It is a fantastic result, not only for a fantastic and charismatic leader, but also for America, who has finally put the past behind her and moved on, and for democracy, with an unprecedented participation and interest Britain could only dream of.

I took a short “bloggers’ break” to concentrate on other things (mostly Uni work, and then plenty of overtime at the Co-operative) but I never stopped following the incredible journey and am delighted that Obama has won.

David Cameron yesterday morning released the following video giving his thoughts on an historic victory:

One must not forget, though, that John McCain is a true American hero who has done nothing but serve his country – both at war and then in Congress – all his life and his loss must be commiserated after a gallant fight to the end.

Unsurprisingly, the media has been on the prowl trying to dig the dirt on McCain and his running mate Gov. Palin of Alaska.

They must have spent many tireless hours following Mrs Palin’s revelation that her 17 year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant – and that she will keep the baby and marry the baby’s father. Well the countless man hours employed have come up with the outrageous and shocking revelation that Levi Johnston had written on his MySpace profile that “I don’t want kids”, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Gov. Palin and Johnston’s parents must be so ashamed!

Seriously, all this sorry saga demonstrates is how backward some elements of the Grand Old Party are – and how little the media understands those who use the many features of social networking sites such as MySpace.

Bristol Palin is not in an unusual situation in today’s world – and we as conservatives must be prepared to accept that the world has moved on. We are no longer all 5ft tall, in working class 2-parent families going to church every Sunday. It is, of course, a sad fact. But if we want to engage with the electorate and win support, we nust do so on their level as much as possible!

As for social networking – there are many people (myself included) who build an “online” persona using one or more social networking sites. Personally, I keep the more serious and genuine side of myself to MySpace and Facebook, whereas I’ve built a largely ironic – and slightly humorous – persona on Bebo, where I claim to be the best thing since sliced bread (all in good taste, I might add)!

The thing is, someone who writes on an internet site such as MySpace “I don’t want kids” has the same right to change his mind on hearing he is to be a father as someone who spends the majority of their life so far campaigning for a political party, only to realise that they’ve been campaigning for a lie, see the light and join another political party instead. It’s called change! And change is what most politicians and the media alike are fighting to bring about, yet find a reason to complain when it happens.

The world has changed The world is changing. People change. Politicians and the media cannot afford to be stuck in the past whilst the world progresses.

Yes, I know that John McCain has already announced that he has chosen his running mate – Alaska Governor Sarah Palin – but she is a virtual unknown!

Obama played a risky hand when he chose one of his critics – Joe Biden – to be his running mate, but McCain’s choice of someone who could be his daughter (although Meghan McCain is younger and much better looking!) went further in my opinion.

Of course the general idea is that the ticket is balanced out, and, to be fair, this has happened quite well: McCain, the white, elderly male with much experience, has chosen Palin, the white, middle-aged female (“hey Obama, I’ve chosen a woman, why not you?”) with some experience; while Obama, the black middle-aged male with little experience, has chosen Biden, the white, elderly male with a lot of experience.

The choice of running mate whilst significant at the moment plays only a minor role in the overall shape of the election. What really matters to Americans is achieving a shift away from George Bush, and much like Milliband isn’t the way to achieve the necessary change in this Country, McCain isn’t the key to achieving the necessary change in American.

Only Barack Obama and Joe Biden can.

Or at least that is a change which Republican Presidential Candidate Sen. John McCain would like to bring about. In a speech in Ohio in May 2008, Sen. McCain said that he would introduce a President’s Question Time, in which the President comes “before both Houses to take questions and address criticism, much the same as the Prime Minister of Great Britain appears regularly before the House of Commons.”

However, this greater emphasis on being accountable to the legislature has two great flaws. Firstly, in the House of Commons, Prime Minister’s Questions has been hijacked by “friendly” questions from the Prime Minister’s own party, political questions from the opposition and six questions from the leader of the opposition which inevitably turns the start of PMQs into a “slanging match”.

Secondly, Sen. McCain has promised to hold weekly press conferences, allowing journalists to continue to be chief scrutineers of the President’s performance. This would mean a continuation of the President following the will of the media, which is not always the same as that of the millions of voters who elected him, and all members of Congress, in the first place.

This is a sample of what I would write for the essay title: ‘In modern democracies the role of elected representatives is being hijacked by others’. Discuss. (Government and Politics Unit 8). It is provided so as to keep this site up-to-date whilst I continue to revise for my A-levels.

Rehman Chishti, the Conservative Party Parliamentary Candidate for Gillingham and Rainham, has just returned from his official visit to the United States observing the presidential elections.

He went to the United States with the British American Parliamentary Group and the USA state department as the Conservative party representative on the delegation.

Rehman Chishti’s highlight of the trip came when he addressed the packed Republican Party caucus in Kansas on Saturday, February 9. He stated that it was only the Republican Party, the sister party of the British Conservative Party, that could improve the quality of life for American Citizens.

The Visit included meetings with Senators, Congressmen, Professors, Mayors, HM British Government officials, journalists and school children, as well as meetings with senior party officials. The aim was of understanding the American presidential system, as well as fostering good relations with leaders of the two countries.

Rehman said he thoroughly enjoyed his visit to the United States. “The people were lovely, and I gained a real insight into the American Election Process,” he commented. “The visit showed me at first hand that our two great countries have alot in common.”

For more photographs, please visit the Gillingham Conservatives website.

Citing that, if he continued, it would “forestall the launch of a national campaign and be making it easier for Sen. Clinton or Obama to win”, Romney has opened up the non-contest between McCain and Huckabee, and effectively handed the crown to popular McCain.

So we are now going to see a very oppositional position between the last men standing, or are we? Speculation has been rife that, in November, the electorate will be voting for McCain/Huckabee – an all-important “dream ticket”.

Sen. McCain will be responding to Romney’s bowing out at 20:00 GMT.

Although he stands little chance of winning, he has stolen 18 delegates from Mitt Romney, strengthening McCain’s position as favourite.

For a bit of fun – below is a nice video from Huckabee’s failing campaign.

The photo in today’s Guardian (not above) is a sad portrayal of Mitt Romney’s campaign – he has money, but lacks friends (or electoral support).

Romney’s solidarity is emphasised by the group of Obama supporters – all too young to vote, by the way – in the photograph above and 4 times the size; the reporters around a faceless Obama to his right (oh the irony) and rival McCain, beaming in front of his supporters to Romney’s left.

The left-wing broadsheet (sorry, “Berliner”) was hardly ever likely to rouse support for a Republican candidat, and they throw their support away from McCain with the quote:

Mr Romney, we disagree on a lot of issues, but I agree, you are the candidate for change.

I wonder what they will print as their headline when McCain, and his vice Giuliani, are sworn in next January…