myanmar, have soared to $400 per night from about the average $40, a price that only foreigners can expect to pay.

Myanmar's per capita gross domestic product amounts to $2.25 per day, about half that of Vietnam and 14 percent of neighboring Thailand's, according to International Monetary Fund estimates. Only one in 30 people has a mobile phone and even fewer have Internet access.

Myanmar's total land area is second only to Indonesia in Southeast Asia. It is , positioned between India and China and sits on maritime trade routes between Europe and East Asia.

In British colonial times, Burma or Myanmar, was considered the world's largest rice exporter -- a title now held by neighbor and onetime enemy Thailand.

Will Sunday's elections turn all that around at some future date? Don't bet on it.

]]> Hong Kong Election for Chief Executive Turns Into a Farce tag:www.electionchannel.com,2012://1.60 2012-03-30T14:00:54Z 2012-03-30T15:12:45Z

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/

If you ever wondered how tight a control the Peoples Republic of China holds over Hong Kong's seven million inhabitants, you need look no further than last week's election for a Chief Executive.

Backed by China's heavyweight politicians and by the rumored alliance of Hong Kong's organized crime cartel, Leung Chun-ying, 57, won 689 of the 1132 votes cast by members of the city's Election Committee.

He gets the top post for five years. He was the least popular candidate.

The March 25 election was a disaster for pro-democracy forces. A total 1,132 handpicked voters were outnumbered by demonstrators who were kept away from the assembly with pepper spray from police.

Hong Kong allows free speech and assembly but not free elections as practiced in more democratic countries. Mainland China had promised democracy for Hong Kong when it received sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom on July 1, 1997. The British had ruled Hong Kong for 99 years.

In a mock general poll conducted by Hong Kong University to show ordinary Hong Kongers' unhappiness with an election in which they have no say, around 55 percent of the 222,990 votes cast were blank in the poll. Leung received 17 percent - hardly a majority support.

A major country-wide demonstration is rumored to be planned for July 1 by activists eager to show the world how farcical the elections were.

The other two candidates again picked the Election Committee and not by the voters, were Henry Tang Ying-yen and Albert Ho. Tang was the Committee's first choice until it learned of Tang's extra-marital affairs and his illegal construction of a 2,000-square-foot basement in one of his homes.

Ho, the third candidate is a pro-democracy politician - not a choice Communist China was ready to embrace.

The University of Hong Kong poll clearly showed a large segment of the public would rather see the election fail than to see either Tang or Leung win.

Real estate interests in Hong Kong were particularly upset with Leung's win. He had promised to construct public housing throughout the country - not the No. 1 project on the lists of most high-profile luxury and commercial developers.

Elections are held in Hong Kong when certain offices in the government need to be filled. Every four years, half of the unicameral Legislative Council of Hong Kong's s 60 seats representing the geographical constituencies are filled by the electorate. The other 30 seats representing the functional constituencies are elected through smaller closed elections within business sectors.

Hong Kong has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has the chance of gaining power alone. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong is supposed to be non-partisan, but has to work with several parties to form (de facto) coalition governments.

Any Hong Kong permanent resident aged 18 or above may register as an elector in the geographical constituency in which he or she resides.

That all sounds good on paper, many Hong Kong nationals note, but when it comes to the real thing, it's all a farce.

]]> What This Country Needs is a Strong Dose of Political Leadership tag:www.electionchannel.com,2011://1.59 2011-11-25T16:59:58Z 2012-04-03T16:27:38Z

David Pearson http://www.electionchannel.com/author/david-pearson//

President John F. Kennedy

You could argue that America's Class War began, like the Confederates firing on Fort Sumter, with President George W. Bush proudly confessing to a group of his blue-chip campaign contributors, "(you are) the Haves and the Have-Mores. Some people call you the elites. I call you my base."

And from systematically dismantling many of the regulations protecting our country's environment to pushing through a tax-cut aimed at preserving the wealth of the super-rich (see "my base," above), one per cent of all taxpaying Americans, W stayed loyal to them for eight years.

This paradigm comes to my mind when I consider that the House has already cut $900 billion from social and job-creating programs like Head Start, education, highways, bridges and railways. All this before we even consider the Super committee and its non-conclusions.

