We need an objective point of view (is it possible ?).

[BonjourUSA]

Are you optimistic or pessimistic for the elections ? Of course it means : do you think that Bush will be fired ?

We need your feeling because you live in a country which is out of all political logics. We don't ask you to use Couet method (we're gonna fire Bush because we're the best.... we're gonna fire Bush because we're the best and we are right..... etc), but we ask you what is your objective feeling according to what you are able to hear or see around you.

YOUR ballot is important for YOU and it's important for US too. If your country is politically curious and often politically incomprehensible for us, we have to pay attention to its political life. Every decision of your president is very important for the future of the world yet (for how long ? Perhaps a day, you and us, we'll turn our eyes toward China). The true question is not for us if the American people is going to vote FOR Kerry but AGAINST Bush.

[Spentastic]

1. Interestingly put

This is hardly placed for an unbiased view to be fair!

On one hand I’m heartened to see so many Americans who abhor what Bush is doing to their country. On the other had I see a few people who are truly in denial about the reality of Bush’s chances of re-selection. As nice as it would be I see no evidence whatever that he’s going to get hammered come November.

Kerry is fighting against a massive corporate machine and years and years of propaganda. He is being unfairly smeared, but the fairness of an action seems to matter little to much of the U.S populace. He cannot get his message out as effectively because he will not be given a platform to do so. Furthermore, although Kerry is the candidate who will stand against Bush and must be supported. I’m far from blown away by him.

I watch developments in the U.S with great interest. I see an administration and its paid shills pulling out all the stops to ensure that Bush gets elected. Unfortunately I have no innate faith that U.S voters are sophisticated enough to see through the Republican fog and make the right choice.

I applaud those who will not be deflected by negative thoughts but I have serious concerns over what will happen in November. I hope Kerry wins but at the moment I’m not at all confident that he will. There is a reason fascism can exist. In its infancy it proves attractive to the ill educated masses. Would anyone care to argue that the U.S.A does not have a surfeit of them?

[necso]

2. The odds are not in our favor.

There are a number of states where it is likely to be very close and the vote in these states will be subject to various tricks, cheats, deceptions and frauds.

As you can probably image who will be using the various tricks, cheats, deceptions and frauds, I would want 2 to 1 at least if I was placing a bet.

Popular vote on the other hand may well go in our favor... But of course this is good for absolutely nothing!

[demnan]

3. Bonjour to you, friend

My thoughts on this - I get more pessimistic every day. Our country is very divisively and almost evenly divided. But it's difficult for middle and Southern America to relate to an aristocratic New Englander. If Kerry wins, I'll be overjoyed. And I say this as an active campaigner as well. I don't think people in this country are informed enough to hate Bush enough to get out and vote for Kerry. I see a segment of society that knows, but the majority, no way. If you had our media, you might not know either.

[BonjourUSA]

6. I get more pessimistic every day too

Very many American seem more and more enjoying the nationalist speech. This one of Swartzy was specially crazy and frightening but perhaps at the good level for the average American voter.

I ask myself if the American people still know that the democracy is fragile and very much complicated than only the US constitution amendments evocation

[MadProphetMargin]

9. RELAX. You're just seeing the hype. Ask yourself THIS:

Has Bush EVER been able to hang onto a good approval rating for more than 30-45 days?

When all the hype wears off, Joe Six-Pack will remember that he's broke, and working at WalMart...and he'll remember why, and WHO put him there.

At least enough will.

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. With the advent of ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES

it doesn't look good for us. UNLESS the Democratic Party has a plan that I don't know about....which "could" be possible, but I doubt it. The electronic voting machines can be HACKED. ANYONE can get into the program and change the vote totals on the machines. California, Ohio and Florida have already been set up for the hack job. There's NO paper trail so, if a RECOUNT is needed, TOO BAD, can't do it because there's no paper ballots to count. How convenient. The Democratic Party, for SOME reason, hasn't done ANYTHING in the last 4 years to stop the Electronic Voting Machines from being used and I don't know why. I can't figure it out. :(

The majority in this country DO NOT want the idiot-in-chief re-SELECTED, but the republican party is in TOTAL control. Executive branch, Senate, House and the Supreme Court (Who appoint the SOB in the first place).

I'm sorry to say that UNLESS we have a TON of Democratic voters voting in key battleground states, the election will be stolen. :(

[IdaBriggs]

5. Difficult Question.

I despise Bush beyond words, but I'm pretty well informed. To be frank, I would be voting for ANY candidate I thought could best this man. Fortunately for me, the more I've learned about Kerry, the more I like him. I am convinced he will make a good president.

