Here’s a starter list of likely Electoral issues:
- Immigration (illegal aliens, amnesty, guest workers, H1-B visas, border security, etc.)
- War on terror (Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesia, etc.)
- Economy (Oil prices / housing bubble / inflation, etc.)
- Health care (free medical services or government funded insurance)
- Abortion/judicial appointments
- voting fraud (probably only after the election)
- global warming
Some of them won’t come up, some won’t be mentioned, and some will only become important after the election.
Global warming will only really be an issue if Al Gore jumps in. Everyone else (especially democrats) will tiptoe around it because they don’t want to draw him in.
Likewise, Hillary won’t mention Health Care, at least not after the primaries.
Expect Democrats to frame every issue through “protectionist” lenses. Immigration will be about H1-Bs (see Boxer vs. Kennedy on the senate floor today about guest worker visas for Mexicans.) The war wil be about withdrawing to our pre-1941 borders. The economy will talk about H1-B visas more and mention an embargo on Taiwan. Underhanded, they will attempt to turn anti-Arab attitudes to anti-Indian. (Pakistani Muslims and Indian Hindus look alike. And Sikhs just look scary.)
Republicans will frame everything from a security standpoint. They’ll avoid immigration problems (knowing they’re against the electorate) and stress a border wall, which won’t stop anyone, but it will drive up the price of smuggling. Health care will be an anti-immigration issue — illegal aliens receive free health care already and make it more expensive and make taxes higher for the rest of us.
The primary lodestone for Democrats will be anti-war, and for republicans, anti-abortion.
Voting fraud will be a big issue after. Predict more Gore/Rossi-like recountdowns. Republicans stood up in 2000 but have blinked and will back down to any challenges. They’ll consider “saving the union” a priority over “winning the election.” Though I’ll disagree with the Anti-Hamilton Hamiltonians that the union is more important than the constitution.
Fijiaaron 