To see what will happen when the automatic $1.2 trillion cuts come into being in two years - half from the military and half from the rest of the government's programs - all you have to do is look around at what's happened since this new group of Tea Partiers and their minions took their seats in the House of Representatives last year. And let us not forget the carnage wrought to Florida's environmental protection structures by our John Wayne governor, Rick Scott, whose aim at shooting down the agencies regulating growth, our water supply, and our longsuffering Everglades has been somewhat more accurate than that of his fellow Neanderthal, Dick Cheney.

When you combine federal and state cuts to most social programs designed to assist those less fortunate, you find serious problems. For one local example, near my hometown of Coral Gables, there is a ranch (Good Hope Equestrian Training Center) where autistic and other disabled children and adults are helped toward independent living through working with and being around horses. The nine-year-old program has helped thousands of young people gain the confidence to live more normal lives.

According to Center Executive Director Peggy Bass, cuts in federal and state programs have already forced her to downsize to half her staff - and thus help half as many kids - never mind the cuts she'll have to make when the $1.2 trillion bomb hits.

Here's an imagined dialogue:

Democrats: "We need to let the tax cut to the mega rich expire. It passed under W, and is clearly a thorn in the people's side. With this money, and more from Defense and other big cost cuts, we can get the deficit under control and regain our position as world leaders with a stable dollar and a working political system. Not to mention get re-elected."

Republicans: "We need to re-instate the tax cut to the wealthy, as they're the ones who invest their bucks in creating the jobs. What we need to cut is the waste in social security, Medicare and thousands of environmental regulations. Once the environment is off the table, developers will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and we will get the deficit stabilized. And get re-elected."

Standard and Poor's, after cutting the U.S. rating from AAA to AA+, now says it doesn't expect to cut it again. Moody's maintains the AAA rating with a big "negative" at the end. Next week, Congress has to decide whether to add to the debt by leaving in place the payroll tax cut, another politically charged issue being carefully watched by management and labor both.

All this while the Near East and North Africa explode in what are essentially revolutions, and, somewhat less violently, are mirrored by the "Occupy" demonstrations which started on Wall Street and have now spread to Main Street.

These are the times when one yearns for courage and intelligence in our political leadership. We turn to the history books and find that George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin Roosevelt faced similar conditions of grave danger to the country; each stood by his best judgement and prevailed in the end. More recently, John F. Kennedy stood looking at the possibility of nuclear war if he made the wrong decision during the Cuban Missile Crisis. With the future of the world in his hands, he chose diplomacy over bombs - and won.

Where are leaders like these today?

Certainly not in the CNN debates.

]]> Can the U.S. Find a 'Peace Dividend' with Returning Iraqi Soldiers? tag:www.electionchannel.com,2011://1.58 2011-11-17T15:23:45Z 2012-03-30T15:13:35Z

Paul Woods http://www.electionchannel.com/author/paul-woods/ u.s.-capitol-building.jpg

With the announcement by President Obama that US forces will leave Iraq by the end of 2011, as many as 40, 000 US servicemen and women will be returning home. Not all will be needed in stateside assignments. This fact, coupled with the estimated 14 million unemployed and 8.8 million under-employed, it is unlikely many of these honorably discharged vets returning to civilian life will walk right back into jobs.

Can the USA determine to resolve this potential insult by passing the American Jobs Act?

For example, this "every-man enlisted soldier" is twenty five year old who in his / her enlistment has likely served one if not two tours in a war zone, your choice (Iraq or Afghanistan). They, according to the Heritage Foundation, are 98.6% high school graduates most with semi-skilled technical training and all who possess a basic training completion which required of them focus, demonstrate capacities including dedication, team-work, team-building, crisis management, inter-personal communication and physical fitness. Did I mention they can work under pressure and deadlines?

Those qualifications, stated in detail on a DD-214, would welcome an interview at any company. The problem is many really don't have the demand for additional employees at this time; there is just not the demand.

So, do we relegate these men and women to under-employment or deferred employment by asking them to enter college on the GI Bill ? That is "kicking the can" down the street and our men and women deserve far better.

