The American presidential race

OK, you want to talk about the American presidential race. I should probably point out something I forgot to in class. There is apparently no standard way to say "executive president" in Japanese to distinguish it from a ceremonial president, and each political science textbook translates it in its own way. But Japanese doesn't need any standard term for "executive president" or "ceremonial president" either, since there is no president at all in Japan. The African language I studied in graduate school, Hausa, does have standard ways to say them, because Nigeria has had both systems.

We went over some of the background information you need to know, like the Electoral College, today in class. You also need to know the policy positions of the candidates and other information about the race. Barack Obama's official website's location is easy to find, John McCain's is likewise. They both use their full names as the website URL. There is also a non-partisan site with information about all contenders and generally more information than you would want to know. It even has a student center to help students around the world understand the election.

We get thousands of requests from students across the world requesting information on Presidential Elections and Non Partisan Political Information every year.

This particular election seems to be the first YouTube election. I also recommend that you visit Barack Obama's YouTube channel, as well as John McCain's. The Democrats handled YouTube better in 2006, and it was definitely a factor in their winning the Congressional elections. Senator George Allen made a racial slur at a campaign worker for his rival, Jim Webb. The Webb campaign put it on YouTube and Jim Webb is now the Senator from Virginia. Look for more "Macaca moments" on YouTube this year. Speaking of which, I can't resist showing you McCain's plans, together with a response. Americans like political humor, and expect their politicians to have good senses of humor. Jack Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were both popular for their senses of humor. Lincoln's humor was legendary, and many of his jokes are famous.