As a Canadian, I’ve been fascinated by the US Presidential Race.  Here in The Great White North, things play out differently when it comes to election time.  Anyone who is paying attention knows that we’re less than a month away from a Federal Election here in Canada but I have yet to see one t.v. spot, hear one debate or even see one campaign sign dotting the lawns in my neighborhood. 

But the US Presidential Race has been top of mind since January 2007!  I’m an avid fan of Stephen Colbert & John Daly and they have both been talking about the election since January 2007.  But they’re not the only ones – CNN, Face The Nation, CNBC, the major news programs and even stand up comics and talk show hosts have been dissecting the candidates and offering their support.  We watched as one by one, the nominees dropped out of the race and threw their support behind one of the front runners until finally only one man remained standing for each party.

And then came the conventions: a study in opposites.  First up: the Democrats with all their Hollywood glam and then a week later, the Republicans with all eyes on the star of the hour: Sarah Palin.  And that’s when things got interesting.  There was Obama’s “lipstick on a pig” comment that threatened to take the focus of the issues.  And then John McCain levelled the playing field by stating that “the fundamentals of the US economy are still strong” which pundits believe is evidence that he is disturbingly out of touch with what’s going in the lives of ordinary Americans. 

And then this past weekend, everyone was all a buzz over the opening scene for the new season of Saturday Night Live.  I missed it and I’ll be honest, I spent some time trying to find the entire skit because if that many people were talking about it, I wanted to see it for myself.  And you can see it too.  The Washington Wire posted the entire skit in an article on their blog.

Yes there were funny moments.  Yes I think Tina Fey looks like Sarah Palin.  Yes she’ll probably be back a few more times before Election Day.  Will it add to the Obama Campaign?  Will it hurt Sarah Palin?  Who knows.  Elections shouldn’t be decided on who has the funniest spot on television or which YouTube video has the most hits.  They should be decided on the issues but I think somewhere in the 18 months since the race began, we’ve all lost steam.  It’s hard to sustain a focussed interest for that long. 

I’m not coming out in support of one candidate or another – I’ll leave that to the good judgement of the American People.  Let’s just say the next few weeks until Election Day will be very interesting.  Much more interesting than the month remaining until I head to the polls here in Canada.