Canadian interest in this year’s US elections seems to be far more intense than what was shown toward the Canadian elections earlier this year. It seems very likely that if Canadians would have the vote, Senator John Kerry will win the nose-to-nose US elections hands-down, over President George W. Bush. I wonder, if Kerry wins - will he then integrate Canada into the US fold, just to increase the Democratic percentage? As it is, the latest figures show Bush with a two percent lead over Kerry in polls that claim a four percent error margin. This means either can win.

The three debates brought Bush's pre-debate lead down from 8%. The first debate was a bomb for Bush, but the subsequent two debates brought him up in numbers. Bush ended up 2 percent behind Kerry but since has made it up to 2 percent ahead.

The lead argument that Bush is using is that he is the wartime president, who will deal with the people who bombed the World Trade Centre (who were in Afghanistan), but he'll do it in Iraq.

Kerry, on the other hand, will bring the troops home, but stay to finish what was started in Iraq. Kerry is not for the war in Iraq but will ask NATO to help out there. Neither make a great deal of sense, but Bush is more confident in his delivery.

Bush is in sync with the "Born Again Christians" and has a base in Dallas, the oil capital. While it is hard to think that Bush will slow down the use of oil, neither did Clinton, his predecessor. Bush runs much of his White House operation from a very strict Christian perspective. Even his strongest critics concede that his motives are idealogically religion-based.

Kerry, nominally Catholic, comes from Massachusetts and is tied into the " Kennedy Clan ". Bush gets his money from "big oil" while Kerry gets his money from, well, his wife. Actually, mostly from Eastern industry. Kerry doesn't follow the Vatican’s religious line, and has been denounced by the church.

The Kennedys have a rather speckled past, starting with patriarch Joseph Kennedy with his questionable business dealings, and contact with the Nazis while he was Ambassador to England during WW II. Robert Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy's brother was tied to Joseph McCarthy in the House Unamerican Activities Commission. And of course Kerry's mentor is Ted Kennedy, whose past activities are always linked to the aftermath of the June, 1969 fatal automobile accident in Chappaquiddick, where a young lady was killed.

The facts and figures used by Bush and Kerry during the campaign were easily refuted by the other, so it remains very hard to tell what the facts actually are.

It is likely that the election results will the most watched program on television, even the Ontario Progressive Conservatives are having a fund raising event to mark the occasionl. We will anticipate who our next President will be. Wait a minute ... we're in Canada ... oh well.

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