Tuesday, 4th November, 2008

• 136.6 million Americans voted
• The result of the popular vote was 51.9 percent for Obama and 46.8 percent for McCain
• Shortly after 11:00pm EST John McCain conceded defeat. “The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly,” he said.
• At 11:12 EST, President Bush made a telephone call to congratulate Obama. “You are about to go on one of the great journeys of life. Congratulations and go enjoy yourself,” the President said.
• About half an hour later a victorious Obama emerged onto a wide platform in front of his fans to declare victory. “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment, change has come to America,“

Tags: Digital TV, Politics by Peter Moore
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Americans are currently streaming to the polling booths, and within twenty four hours we will know who George Bush’s successor will be. Marie Kemplay thinks for a final time. Who will be the next president of the United States?

After months of hard campaigning, debates and Tina Fey’s wonderful Sarah Palin impersonations the U.S presidential election is finally upon us.

There has been talk over the last week about just how little it will matter in the long term which candidate is elected president. It has been argued that such is the state of the US economy and finances that the agenda is largely stitched up by financial constraints. But psychologically it matters hugely, after the final depressing years of the Bush Presidency with its historic low approval ratings and the recent economic turmoil; Americans desperately crave something to be optimistic about. Both candidates want to completely disassociate themselves from the past eight years and offer Americans a new exciting chapter in their country’s history.

All the polls are predicting a clear win for Barack Obama but Americans are fickle creatures and polls are not always a reliable indicator of who will win. Many are worried Obama could be a victim of the so-called ‘Bradley effect’ named after Tom Bradley, a black man who was Mayor of Los Angeles who ran for Governor of California in 1972 with a 10-point lead in the polls but lost after white voters who promised their votes did not actually vote for him. Also to be considered is the effect Sarah Palin has had on John McCain’s campaign, has she been a boost or a liability? And whether when push comes to shove Americans will opt for an experienced politician like McCain or for the excitement and vibrancy of Barack Obama.

It’s exciting stuff and we’ve got a great vantage point at this side of the Atlantic, all the drama without and responsibility or input. So if you’re anything like me you’ll be settling down in front of the TV tonight with a beer and a big bowl of pistachio nuts, it’s going to be a long night.

Tags: Politics by Marie Kemplay
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A pit-bull in designer lipstick and Valentino suits, Marie Kemplay explains why Sarah Palin is perhaps not the ordinary hockey mom she professes to be.

In the absence of any serious politics at the other side of the Atlantic media attention has once again returned to the soap opera of Sarah Palin. Over the past few days the Republican party has been heavily criticised for going on a $150,000 spending spree of designer couture and make-up for Sarah Palin and her family – even her infant son – after she was chosen as the Republican’s vice presidential candidate in August.

The Republican Party claims it was always their intention to donate the clothes to charity but in these times of acute economic hardship for ordinary Americans, it would have perhaps reflected better on them if they had tightened their metaphorical belts rather than buying Sarah Palin several new ones and a host of designer suits.

The entire election campaign reeks of overspending and excess, and both parties are just as guilty. This election has broken all records for fundraising and spending; $961 million was raised by both parties by the end of September and the figure is set to pass the $1bn mark by November 4^th,with some estimates putting the total cost at more like $2bn.

Obama has always viewed high spending as the key to victory and since September has bought 330,000 adverts in all the battleground states compared with 100,000 by McCain. And despite his populist pretensions, only a quarter of the $600m his team have raised so far has come from the small donors of $200 or less who he likes to claim are the lifeblood of his campaign. But with Obama 7.4% ahead in the polls at the time of writing it seems his strategy is paying off.

Tags: Politics by Marie Kemplay
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Forget Bob the Builder, it’s Joe the Plumber that could fix this election for McCain, explains Marie Kemplay

On Wednesday night another character was added to the presidential soap opera, Joe the Plumber. I’m sure nobody, least of all Joe himself, expected the final presidential debate to focus so much on one voter. Every one of the 26 times good ol’ Joe was mentioned I couldn’t help but raise my hands in despair, is this what the election has come down to; whether one man from Ohio may or may not be taxed more if Barack Obama wins? Worst of all was John McCain referring to him as “my old buddy Joe the Plumber”, when he’s never met him, if he had he might be more cautious about granting him his new found American hero status. McCain had hoped that the 34 year old plumber who accused Obama’s plans to increase taxes for households earning over £250,000 as “killing the American dream” would be his perfect attack weapon. But it turns out 34 year old Joe Wurzelbacher is actually called Samuel, doesn’t even have a plumber’s license and his earnings are way below $250,000 and are unlikely to go above that anytime soon, so perhaps not the anti-Obama hero he had been searching for.

