I'm in favour of having dedicated, "official" threads for what will be very high-volume discussions. But I have to agree with TheRedneck and those
supporting his opinion. It seems very reasonable to have a "combined" thread as well as the two separate ones.
However, as the
ATS.com 2008 Presidential Poll results show 32% of all votes being for
third-party candidates, why will there not be a special thread for "Third Party" results and discussions? Does this mean that, having obtained these
Poll results, the opinions of almost one third of the ATS membership (who voted) are basically going to be ignored? Having no special thread for third
party votes certainly implies that. I find that puzzling, especially as the "third party"choice received more votes than the McCain/Palin ticket!
As with virtually all U.S. Presidential elections, the outcome of this one is of great importance not only to Americans, but also to many people in
other parts of the world. The United States of America has enormous influence in so many areas, and that's the main reason we are interested in the
outcome. But besides the two main parties, having an insight into the votes the "third parties" obtain is also of interest as it helps us to better
understand the way that U.S. citizens see things within their country from a political perspective. Frankly the U.S. has one of the best systems in
the world for choosing its leaders: fixed terms (and a fixed number of terms), set voting days, a two-house legislature... Okay so it ain't perfect,
but it's a lot better than many countries have (mine included). But as I said, it would be helpful for everyone, I think, to have a special thread
for "third party" candidates and those who have an interest in them.
[edit on 4/11/08 by JustMike]
These are good ideas to keep the hysteria corralled. Even more important, these threads
will serve for perfect archival coverage of the election, making it easy to go back at some point in the future. Few people realize how useful
minute-by-minute, realtime coverage of a major event is until they want to revisit that time a year or five later. 
