Election Fever II

I am surprised at the way Hillary Clinton seems to have just about pulled herself back into contention in the race to be the Democratic nominee for US President. Last time I posted she looked dead in the water.

The election of the most immediate interest right now is of course the one for the new London Mayor. At the time of posting here there is still no declared result (We had been led to expect one several hours ago). The interesting thing though is the size of the turnout. However much voter attitudes have been manipulated by a rather unpleasant campaign in the Evening Standard, what it shows is that people will turn out to vote if they think that it's going to make a difference. People do still care about politics, hell, people well away from London are following this one. The notion that most of Boris' support stems from his recognition as a TV personality is something of a myth, I think. After all I doubt if anyone stupid enough to vote for him is bright enough to appreciate 'Have I Got News For You!'

Then there's the local council elections. Gordon Brown has very modestly described it as a 'bad night'. At least there's something he learnt from Tony; how to put positive spin on a damaging story. He'll go far.

Once again, the real election story comes from Zimbabwe where the electoral commission have just announced a run-off poll. They also concede that Mugabe came second. Sadly, we know that the whole thing is going to be a fix, because it's already a fix, that there's little we can realistically do, and that the people of Zimbabwe are condemned to four more years of rule from that stinking despot. Just as last time I posted this, it's not exactly front page news with our media here although it should be.