Depending on your country of residence, Canada or USA you have this choice. PM Harper went to the Gov. General yesterday and dissolved this session of parliament, a minority govt. to declare election day October 14, the Tuesday after the Thanksgiving weekend. Despite fixed date legislation introduced in 2006, with plans for Oct. 2009, we now have the fourth election in Canada in about the same time period that the Americans have been in office. Does this make sense?

Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions and consists of "social relations involving authority or power"

Now, I don't totally understand the American system and we have certainly often been bombarded with often more frequent  media coverage than our own elections. Of late with both the Democratic and Republican conventions, there seems to be much more of focus on personality cult that may be a deflection from actual issues. ( Vetted....a new word....should Palin have been more closely vetted? ) Less than a day into campaigning and each of the five major parties, Conservative, Liberal, NDP, the Bloc and Green and issues are being declared and defined. Thank goodness for CBC coverage.