Common Sense

One president… two presidents?! Both candidates in the Mexican presidential election have declared victory, leaving the Mexican people wishing for the rule of Maximillian again (today is going to be filled with history lessons).

MEXICO CITY — A “haves vs. the have-nots” presidential election was too close to call early Monday, as two leading candidates declared themselves this nation’s new president, each saying they handily had won the race.

The Federal Electoral Institute said counting could continue until Wednesday, leaving the nation on edge.

The election — largely cast as a battle over whether the next president should represent the interests of the rich or the poor — was expected to be tight as Mexicans decide whether this nation should join Latin America’s shift to the political left.

Yes, I’m surprised that there are rich people in Mexico, too. Even more, as Sean-Paul says, this reminds me of the 2000 presidential election and Florida.

Oddly enough, the 2000 elections reminded me of the Election of 1800, also called ‘That time when we didn’t elect a president the first go-around.’

Even though the popular vote was enough to carry the day for Thomas Jefferson that year, when it came time for the Electoral College to do its thing, there was a tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr, his running mate. It was the first year that the political parties had really organized and put forward two candidates at the top of the ticket. Even though the Founding Fathers were laying down the foundation of a government to last all time, they were unable to see 10 years into the future when this would become a problem. The Constitution said that the man with the most electoral votes would be the prez, and the man with the second most votes his underling.

The House of Representatives had to do a tiebreaker, and it went all the way to a third ballot before Alexander Hamilton managed to talk some of the Federalists into switching their vote to Jefferson, thus robbing his archnemesis Burr of the presidency.

Burr became the veep and then shot Hamilton, supposedly for reasons other than that above. And the only reason you know that is because of a milk commercial (That commercial gave me nightmares. Not only does peanut butter make me sick, I’m also lactose intolerant).

The Constitution was amended to fix that little oversight so that electors voted clearly for a president and a vice president. That also fixed the problem we had in John Adams’ administration, which was that a member of the opposition party (Jefferson as a Democratic-Republican) was the veep. Imagine if George W. Bush was president, but Al Gore was his vice president, then John Kerry, and both were actively undercutting his every initiative.

One president… two presidents?! Both candidates in the Mexican presidential election have declared victory, leaving the Mexican people wishing for the rule of Maximillian again (today is going to be filled with history lessons).

MEXICO CITY — A “haves vs. the have-nots” presidential election was too close to call early Monday, as two leading candidates declared themselves this nation’s new president, each saying they handily had won the race.

The Federal Electoral Institute said counting could continue until Wednesday, leaving the nation on edge.

The election — largely cast as a battle over whether the next president should represent the interests of the rich or the poor — was expected to be tight as Mexicans decide whether this nation should join Latin America’s shift to the political left.

Yes, I’m surprised that there are rich people in Mexico, too. Even more, as Sean-Paul says, this reminds me of the 2000 presidential election and Florida.

Oddly enough, the 2000 elections reminded me of the Election of 1800, also called ‘That time when we didn’t elect a president the first go-around.’

Even though the popular vote was enough to carry the day for Thomas Jefferson that year, when it came time for the Electoral College to do its thing, there was a tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr, his running mate. It was the first year that the political parties had really organized and put forward two candidates at the top of the ticket. Even though the Founding Fathers were laying down the foundation of a government to last all time, they were unable to see 10 years into the future when this would become a problem. The Constitution said that the man with the most electoral votes would be the prez, and the man with the second most votes his underling.

The House of Representatives had to do a tiebreaker, and it went all the way to a third ballot before Alexander Hamilton managed to talk some of the Federalists into switching their vote to Jefferson, thus robbing his archnemesis Burr of the presidency.

Burr became the veep and then shot Hamilton, supposedly for reasons other than that above. And the only reason you know that is because of a milk commercial (That commercial gave me nightmares. Not only does peanut butter make me sick, I’m also lactose intolerant).

The Constitution was amended to fix that little oversight so that electors voted clearly for a president and a vice president. That also fixed the problem we had in John Adams’ administration, which was that a member of the opposition party (Jefferson as a Democratic-Republican) was the veep. Imagine if George W. Bush was president, but Al Gore was his vice president, then John Kerry, and both were actively undercutting his every initiative.