The Republican party of the United States interpreted its overwhelming victories in Virginia and New Jersey as proof of the failure of Barack Obama’s policies, a view analysts and polls won’t confirm or deny but that may still be a concern for Democrats.

Local elections were held yesterday all over the country for governors, mayors and issues like gay marriage and casinos. The Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, said this response proves voters “are fed up with Washington’s progressive agenda”.

The White House however, dismissed results as being representative of “very local issues” and said results won’t affect Obama’s agenda.

A majority of Latin Americans would have voted for Barack Obama had they had the chance. The question is however, are the countries of the Southern region ready to choose a black president? The answer is no. Even though in countries such as Brazil 50 percent of the population is black, they hardly have any positions in Government.

In Colombia, where the black population reaches 18 percent, onlyone black female is a member of the Presidential Cabinet, Minister of Culture Paula Marcela Moreno. Anthropologist Claudia Mosquera from Afroamerican Studies at the Universidad Nacional, said that the reason is that we have a higher level of racism and that part of our culture still believes that whites are superior beings.

Due to one of those advantages that only the United States has, nearly 3, 5 million people have already cast their vote in states like Florida, North Carolina and Georgia for the 2008 Presidential elections.

Early voters claim that, this way, they can avoid long lines on Election Day as well as heavy traffic. It is predicted that approximately one third of voters will take advantage of voting early, by absentee ballot or in person.

Several months ago, before the financial crisis took a turn for the worse, Americans made it clear to the presidential candidates that their concern, in addition to the war, oil, health, and education, was the economy. It will surely be a deciding factor when the time comes to choose the next President.

The latest poll show Obama ahead by 8 points, which could reflect the fact that many feel the crisis is the result of Republican economic policies, hence affecting John McCain’s campaign.

The latest polls show a boost for Democratic candidate Barack Obama after the first debate between him and his Republican rival John McCain, which was held last Friday at the University of Mississippi.

The most recent Gallup poll shows that Obama is leading McCain by eight points. It is believed that not only the economic crisis in the United States has helped Obama but also his performance in the debate, but it’s a long race and there are two more presidential debates scheduled before the November election.

In spite of the polls, it seems that several church ministers in the United States are against him; it was revealed yesterday that 33 of them asked their parishioners to not vote for Obama.