McCain and Obama really came to blows over the negative campaigning that has taken over in recent weeks, Obama was once again forced to repudiate his ties with Bill Ayers, a 1970s terrorist and to his credit he did it very convincingly. Despite McCain trying to take the moral highground, claiming he has always defended Obama when Republican critics have taken it too far Obama delivered the killer line of the whole debate “John, 100% of your TV ads are negative.”

Unfortunately for McCain doing trying to undermine his opponent is the only option he really has left. It’s looking like even, to use his own words, spending his entire life in the service of the nation may not be enough to get him elected.

Tags: BBC, Digital TV, Politics, Virgin by Marie Kemplay
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With Obama and McCain just 21 days away from the prize of the presidency, Marie Kemplay looks back at political developments during the last week.

63.2 million Americans tuned in to watch John McCain and Barack Obama sparring in the second presidential debate on Tuesday, pretty impressive until you remember that 70 million American people watched last week’s vice presidential debate. “Say it aint so Joe” but it seems that perhaps Sarah Palin and her notorious television appearances are becoming the major draw of this campaign.

But although I’m digressing much like the vice presidential debate, Tuesday saw no real fireworks, no real knock out blows and nothing really new from either candidate. Several polls taken afterward have shown American viewers think that Barack Obama won and if I have to come down off my fence I’d tend to agree.

Obama, in general, backed-up what he said with facts, for example knowing the price of petrol in Nashville went down really well with the local press – $3.80 by the way. His points were in general a lot clearer and well defined, whereas McCain seemed to rely more on populist phrases to get by such as “We are Americans. We can, with the participation of all Americans, work together and solve these problems together.” A lovely sentiment but not particularly explanative, his overuse of the phrase ‘My Friends’ at the start of what seemed to be nearly every answer was also pretty grating. In fairness to McCain, Obama did his fair share of question dodging; for example when asked about social security and Medicare (American medical insurance scheme) reform Obama started talking about taxes.

The real headline is that the debate did nothing to change the status quo and the tragedy for McCain is that he really needed to put in a dazzling performance. The American press had been expecting him to go into this debate all guns a blazing, especially as the ‘town hall’ format of the debate was meant to favour an old-school politician like him. While some commentators have said that once he started walking around the stage and addressing the audience he looked strong and purposeful, for me it just reminded me of how woefully old he is, and, I hate to say it but the word doddery came to mind. My friend kindly added that his walk and mannerisms reminded her of Homer Simpson.

McCain in my opinion also made two serious bloopers; firstly referring to Obama as “that one”, although in the context of a political debate that sort of language may seem pretty innocuous some quarters of the American press have accused him of racism, not particularly helpful when he’s behind in the polls. His ill judged claim that: “I’ll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I’ll get him. I know how to get him.” Is perhaps the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. For all his talk of America needing a “steady hand at the tiller” such a claim does not strike me as coming from such a person.

The problem for both candidates is that these are very testing times and both parties are clutching at straws to find solutions to vast array of both domestic and foreign policy issues. McCain suggesting that “energy independence” – possibly his second most used phrase in the debate - could solve America’s economic woes is a bit unrealistic to say the least. Obama seems to be taking the Gordon Brown route of stressing the importance of ensuring that “ordinary families” are fine, ok, but what about everybody else?

Unfortunately for television viewers and voters two candidates struggling to outline solutions to increasingly complex problems doesn’t necessarily translate into an exciting election campaign. My overall assessment of the debate matches that of the online news site, The Drudge Report “Boring!”.

Tags: Digital TV, Politics by Marie Kemplay
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As the first punches are being thrown in the Obama McCain presidential duel, the Democrats will be rubbing their hands at the prospect of an early-arriving all American scandal. Marie Kemplay explains.

