Presidential Election

This is the 52nd presidential election.Voters were given a choice between the last of eight straight presidents who had worn a military uniform in World War II (George Bush, the Republican nominee) and the first major-party choice born after the end of that war (Bill Clinton, the Democratic nominee).A unique element of the election was the presence on all 50 states' ballots of a third candidate who had been drafted by volunteers and who spent almost as much of his own money as each of the major party nominees spent (Ross Perot)

WASHINGTON - In his first formal statement on the presidential election, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said that the impasse over the Florida ballots "tested our constitutional system in ways it has never been tested before." Rehnquist's annual report to Congress on the U.S. judiciary did not mention the criticism leveled against the high court. Nor did the chief justice, who was in the majority, attempt to defend the 5-4 ruling that rejected a recount of Florida presidential election votes and handed the election to Republican George W. Bush.

JIMBARAN, Indonesia - Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is a retired four-star general who likes to sing about peace and love. He served two presidents as security minister but was fired once for refusing to call out troops to save his boss' job. Now, as Indonesians prepare to vote tomorrow in the country's first direct presidential election, the low-key general has vaulted to the top in public opinion polls, outdistancing all four of his rivals, including President...

According to most pollsters, the coming presidential election is close, a "dead heat" with President Obama holding a thin lead in several crucial states. I'm really amazed. In my opinion, this election shouldn't even be close. It should be a landslide for Romney. Why? Well, let's put this presidential election in the language of sports, which a large segment of the public can readily understand. These are the voters who have been dumbed down by our public schools, and who H. L. Mencken called the "Boobus Americanos," and what Rush Limbaugh fondly refers to as the residents of Rio Linda, Calif.

If you want to break the boredom of a late winter Sunday, you could raise a cup of cheer to the memory of President William Henry Harrison, the nation's ninth president, who was sworn into office 171 years ago today. I'm also certain the details of Harrison's brief tenure as the nation's chief executive — he is better known as an Indian fighter (the Battle of Tippecanoe) and a general in the War of 1812 — are not on the tip of everyone's tongue. The one thing everyone knows about Harrison is the catchy presidential campaign slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too," when Harrison was the Whig Party candidate in the 1840 presidential election with his running mate, John Tyler.

Continuing its tradition of disseminating nonpartisan information, the League of Women Voters of Carroll County is sponsoring a talk tomorrow to discuss "The Most Important Thing in 40 Years that No One Is Talking About: The Effect of the Presidential Election on the Balance of Power in the Supreme Court." Steve Boyan, an associate professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will speak on the topic at 7 p.m. at the Learning Resource Center of Carroll Community College in Westminster.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea is waiting out the U.S. presidential election in order to bargain with the winner over its nuclear weapons program, according to a British diplomat who left Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, yesterday. "The North Koreans were saying they were still committed to the six-party talks process, but weren't prepared to commit to a date," Bill Rammell, a Foreign Office minister, told reporters at the Beijing airport after his four-day visit to Pyongyang. At the last round of six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis, in Beijing in June, the countries agreed to hold the next round by Sept.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The U.S. Supreme Court, perhaps weary - or wary - from its traumatic role in deciding the presidential election, has refused to hear a challenge to the vice presidential election. On Jan. 5, the high court quietly denied a petition to hear arguments on whether Dick Cheney was legally an inhabitant of Wyoming on Election Day, as he claimed, even though he lived and worked in Dallas. The denial was the end of the road for a constitutional issue raised by a Boca Raton, Fla., lawyer and pushed through the federal court system by attorneys for three Texas voters.

Carroll County could be using an electronic voting system that could cost the county as much as $1.6 million for its next election. Patricia K. Matsko, county elections director, said in a meeting with the commissioners yesterday that Carroll is one of 17 Maryland counties slated for the new Direct Recording Electronic Voting System by this time next year. The state will purchase and maintain ownership of the equipment, while jurisdictions will share equally in the cost. The estimate includes costs to implement the system, technical support, maintenance, training and voter education.

If The Sun doesn't believe coverage of primary races selecting candidates for a U.S. presidential election is news, what do the editors think is important ("Romney rolling toward the fall," April 25)? There was nothing on Wednesday's front page about the five primaries held the day before. Inside the paper on page 8 was a headline describing Gov. Mitt Romney as "rolling" toward the fall. What does that even mean? Are we talking about a failure or autumn? The national paper I read published a brief of Mr. Romney's sweep of five primaries on the front page under "What's News - Worldwide.