Years ago a friend told me if you never fall down skiing you’re not trying hard enough. I hope it applies to punditry too because I sure got the U.S. election wrong and now have to try to make credible sense of a result I firmly didn’t predict. Click here to read the rest.
It's time for American voters to show their true colours: Red, pink and blue.
Pink? How did that get in there? Simple. If you're trying to understand the American parties' political strategies in the home stretch, or make sense of early results on election night, the colour-coded map you see here shows how American states have voted since Clinton's first election in 1992: Blue means Democratic all five times, bright blue means four times Democratic, pale blue three times, while pink ones went Republican three times, bright red ones four times and red ones were solid GOP the whole way.
On Nov. 6 Americans will vote and elect a president, right? Wrong. The Electoral College chooses the president on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. And while roughly 40% of eligible voters can't be bothered, more than a quarter are so keen they vote early. Click here to read more.
It looks like Canada's history at the Museum of Civilization, which the government is transforming into a national historical museum in our national capital. It's hard to believe we didn't already have one.
In announcing his semi-resignation on Monday Dalton McGuinty provided a revealing glimpse into his mind. Sounds ghastly? Please look anyway, because ideas matter. Click here to read the rest.
What do George Clinton, Henry Wilson and James Sherman have in common? Right. All three were a heartbeat away from the U.S. presidency but the wrong heart stopped ... and now they're trivia questions. Click here to read the rest.
If you want proof that politicians don’t get it, look no further than the dreary Biden-Ryan vice-presidential debate Wednesday. I think Biden did slightly better, passionate and eloquent as well as rude and theatrical. But while neither man melted down, both missed the key point that politics is basically unpleasant. Click here to read the rest.
It's now impossible to imagine an American presidential election without televised debates. But it wasn't always this way. And the reason they've caught on is, for all their flaws, they help voters make up their minds about candidates. Click here to read the rest.