US Elections 2012 Feature: The Hope for a Romney Upset --- Voter Turnout

The bottom line is that the bookies and most political pundits have President Obama as their favourite to win this election. Paddy Power, an Irish bookmaker, has already paid out on an Obama victory.

However, until that result is confirmed Republicans are still holding out hope that the polls are wrong and that their voters, more committed to their candidate than Obama's supporters, will turn out in enough numbers to make a fool of not just Paddy Power but many of the "liberal" media as well.

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US Snapshot: History is Forgotten as Voting Rights are Challenged in Florida

I have been wondering whether, later this decade, the US will celebrate the sixtieth anniversaries of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Given the track record relating to the Civil War, I’m not optimistic, yet if you are a voter in the South, or to be blunt a Southern black voter, the anniversaries will mark two of the most significant American events of the 20th century.

I know the history leading to the passing of these statutes, I have read about the hardship suffered by prospective black voters in the South before and immediately following the passing of the civil rights laws. I thought I could say that, in America, voting rights are a given these days and not an exception, regardless of race or colour.

Not quite.

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