A fascinating little rumour regarding Republican Presidential candidate, John McCain’s newly announced running mate Sarah Palin, is currently doing the rounds. If it is to be believed his butter-wouldn’t-melt vice-presidential hopeful isn’t quite as saccharine sweet as they would have you believe.

There is talk that 44 year old, Sarah Palin’s fifth child, Trig, born four months ago with Down’s syndrome, is not actually her son but rather the child of her eldest daughter, 17 year old Bristol Palin. Ironically enough the former beauty queen is regarded by many as a whiter-than-white candidate with no real scandal to her name, but having had her personal life thrown into the public sphere, she might find that that is about to change.

Although, admittedly, this story is very much hearsay there is quite a lot of compelling if not necessarily conclusive evidence to support it. Here goes:

There are a number of photos circulating showing Palin looking decidedly svelte when she would have been 7 months pregnant. Her staff also expressed shock when at 7 months Palin announced the pregnancy; none of them previously had any idea. Palin claimed she had been hiding the bump with ‘scarves’.

Meanwhile pictures of her 17 year old daughter Bristol from a similar time show what some have described as a ‘definite pregnancy bump’ rather than belly fat. Coincidentally Bristol was also absent from school for the final three months of her mother’s pregnancy with mononucleosis (glandular fever), a common excuse for absence among teenage girls at Roman Catholic schools

Even more interesting is Palin’s behaviour the day of the birth. On the morning of April 30^th she supposedly began leaking amniotic fluid but rather than attending a medical facility she delivered a keynote speech to the Republican Governor’s Convention in Dallas, Texas. Speech over, Palin then took an eight hour flight back to Alaska and gave birth a few hours later. This is reckless behaviour; for safety reasons women are not supposed to fly after seven months of pregnancy, Palin was about eight months pregnant and she had already started to have contractions.

If she was indeed in labour during the flight she managed to hide it pretty well as an Alaskan airlines representative claims that ‘she didn’t show any signs of distress.’

After landing in Anchorage, despite apparently being hours into labour, she was driven for a further 45 minutes to a remote regional medical centre where she finally gave birth, rather than choosing any of the much better equipped medical centres in Anchorage. Perhaps she was fleeing the prying eye of the public?

It is difficult to gauge how such a scandal would affect the Republican presidential campaign, and so far there has been no official response. In the turbulent world of American politics Palin’s actions could be read in a number of ways: is she merely a selfless mother who is protecting her daughter, or has something a little more sinister occurred?

Tags: Digital TV, Politics by Marie Kemplay
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Barack Obama passes an important milestone in American history as he officially accepts the nomination of the Democrat Party to run for the office of the President of the United States

It is only a few short months since the American Democratic Party were caught in a tremendous internal squabble, but last night they gritted their teeth, buried their differences and stood to applaud the Illinois Senator Barack Obama as he accepted their nomination to run for the office of President of the United States.

It did smack a little of a family emerging with bright smiles to a public event, having only recently endured a fearful argument behind closed doors. But Obama, clean cut and with the requisite snow white smile, seemed unfazed, declaring that: ‘America, we are better than these last eight years,’ to the excitable approval of the assembled crowd.

On evenings such as these, Americans are at their very best. Naturally more demonstrative than us Brits, they dress in vibrant red, white and blues, wave flags, applaud enthusiastically and whoop in delight, at all of the appropriate moments. The speeches themselves are a carefully balanced delivery of rhetoric, promises, patriotism, flattery and the odd inoffensive joke.

It is hardly needs documenting, as it has been said a thousand times before, that Obama thrives in this environment. It is quite a skill to be relaxed and personable in front of a crowd of around 80,000, but with an effortless grace Obama carries it off, and for that reason alone he should be relishing live tussles with the more-robotic John McCain.

We should not forget that last night marked the passing of an important milestone in American history. Accepting the nomination, Obama became the first American of African descent to be selected as the presidential candidate of one of the two main parties; and in a country that is openly proud of its history and heroes, it was by no coincidence that last night was also the forty fifth anniversary of Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream,’ speech.

A key element in Obama’s success will be his ability to appeal to broad sections of the Democratic Party, and mindful of this one of Obama’s first statements was one of gratitude and magnanimity towards his erstwhile foe:

‘Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanies me on this journey, and especially the one who travelled the farthest, a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours: Hillary Rodham Clinton.’

