US Presidential Election 2008

Yep - though the desk and studio are great for a spoof news show - they wouldn't be great for a real show. They are way too OTT!

(Just like The Day Today was... I still laugh at their "War" sequence whenever I see US Networks promoting their teams. I think The Day Today did the UK news biz quite a service - as even now I hear producers say "I can't do that - it's too 'Bomb Dogs'"...)

Sure - although I find that American news sets tend to be quite a bit more overdone than their European counterparts anyway. Still, you'd probably want to tone down The Daily Show's set-up a bit (certainly ditch the globe built into the desk on the left hand side!), but I think there's something really clever about the design of that desk in particular.

No not at all.

Our Prime Minister is a whole different position to the US President really.

Think of the President as our Queen basically.



Look at CBS and NBC's Network Anchor desks, and not local news and you can see why Jon's desk is so over the top.

That only really applies though in the respect that both are Head of State and are separate from the legislature.

The similarities pretty much end there.

[/quote]

Hmm - not really.

The President is allied to a political party, and is elected. The Queen is neither of those.

The President is actively involved in government. The Queen is not.

Yes - they are both heads of state - but that doesn't mean much.

The President rules the US politically - a role that the Prime Minister takes in the UK.

When you see the G8 Leaders line-up - you don't see Her Majesty next to the President, you see our Prime Minister...

And that is why Britain should never abolish the monarchy.

It's her Parliament she chooses her leader by the popular vote.

This will drag the thread even further off-topic, but one has nothing to do with the other. Most European countries are republics rather than monarchies, yet they have Prime Ministers just like the UK (and figurehead Presidents in place of the Royals). The US and the French models are not the only -- or even particularly common -- alternatives to a constitutional monarchy.

Sorry to drag the topic off even further - I think you will find that the leader of the party that wins the General Election has to go to Buckingham Palace, declare his party has won the vote and ask the Queen for permission to form a Government.
Back to the topic, I had a look at the upcoming presdential debates and which networks presenter would moderate.
PBS had the first one last week and also have the VP debate this week.
The last two debates will be moderated by Tom Brokaw of NBC and a guy from CBS.

That's not being 'actively involved' in it.

Bob Schieffer is no "and a guy"

yup I deserve that for not remembering his surname, my apologies