It is said that all is fair in love and war - and some would also include politics. The country with the mightiest war machine the world has ever seen is just days away from choosing the person who will occupy the oval office - and set the course America will take for the next four years.
When the voters go to the polls in early November they will choose between two contenders. It would be hard to pick more opposite types running for office - and this contest has aroused more emotional controversy than is usual in American politics.
The Republican party candidate, Donald Trump is a billionaire businessman who has never held public office. He is offering hope that he can return jobs to American workers by imposing tariffs on Chinese imports and deporting the array of undocumented migrants that have crossed the border from Mexico. He has been vague on how he would deal with other countries in alliance with America - and those hoping for a firm political agenda have been disappointed.
The Democrat contender is Hillary Clinton, wife of former president Bill Clinton, who served as both a Senator and Secretary of State during Barak Obama's first term in office. She certainly is politically experienced, but she comes with "baggage " from her previous dealings in Real Estate and the use of an unsecured private email computer which may have compromised national security.
Trump and Clinton have held three public debates and it is generally contended that Clinton was the marginal winner. Her lead in opinion polls edged slightly further ahead when a tape emerged of Trump bragging to a reporter on his sexual success with women. He dismissed this as "locker room boasting " but it seems to have reversed his popularity with many women voters.
Clinton suffered a controversial investigation by the FBI early in the contest when they examined whether any confidential material had been processed on her unsecured email service, and this was finally cleared. In the final days of the campaign the media were predicting a Clinton win when the FBI Director James Comey made the startling announcement that additional tapes had emerged and that the investigation of Clinton would continue.
Trump is triumphant at this unexpected break in his favour and opinion polls now show the two contestants at level pegging. Clinton is claiming that this sudden investigative announcement is little more than a smear and so far the FBI have refused to divulge just what quantities of emails are involved, nor how long the matter swill take to settle.
It seems that this new email matter has arisen from a rather strange source. The FBI had been probing disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner who was in the habit of sending nude photos of himself to teenage girls. Weiner's wife had been both an employee and confidante of Hillary Clinton, hence the claimed connection in the emails seized.
It seems unlikely that a man who has risen to head the FBI would willingly take action in a smear campaign, but Comey is a registered Republican voter - and this contest has certainly stirred the passions of the voting public to an unusual degree.
It seems certain that whatever the result, this election result will be contentious. Sadly, for the first time in history the losing side may not accept the verdict and this could lead to civic unrest on the streets of the nation.
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