General Election 2015 - Stuck in the Minor Leagues

So we're just under a month away from the General Election and I find myself already bored of the endless news coverage, with absolutely no excitement or anticipation about who will be running our country come the morning of the 8th of May.

So we're just under a month away from the General Election and I find myself already bored of the endless news coverage, with absolutely no excitement or anticipation about who will be running our country come the morning of the 8th of May.

I can't wait for Kate Middleton to have her baby so that we get a few days rest from it all and can revel in how wonderful it is to have a monarchy.

And I've got a degree in Politics... and nobody has clue what the end result of this election will be of. The polls are chopping and changing on a daily basis it seems. I should be absolutely beside myself. So why aren't I?

Well I've been racking my brains and looking down the back of the sofa for the answer and now I think of found it. Weirdly, it's in America.

Elections across the pond are just far more exciting, wouldn't you agree? There's a reason why our election coverage next year of a brand new and titanic Bush vs. Clinton battle (an official Neville forecast by the way) will be just as extensive as the coverage of our own election right now.

The Americans, just like everything else they do, make a song and dance about the whole thing. They make it a show, they make it exciting, just like those massive games of Rounders that they have.

Over here, our leaders are out and about, touring schools, coffee shops and high streets, trying to garner the votes of pensioners. Meanwhile in the US, elections candidates tour the key states hosting whopping great rallies, with much cheering and rapturous applause from their supporters.

That just doesn't happen here. US TV networks wouldn't waste their time with massive daily updates of what production line Nick Clegg has been visiting.

Sure the voter turnout in US elections is still pitiful (just over 50% in recent times), but that's more to do with the fact that half the states already know who has won their particular race, thanks to various prejudices and unwithering opinions, before the polls even open.

That's why presidential candidates stick to campaigning largely in the important, swing states, where voters will turn out on polling day and every ballot could have an impact.

There's more to it than just the sheer size and volume of US campaigning that makes it more exciting than the British attempts however. Allow me to explain.

You see in the UK, we've made the mistake of having already figured out the big stuff. All the big parties are in general agreement on the wider debates and in reality are just fiddling and tinkering with the small print.

In the US though, they're still arguing about the big ideas like global warming and abortion.

And whilst, debating and arguing whether or not a women should have the right to an abortion in the UK is a ridiculous notion, I know what I'd rather watch given the choice between that or watching Dave and Ed discussing inheritance tax plans... on different stages, at different times.

So in America, they're set up for engaging and exciting election campaigns that gets the public and the media fired up, and I won't lie, I'm a bit jealous.

I can't wait for their presidential, primary, nomination seeking roadshows to get going in earnest in the coming weeks and as the big names begin to officially announce their candidacy, I find myself rubbing my hands together in absolute glee.

I'll cast my vote here on May 7th, as I hope you will to, and look on with some interest as to who or what I'll wake to the morning after. So long as it's not the face of Nigel Farage or Nicola Sturgeon, I'll be reasonably happy.

Until then though, I'll be ordering daily curries to be delivered to Kensington Palace. So that we can all have a bit of break.

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