Candidates Gear Up For Final Weeks

After two weeks of continuous national debate between the Democrats and the Republicans, the two parties’ final contest will begin and go on until November 4th. The Republicans have been energized after choosing a new face for the Vice President candidacy, and hope to attract more attention and draw votes towards McCain.

According to statistics, the amount of viewers of McCain’s final speech in St. Paul have been more than the amount of viewers of Barack Obama’s speech at the Democrat’s national convention.

A large number of voters have not been convinced yet about the qualification of Sarah Palin, John McCain’s replacement in case of an unexpected death (McCain was previously diagnosed with cancer). Palin was the mayor of a small town in Alaska prior to her most recent stint as governor of a state with a smaller population than some U.S. cities; such as Chicago, a city in Obama’s home state of Illinois. Sarah Palin’s presence in McCain’s publicity speeches caused excitement in traditional Republicans and Evangelical Christians, though it’s not clear whether choosing her for the battle against the Democrats can draw the votes of women on Hillary Clinton’s side towards McCain.

Those on Hillary Clinton’s side mostly believe in her policies on pervasive social security, freedom of abortion and issues that are in conflict with the Republicans’ traditional roots and Sarah Palin. Yet there are several women who may vote for the McCain-Palin couple just because McCain’s running-mate is a woman.

But the main problem Sarah Palin is facing is the media invasion to investigate and analyze her records in Alaska and the ever growing requests for face-to-face interviews. Apparently Sarah Palin is not yet ready for tough televised interviews and McCain’s staff clearly does not tend to reduce the 44 year old Alaskan governor’s effectiveness.

But after the official announcement of financial difficulties and unemployment late last week, the Democrats have tensed the battle by criticizing the Republican’s speeches. In one of his speeches Barack Obama said that the Republicans tried to silence the recent years’ financial difficulties in the St. Paul session, while John McCain will go on with the same policies. While disproving John McCain’s claim regarding the fact that the Democrats will raise taxes, Obama stated that with the Democrat’s ruling the White House, 95% of people will pay less taxes.

Also while confirming McCain’s relation with oil companies, Obama stated that McCain’s tax rebates will apply to ExxonMobil, one of the world’s richest companies. Obama mentioned that oil dependence must be reduced by using alternative fuels. He said that senator McCain has always been against the change of energy sources and has voted against bills regarding alternative forms of energy.

John McCain, attacking Obama said that the Democratic candidate is against the expansion of oil drilling. Also, weeks ago, he ridiculed Obama’s thrifty policies which would result in a reduction of oil imports to America. John McCain believes that by extracting oil from the offshore sources and the U.S. coastal regions, oil dependence can be reduced, but the experts believe that extracting oil from these sources is not possible in the near future.