November rain (of votes)

This year we had the Summer Olypmics in August, which means that in the second weekend of November we also have the US Presidential Elections. Today I would like to write about this, without entering too much into the political discussion. Apologies if I disappoint those fans of Guns'n Roses looking for an entry about the song with the same title.

Yesterday night, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the candidates from the Democrats and the Republicans had their first discussion on the TV, and this has been in the front page of the Spanish newspapers this morning. There were thorough revisions of the behaviour of both candidates, with multiple analysis. This fact reveals the main characteristic of these elections: since they affect the whole world, the whole world is looking at it. No other election in any country of the world has a similar global media coverage, but, obviously, no other country in the world has the influence the US have.

The US political system is considered to be bi-partisan in Spain, but this is far from being true. There are a number of small parties, which also run for the election but which often do not get any minute of glory. It is also remarkable the evolution of the two big parties (Democrats and Republicans) in the history of the US, since they were once a single party, which, as a result of some disputes on agriculture and slavery issues, split into two. At that point in time, if my memory of my study of American history last year is not wrong, the Republicans were clearly against the slavery (not what many prejudices would suggest).

The political map of the US is also very interesting. Democrats usually win in both coasts (Massachusets, Washington, Oregon, Maine,...) while the Republicans get all the inner continental states (Texas, Iowa, Kansas,...). There are only few states which may change from one party to the other and they are always the same: Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Illinois,... The campaign therefore concentrates there, with little attention for other estates. For those who complain about the same political party dominating one region in Spain, that gives us also an idea of the static state of political views in the US.

So, let's wait one month approximately to see who will run the destiny of the most powerful country in the world. Will we be able to open the windows in the planes?