Good luck!

To you americans voting today, good luck! :)
I've heard of some problems with voting several places already, and I sincerely hope they manage to sort them out.
But, without sounding too dramatic, I fear the battle will be ended in court. It's too close for comfort, and who knows what the two parties will do to drag the other down in the mud.

I must say I have a hard time understanding American politics. For instance, you only have two parties (or, two parties that count for something), and they're both trying to reach the majority of the voters, which again makes them lead basically the same politics with minor adjustments.
When comparing US politics with Norwegian politics I kinda feel happy I live where I live. Although our politicians (at least some of them) are idiots, the system works. We have several parties that can be arranged in a line from left wing to right wing. At the very left we have the communist party, which only have a handful members. Then the Socialistic left wing party, which aren't completely nutcases, but still a little too radical to get the majority of the vote. Next comes the Labour party, which are a little left of the center and have quite a chunk of the voters on their side (and have traditionally had so since the end of WW2). In the "center" you have the Center party (basically farmers), the Left wing party which no one votes for 'cause they have no distinct profile or politics and aren't that much left when it comes to it, and the last center party is the KRF (translated it stands for something like "Christian peoples party"). OK, onto the right wing. The Right Wing party is the next on the line, and have a nice chunk of the voters also. Then comes the "Progress party", which in my opinions are a bunch of real idiots, 'cause they "flip flop" all according to what the public opinion says. They're also racists, which shines through in their origin, they were started by the leader of a hate group.
OK, what's the point of this description? If I were to place the republicans and democrats anywhere on this line, the republicans would be at the same spot as the "Progress party", maybe even further to the right. The dems wouldn't be far away, at somewhere between the "Progress party" and the Right Wing party. And Nader's party would be somewhere in the center!
There is a much greater span in Norwegian politics, which gives you several alternatives, and alternatives that are different.
Oh, and we all have free health care. And unemployment payments if we loose our jobs.
All of these things make me puzzled about US politics. I find it hard to believe that anyone would even consider tax cuts instead of ensuring every citizen proper health care.

Ugh... I'm too sleepy to make any sense in this all.. Sorry about that.

PS: Very happy now! Our phone company (a DSL phone line company) now offers not only free calls within Norway (cell phones not included), but also to most of western Europe and the US. Which includes Germany, and that means I can phone my family there as much as I want! Yay! :D