The difficult part of your question is whether or not Kerry will win. On one level, I want to say "YES!" And then I have to look at the reality of the campaign machine running against him. Losing issues (like getting 3,000 Americans killed on his watch, and starting unnecessary wars) are turned into Brave Patriotic Acts. Poor social policy is viewed as "moralistic." Bad economic policy becomes "pessimism" instead of reality. A war hero's record becomes a joke about band aids with purple hearts on them.

I talked with a woman the other day who has no health insurance. She's unemployed, and has a history of cancer in her family. Common sense would dictate this would be a "guaranteed" vote for Kerry, yet she plans to vote for Bush because she is more frightened of planes crashing into buildings (i.e., "Bush is a success in the war on terror") than she is of dying of cancer that isn't treated promptly. How can you argue with marketing like that?

Will Kerry win? I pray he will. Is it possible he will lose? Yes. If I had a better answer for you, I would give it.

Does this help?

[bobbieinok]

7. at times very optimistic but the voting machines + the RW media control

really make me wonder

if I were a citizen of a European country, I'd be looking into a joint effort to contain the US (first line economically and politically) and making plans 'just in case'

[sweetheart]

8. The dems were caught offguard in 2000

I expect the intensity of 2000 to ramp up to a kerry victory, even
with the RW propaganda that it can't be allowed.

Hold fast. They are gonna blow a hurricane of lies... but that
is not new. Dems got some serious aces up their sleeves that are
yet not played.

Bush lost in 2000 and he will lose again. We must remain intensely
vigilant that every american casts their vote and has it counted.

This is the first election where the internet has come of age, so we
cannot use old divining mechanisms to measure results. The internet
has allowed unprecedented coordination of voting registrations and
underground campaigning. A global voting age population is praying
for the good guys to come out with a KO in november.

Hold fast, and true. Why share pessimism, as geesh, THAT if anything
is the republican propaganda.
It is our choice to win or lose in november.
That is the truth.

[MadProphetMargin]

10. True. About 2 weeks before the election, Kerry will break out the

million-ton shithammer.

[Logansquare]

13. He'd better, because they may have an October Surprise

like Osama, who I still feel may be on ice somewhere.

[yellowdawgdem]

11. Can one be objective

It is difficult for me to be completely objective since I am passionate in wanting a Kerry win. But with that as a given, I still think that Kerry has a much better chance to win than did Gore in 2000. I watched part of the repub convention, and can see that some of these folks support Bush- Cheney because they are rich, or they are christian fundamentalists. The others are responding to republican spin- that is, that Kerry flip flops, is not a strong leader, was not there for votes in the senate, and that we are at war and should act accordingly, etc etc.
Yet I see a growing rage from the rest of our country, and this seems very healthy. In terms of this election, if we carry California and all the states that Gore won, we only need 1 additional state to get the needed electoral votes. This is why I believe that we have a very good chance to win. Our strategy should be to ignore the spin, defend ourselves when possible, and mobilize democratic voters in the swing states. If one or two of the swing states swing our way, I think we're all set.

[Wapsie B]

12. Bush maxed himself out in '00.

I don't see him drawing new voters into his rolls. I truly believe that even some of the dittoheads will either sit home or vote Nader rather than vote for chimpy again. Don't buy into the spin that's being put out this week. What we're watching is the implosion of the gop right before our eyes.

[tnlefty]

14. Rollercoaster here - optimistic at times and then pessimistic other times

I'm in SE TN, a state that according to Zogby's polls is sometimes a battleground state and then a Bush* state. Democrats in my area are more vocal than I can remember and are trying to fight back, but this is freqently drowned out by local talk radio, etc.

I've had quite a few people in parking lots ask me for bumperstickers and then I'll see Smirk*/Sneer yard signs go up.

People who heavily rely on free/reduced lunch programs can't seem to put together that they are cutting their own throats by supporting this administration, and I just don't get it, but I have become more agressive in pointing it out to them. People in my neighborhood who think that they are part of Bush's* 'tax cut rich' can't seem to be bothered with his immoral behavior, nor do they seem to comprehend that they are a serious illness away from losing that $190,000.00 home and everything else. Don't seem to have a clue that they can't save the money to provide for their own health insurance under Smirk's* Private Savings Plans.

Some days I feel that progress is being made and on other days I feel like I'm slamming my head into a concrete wall!