According to the Heritage Foundation the cost to deploy a US Soldier in Iraq for one year is $390,000. Moving even a portion of this current expense (and ready manpower) through public-private partnerships and contracts would accomplish two very important dividends;

1. Create Jobs and Grow the Economy

2. Rebuild an Aging Domestic Infrastructure

The tax-concession points of the President's plan are stout and essentially call for the following:

Dividend # 1

50 percent reduction in payroll taxes for the first $5 million in wages paid by small businesses.

Temporary elimination of employer payroll taxes for small businesses on new workers hired or on raises given to existing workers.

Extension of the 100 percent expensing of investment for company purchases of equipment.

Tax credits ranging from $4,000 to $9,600 for businesses that hire unemployed persons.

Relaxing and expanding regulations that allow unemployed persons to start their own companies.

Dividend # 2

Investment in infrastructure projects.

According to columnist Mike Periue, "Job creation is stimulated by increased demand. Companies hire more people when they know with great certainty that demand for their product or service is going up. While a tax reduction linked to hiring is always welcome (like any tax cut), this doesn't do much to stimulate demand or increase the clarity with which business owners can predict overall economic conditions in the short term. As long as our economy is characterized by lackluster demand and uncertainty about the future, hiring will not increase significantly." Tax breaks alone are not going to solve the issue.

I say demand a peace dividend if the welfare (small w) of the American people is considered. Rebuild our great land (roads, bridges, schools) and through this tactile process innovation and creativity will surely be sparked for it is our credo and nature to doggedly resolve problems great and small.

Our grandparents were a part of what news-author Tom Brokaw called the "Greatest Generation". I suggest the next greatest generation is on duty tonight as a Marine, Airmen, Coasty or Sailor. Let's create a dividend which results in a stronger and greater "land of the free and home of the brave."

Call your Congressmen and Senator today to support the President's American Jobs Act.

]]> Rahm Emanuel on the Hot Seat Again tag:www.electionchannel.com,2011://1.57 2011-01-26T16:00:56Z 2012-03-30T15:13:42Z

Alex Finkelstein http://www.electionchannel.com/author/alex-finkelstein/

Rahm Emanuel is making headlines again, not in Washington but in his home town of Chicago. An Illinois appellate court has ruled Emanuel doesn't meet the residency requirements to run for mayor of the Windy City.

The election is Feb. 22. Emanuel is President Barack Obama's former White House Chief of Staff. Emanuel says he will appeal the ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Emanuel didn't reside in Chicago, his home town, for at least a year before he submitted his name for the municipal elections, the court ruled. Emanuel officially left Obama's team Oct. 1, 2010.

Emanuel should have known the election candidacy requirements before he received all that press a year ago. Still, he will win his appeal, this corner predicts, because life at Emanuel's level is all about politics --- and money.

The infamous Al "Scarface" Capone knew that simple fact of life. Capone ran the rackets in Chicago for a decade in the 1930s because he knew which politicians to support.

That is not to say that Emanuel will win in his appeal just because, he, too, knows which politicians to tap. No, not at all. We are not suggesting that.

But keep in mind Chicago is also Obama's former stumping grounds. It is not too far-fetched to envision Emanuel getting at least a little bit of help in his appeal from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

Preposterous? Don't be naïve. Politics creates strange bedfellows, some political sage noted ions ago.

Emanuel has been considered the front-runner in the race, having far out-raised his opponents. Money talks.

Still, it didn't in the case of another big name politician a year ago--- Rod Bogdanovich, 40th Governor of Illinois (Jan. 13, 2003 to Jan. 29, 2009). Remember him?

Bogdanovich was arrested Dec. 9, 2008 on federal corruption charges, including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery. Those charges were thrown out.

He was convicted on only one count - lying to federal law enforcement agents. He, too, is appealing the conviction and pending prison sentence.

Federal prosecutors were unable to prove that Bogdanovich was trying to "sell" Obama's vacated United States Senate seat to the highest bidder.

So far, money hasn't talked for Bogdanovich. But it will for Emanuel. On Tuesday of this week, he already scored points. The Illinois Supreme Court ordered the city of Chicago to place Emanuel's name on the ballot - but it hasn't yet ruled on Emanuel's right to run.

Talk about enigmas? Meanwhile, the clock is ticking towards Feb. 22.

What do you think?

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