The GENERAL election! Predictions?

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How do you think it will play out?

I still can't decide who would be easier to beat! McCain is popular among moderates and is a war-hero but does poorly at debates, Romney is more popular among the Republican base (less among moderates, I assume) and does well at debates.

What will the issues be?

Pinning the poor economy on either one will be very difficult, considering McCain is known as a maverick and Romney was a governor. Both blame government excess for the economy right now, anyways, which will further distance them from "establishment Republicans".

The environment will be impossible to pin on McCain for obvious reasons, and I'm not sure it will be a popular enough issue for it to be able to hurt Romney. Expect the Republican Party to do their best to highlight scientist who don't think humans are largely responsible, the Earth is entering a cooling period, etc.

The wars can certainly be pinned on both candidates, as both candidates support them indefinitely! Expect the same arguments against a time-table that we've heard before. Talk about "no-surrender" coming from Romney doesn't sound very convincing, but McCain, being a war-hero, may be a different story. It will also depends on how the wars are going. If deaths are low and progress is being made, it might not be an issue, and might even be an issue for Republicans ("You want the war to fail, don't you?").

Universal health-care will make a tough sell (expect Austrian-school economists to pour out of hiding, and expect every flaw to existing taxpayer-systems to be flaunted. If the UK system doesn't clean up by then, expect to hear a lot about it). Minimum wage increases are traditionally easier (with Austrian-school arguments largely being ineffective at convincing the majority of voters). Raising taxes on higher-income earners will face the traditional arguments (which have been very effective the past 30 years).

Basically, this is won't be easy. The media, which has been very, very easy on Obama, will go into attack mode. The media has been very negative towards Hillary, so expect more of the same.

I think the hardest part of this election will be trying to pin anything on these two candidates. None of the four remaining Republicans are considered establishment Republicans, and all will be more than eager to point out how they disagree with the current state of things. If voters can be convinced that modern Republican presidents tend to govern like Bush, than their arguments will lose their edge. I don't see that argument working though, do you?

What do you see happening? The more I look at it, the more I realize this isn't in the bag.