THE US election has been reminiscent of an X-Factor final.

We have Obama performing his big ballad “Change” against Romney’s classic rap, “Bomb, Bomb, Iran”. There have been flag-waving, banner-holding, speeches totally without substance and simply strings of sound-bites interspersed with catch-phrases.

We could be forgiven for thinking these were the only two candidates for the job but there were five other candidates, including the Green Party and Libertarian Party.

Not that the average US voter would actually know that – their debates were totally ignored by the main US media but instead were shown live on RT, an English broadcasting Russian news programme.

Their topics included: “The corrupting influence of money on American politics” and “How the biggest threat to our security is that we are bankrupt”.

Mind you, the million plus people on the east coast without electricity couldn’t watch that and the chance of them receiving a quick resolution is minimal once it’s no longer an election issue.

Perhaps the most amazing statistic is that the main contenders have managed to get donations of more than $1.8bn, including three people giving $10m each.

Despite all this, let no one doubt that the USA has the best democracy money can buy.

R Lee, Burford Road, Witney