It is conventional wisdom in American elections, that vice-presidential candidates are rarely pivotal, and then only that a poor candidate (as with Sarah Palin) might detract from a campaign.
The most commonly cited exception would be 1960 when Lyndon Johnson helped Kennedy carry Texas, but even in that case his home state alone wouldn't have altered the result.
Now that the American Democratic Party's delegate selection process is essentially over, the canard that Bernie Sanders still has a path to the presidential nomination should be relegated to the realm of fantasy.
Indeed, given the Democrats' long standing practice of proportional allocation of delegates, the die was cast for this result a couple of months ago. Sanders operatives set up false expectations for their supporters.
If I believed in conspiracy theories, I could make a case that Donald Trump's American presidential candidacy was part of a conspiracy to damage the Republican Party.
The problem isn't simply that many expect him to lose the presidential election, some recent polls notwithstanding, but rather there is concern that race will adversely affect down-ballot contests.
A switch to ranked balloting at the municipal or federal levels could mean the way you vote will change in upcoming elections.
Ontario has introduced changes to the Municipal Elections Act that would allow municipalities the option to use ranked ballots starting in 2018 – a change that could help voters feel like their opinions are being heard, said political scientist Barry Kay.
As the Republican presidential nomination contest slides into a somewhat predictable pattern, media coverage has moved beyond which candidate is collecting the largest number of delegates to the question of whether the leader — Donald Trump — can be stopped short of a majority on the first ballot of the July convention in Cleveland.
From a Democratic perspective, it should be noted that the more objectionable the Republican candidate is, the more likely he is to lose to the Democrat candidate, presumably Hillary Clinton.