But his main thrust of attack was a clear and steady attack upon the one man who stands between him and the Oval Office. ‘John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but he won’t even follow him to the cave where he lives,’ Obama argued. ‘If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice, but it is not the choice that America needs,’ he continued.

This is an odd period of the American presidential campaign, following a dip in the action during the two summer months. Collectively Americans are drawing in a slow breath, waiting to be submerged in a barrage of publicity, advertising, pledges and posters. By November the country will have lost its sanity, drenched in colourful bunting and being ‘God blessed,’ from all directions.

American Presidential elections are an odd mixture of things – and for a nation well capable of putting on a show, the 2008 Presidential knock out promises to be compelling.

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Here you can see a video of Barack Obama’s address to the Democratic Convention four years ago, in what was to become one of his most famous speeches. To follow all of the latest news and political development regarding the US political elections and for round-the-clock-coverage, look into the digital news channels, for unprecedented coverage.

Tags: News, Politics, Programmes, Sky by Peter Moore
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We’re all going on a summer holiday

Most of you will be struggling to get the zip around your suitcase about now, scurrying excitedly around the house throwing in last-minute items and with the prospect of sandy beaches, exotic cuisine, bronzed bodies and two weeks away from the boss bouncing around your head. And, as you lug your 20kgs into the boot of your Mondeo, then I deplore you to spare a though for poor old Gordon Brown.

After trundling along with little incident for more than a decade, the wheels have finally flown off the New Labour movement quiet spectacularly. It all started about this time last year with a series of plagues of Biblical proportions. Firstly, unprecedented rainfall led to Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and parts of Yorkshire disappearing under water and shortly after foot and mouth disease ripped across the south of England causing a wave of panic in the farming industry and redoubling the French’s intention never to buy British meat.

Cutting short his family holiday in Dorset, Brown charged back to London to chair a series of reactive meetings, popping up hourly on national news bulletins and resembling Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army, by imploring people ‘Don’t panic!’ However, those of us who suspected that a procession of black cats must have passed in front of Brown as he passed under a ladder were given more evidence of his misfortune in the autumn.

He failed to dismiss the possibility of calling a general election in October, before wobbling approval ratings in national opinion polls seemingly got the better of him. He decided, wrongly, to leave the matter to rest for a little while. ‘Bottler Brown,’ bellowed the press, miserable at being denied the jump in sales that is usually excited by an election. The reaction of David Cameron, Conservative leader and Oxford University port-drinking specialist, if anything was worse, as he taunted the Prime Minister over the despatch box:

‘I tell you what, if you’ve got some questions about our policy, find a bit of courage, discover a bit of bottle, get in your car, go down to Buckingham Palace and call that election,’ he demanded at Prime Minister’s Questions, whilst Gordon Brown glared at him, seemingly caught in a fit of combustible anger and chewing on some recently invented gum.

It didn’t get any better. The following month, 25 million people’s personal information was lost in the post when a minor employee thought it wise to copy the data of child benefits claimants to a CD and pop it in the internal post. Meanwhile the global economy began to resemble something like a Welsh mudslide.

Add to this the April tax revolt by Labour back-bench MPs, who were dismayed at Labour inverting the Robin Hood principles and taxing the poor to give to the rich and the fact that a 42 day detention bill scraped through the House of Commons last month, and you can surmise that the past year has been an increasingly difficult one for Brown.

In the meantime, they have lost the seats of Crewe and Nantwich to the Conservatives (with Edward Timpson the new MP increasing his share of the vote by 16.9%) and Glasgow East which had been a Labour-controlled constituency since Noah’s Arch ran aground.

Now Mr Brown is taking his wife on a British ‘Bucket and Spade,’ holiday. Due to the emergence of last year’s floods, it will be the first substantial holiday that Mr Brown has enjoyed since he became Prime Minister. So, as he heads off to Southwold in Suffolk and later on to the Scottish coast, remember that however tiresome your tasks at work may be, Mr Brown can trump you in one.

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To keep up with the latest political debates and developments, digital television offers you a range of different choices. There are BBC News, Sky News and BBC Parliament, all supplemented by an array of different news broadcasters from around the world - making sure that you are up to date with everything - 24 hours a day.

Tags: Digital TV, Politics by Peter Moore
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