And I Thought the 2000 Presidential Election Was Chaotic

In the United Kingdom, there is no clear majority in the just concluded elections. The Conservatives, who got the most votes at 306, were 20 short of being the outright ruling party. The Labour Party, which the current Prime Minister Gordon Brown is a member of, has 258, and the Liberal Democrats got the smallest number of the major three party, with 57. This is the first hung parliament in 36 years, and things will get very interesting over the next several days. I've been watching the coverage from the BBC, and right now, I'm learning that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are talking about a deal of power-sharing- a coalition government, actually.

Think that'll work here in the States? I know, dumb ass question. But I can't help but wonder, perhaps even picture a 2012 presidential election where neither the Democratic candidate, the incumbent president Barack Obama, nor the likely Republican candidate, Sarah Palin, will get the required 270 electoral votes. Especially given if several "third-party" candidates run, and given the fact that both American major parties are drawing the ire of the tea party movement, that could very well be the case. Call me crazy, but I think the madness of 2000 will have nothing on the forthcoming 2012 elections.

I do know that the idea of doing a coalition government will not wash with the Democrats and the Republicans.

(C) MMX, by Darren W. Alexander. All Rights Reserved.