The British announced today, April 6th, that they are having a national election next month on May 6th. They always do it that way--national campaigns are a month long. I am always full of envy.
Republicans who might run against Barack Obama in 2012--governors like Tom Pawlenty or Mitt Romney--an ex-gov, to be fair--are, I assume, already raising money and signing on key people in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire. It's still early in 2010. Iowans will probably caucus in January, 2012, though perhaps late in 2011 if some other state tries to vote ahead of them. Then New Hampshire votes, followed by the rest of the primaries with the general election in November. Eleven months. The actual campaign, of course, is more like a year and a half. "What does your dad do for a living, Johnny?" "He runs for president." Well, just about.
I can remember an exhausted George McGovern one night snapping at some heckler in some airport--out of range of cameras, "Kiss my ass." Why not? We were all that tired.
The Brits don't have a president, of course. They elect 650 members of the House of Commons and the MPs then elect a prime minister. If no one party has a majority, chaos and/or coalitions are possible. The Labour Party has held power, under PMs Tony Blair and now Gordon Brown, for thirteen years--a streak comparable to Franklin Roosevelt's here. The Conservatives (Tories) are ahead in the polls, but will need a big swing to win. There's a third major party, the Liberal Democrats, and nationalists from Scotland and northern Ireland hold a few seats.
Who'll win? I have no idea. But in a month--one month--we'll all know. Ain't that grand?
.
The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. Get busy.
No comments:
Post a Comment