A lot has been said about the system of democracy of the United States of America. Anything from it being the very best to the absolute worst. One area that has always been held in some level of contempt is the presidential election process. In 1787 the Electoral College system was established with Article II, Section I, of the U.S. Constitution. The sticking point being that one candidate can receive a majority of the popular vote but another candidate could "win" the election. In three 19th-century elections, a candidate who lost the popular vote was elected president: John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 and Benjamin Harrison in 1888. In this century we had the big chad controversy of the 2000 Bush vs Gore election which illuminated the need to improve the national voting system. The bottom line - every four years we elect a presidential candidate to office.

Now, we are a funny society. We like our freedoms - so long as they are convenient, to our liking and don't cost much. We are fickle and opinionated and fast to call on the First Amendment which allows us to be this way. Some people think that we are born democrats and mature into republicans. Others think that the ideology of the party is part and parcel the only way to go while there are those that actually think that there may be no collective consensus (read: compromise) - that each party has its own good points.... and bad. Whoever we are, whatever party we claim to be a member of, we have the privilege and duty to vote a president into office every four years - if we think we need an election or not.

The big question is, come election day, who do we vote for? Many pick their candidate the day he or she announces that they are running for office. This becomes a problem when the candidate of choice drops out of the running or is not nominated by their party. Thomas Holbrook (1996) estimates that almost a quarter of the electorate decide how to vote during the political party conventions. The rest of us have a pretty good idea who we will vote for once the party nominees have been anointed. But many will change their minds before that special Tuesday. And that is what PresidentialPrediction.com is all about.

With all that you know about the candidates right now, if this coming Tuesday was Election Day, how would you vote? Are you standing firm behind your party's favorite? Are you leaning towards the party underdog? Are you considering the unthinkable... breaking ranks and going with the other party? If next Tuesday was Election Day who would get your vote?

I think that we are going to see some interesting results. No other campaign has started so early. We have lots of time to see the candidates make mistakes, get caught doing something questionable (think 1984 Monkey Business), take shots at the other party, take shots at others in their party - it's going to be great! With the electronic media poised to get the news - however incorrect and unconfirmed it may be - out to the masses at the speed of light, we will learn things about all of the candidates that we might not even want to know - but can't help but hear.

So, my invitation to you is two fold:

First, watch the news. Peruse the internet. Learn all you can about the candidates, the issues and where the candidates stand (sit, vacillate, etc.).

And second, come here every Tuesday and vote your conscience. It will literally take one minute. I think it will be interesting to see how the states vote from week to week. Another cool aspect of this site is that we are inviting the rest of the world to vote for our President (these votes will be counted separately). It will be very interesting to see how Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, England, Germany, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and the rest of the world will vote.

That's it. Simple request. A minute of your time to get an idea of how our Presidential Candidates are doing. Thanks for visiting. I would love to hear your feedback. I am sure that we will be changing, updating and tweaking things here on the site as we draw closer to the real election day. Until then, let your voice be heard here at PresidentialPrediction.com, where every vote counts and every vote is counted!