US Politics Feature: The Biggest Story --- and Danger --- of the Vice Presidential Debate

Full video of the debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan

See also EA Video Analysis: How to Become An Expert on the US Presidential Election (Part 2)

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For all the verbal combat, the encounter illuminated that the differences between an Obama Administration and a Romney alternative are not as great as advertised.

That was particularly evident on foreign policy, where the concern for many is that a Romney presidency will lead to another misguided overseas adventure. I doubt that concern was eased last night, but at the same time, the debate was notable for how Ryan and Biden effectively converged on a "get tough" posture.

There was nothing on China or Russia, let alone the vanished continents of South America and Africa, and --- compare this to past campaigns --- nothing on Europe and NATO. The international economy, arguably the most important issue right now, did not make even a cameo appearance. Instead, this was a conversation about who could be the harder man over the Middle East and Iran.

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US Politics Audio: Who "Won" the Vice Presidential Debate? --- Scott Lucas with the BBC

Photo: API spoke with BBC Wales this morning about the Vice Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan, looking at the key moments and responding to "Who Won?" with a phrase from British football (soccer to our American readers): "It was a score draw"

The item begins at the 1:54:30 mark.

US Audio Feature: Ryan, Romney, and Guns --- Scott Lucas with the BBC

See also US Politics Analysis: Why Paul Ryan's VP Nomination is So Important

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I spoke with BBC WM on Tuesday about the US Presidential election.

The conversation started with an easy question, in light of a series of shooting sprees causing multiple deaths, "Will gun control be a prominent issue in the campaign?" (Answer: No.)

The more challenging task was to introduce Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's choice as Vice Presidential running mate, and assess his effect on the race.

The take-away line is that Ryan --- in contrast to the 2008 candidate, Sarah Palin --- is strong on ideas; however, his strong positions on the economy and social spending are likely to bring as many problems as benefits to the GOP effort. In US politics, you whip up your party by appealing to the committed, but you win elections by persuading the "center".

There is also discussion of the geographical factor: this is the first time in decades that neither candidate on the Republican slate has come from the West or the South.

The discussion starts just before the 1:39.00 mark.

US Politics Analysis: Why Paul Ryan's VP Nomination is So Important

Paul Ryan's speech after he was named as Mitt Romney's Vice Presidential running mate

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Last Saturday, Mitt Romney announced that Paul Ryan, a congressman from Wisconsin, would be his running mate for the 2012 Presidential election. Rep. Ryan, Chair of the House Budget Committee, is a committed fiscal conservative. As he is a darling of the Tea Party and the personification of all that is evil in Republican politics for progressives, Romney's choice has energised a campaign that was in danger of descending into a mundane commentary on the current economic health of the US. 

With his pick, Romney has extended the issues at stake for voters who are concerned with the present unemployment rate or the threat of another recession to the future of the Federal Government's role in economic and social policy.  This is now the election for which conservatives have been praying for decades: a referendum on their belief in a Constitutionally-limited government, allowing individuals to exercise their God-given rights without interference from the hands of the State.

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US Politics Feature: What A Conservative Surge in the 2012 Elections for Congress Could Mean

This November, America goes to the ballot box to elect not only the President but also the Congress that will either implement or obstruc, the White House programme. The House of Representatives is likely to remain in the control of Republicans, but the Senate --- where Democrats currently enjoy a slight majority, aided by the support of the chamber's two Independents --- is a less predictable story. Conservative Republicans believe they have the opportunity to overturn the Democrats' slender advantage, and, just as importantly, return new Senators who will align with the Tea Party Caucus.

That strategy took on the shape of the possible on Tuesday in Indiana when Richard Mourdock, a conservative heavily backed by pro-market and Tea Party groups from outside the state, defeated six-term Senator Dick Lugar in the GOP primary.

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US Politics Analysis: Obama Brings Out His "Fair Share" Campaign (and Why It's Important)

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On Tuesday afternoon, at an Associated Press luncheon in Washington, President Obama criticised the Republican budget, passed on a party line vote 228-191 in the House of Representatives last week. Doing so, the President outlined the basic message of his re-election campaign, contrasting his "fair share" economic plan for America's future with the radical Social Darwinist politics of the GOP.

Every Presidential campaign yearns to find a short and catchy phrase that captures the appeal of its candidate. Obama's "Hope and Change" from 2008 is the most recent example, but "I Like Ike" was credited by some Robert Taft supporters in 1952 for delivering the Republican nomination to his rival Dwight Eisenhower, and well before that, "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too", was turned into a song that was “in the political canvas of 1840 what the 'Marseillaise' was to the French Revolution. It sang [William Henry] Harrison into the Presidency.”

That brings us to Obama and a "Fair Share".

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US Politics Analysis: Will Partisan Gridlock Finally Give Way to Valuable Changes?

The lesson, ultimately, is that when confrontation and gridlock become too entrenched in Washington, changes –-- however slow --- will try to dampen the partisanship. Continuous political fighting is tiring, not just for the politicians but for their constituents as well. And in the "truce" that will eventually be reached when exhaustion sets in democratic reforms previously regarded as impossible to enact can in time triumph.

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US Politics Analysis: Obama and the Democrats Launch Their Populist Campaign

Right now, there is an even chance President Obama could become another Jimmy Carter-style loser, or another Bill Clinton-like resurgent winner, but there is little doubt he will be going before the electorate without the aid of any positive policy achievements in his final year, and, if the IMF is correct, with the country in another recession. No wonder he is taking the fight to Republicans.

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US Politics Feature: Can Super-Committee "Get It Done" on Debt Reduction? The Signs Say No

The "Super Committee"Next Thursday, the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction --- the so-called Super Committee --- begins in earnest its search for $1.5 trillion or more in cuts to the national debt over the next ten years. Its first item, “Overview: Revenue Options and Reforming the Tax Code", will look at ways that the code can be simplified through the elimination of many tax "breaks" currently enjoyed by both individuals and corporations. No surprise there: proposals for tax reform, of varying scales, have been included in every deficit reduction plan that has appeared since the publication of the  Bowles-Simpson report in January, and both sides of the political divide have made noises over the past year that they are willing to consider changes in the way Americans are taxed to help stabilise the debt.

But that is as optimistic, for those who actually want to see the committee achieve its goal, as it gets these days in Washington. Already, the two political parties are staking the same rhetorical and ideological positions on revenues that soured the debt-ceiling negotiations back in July, talks that resulted in historic nationwide disapproval of politicians in Congress.

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US Politics Analysis: Setting Out the Medicare Crisis

An ideological clash looms over the reality that health care costs are on an unsustainable upward curve. Both parties have different and deeply divergent opinions on how those costs should be controlled, but the Medicare Trustees Report unequivocally sets outs:

The sizable differences in projected Medicare cost levels between current law and the illustrative alternative scenario highlight the critical importance of finding ways to bring Medicare costs --- and health care costs in the U.S. generally --- more in line with society's ability to afford them.

Quite how that "critically important'"solution can be found in the existing political climate remains a mystery.

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