Watch full Obama-Romney debate

By now, there are dozens of analyses and summaries of the presidential debate available from various media outlets. I will not provide another here. Instead, I invite you to watch (or read) the debate yourself, in full, and come to your own conclusions. My advice is that you at least watch the closing statements.

Oct. 3, 2012 Presidential Debate at the University of Denver, provided by 2012 Election Central:
http://www.2012presidentialelectionnews.com/2012/10/video-watch-the-first-presidential-debate-from-the-university-of-denver/

Topics Covered: (times are approximate because they include the mediator's questions)
00:00-22:40		The economy: job creation and taxes
22:40-36:20		The economy: national deficit, taxes and Medicaid
36:20-47:04		The economy: entitlements (social security, Medicare)
47:04-52:10		The economy: level of federal regulation on the economy
52:10-1:09:08		Health care: Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")
1:09:08-1:14:20		The role of government (in general)
1:14:20-1:20:16		The role of government in education
1:20:16-1:24:19		What would you do about gridlock in legislature?
1:24:19-1:26:42		Obama's closing statement
1:26:42-1:28:50		Romney's closing statement

Watch for the next debate Oct. 11 between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan!

Brush up on Biden's and Ryan's political histories:
Joe Biden, WhiteHouse.gov
Paul Ryan, GovTrack.us

Who is Paul Ryan? Romney's 2012 running mate

	Republican Serving 7th term in the House representing the 1st Congressional District of Wisconsin Chairman of the House Budget Committee Member of the House Ways and Means Committee, "which has jurisdiction over tax policy, Social Security, health care and trade laws." Member of the Subcommittee on Health
Paul Ryan

For more information, see my sources: paulryan.house.gov and govtrack.us

Epiphany! On the presidential election

I've always felt a little overwhelmed by the vast information provided by the media coverage of each presidential election. I've thought many times in exasperation, All I want, as a voter, is a comprehensive list of each candidate's views and proposed solutions to key issues (this summer, they appear to be health care, illegal immigration and the economy, with the most emphasis on the last) and a varied sample of situations where they were successful and an analysis of how successful they were based on the circumstances. Is that so hard? Anyone know of a place that has that?

While reading TIME magazine's article "The Real Story of Romney's Olympic Turnaround," a thought suddenly hit me: what I want from the media is roughly equivalent to a resume. A brief overview of why each candidate thinks he (or she) should be elected president of these United States, maybe include a few references (ha, wouldn't you like that job- I wonder if Romney and Obama would be able to come up with enough people to handle the workload it would impose. I guess that's why nobody's ever done it before). The whole election process is like the world's longest, most expensive, complicated, important interview.

As a United States citizen, that makes me feel empowered. We, the citizens, are the ones who decide who to employ. All politicians are supposed to be public servants. The system we have is incredibly smart! Even if it isn't always that way in reality.