[MossadConspiracy]

Originally Posted by GOTFIVEONIT

i know you accuse me of making this up, but on cnn, it was mentioned that one of the proposals being talked about is 'doctor reimbursment'. i didnt make up that word, as you can see i can barely even spell it. this is what some of th analysts on cnn had mentioned when discussing the primary debates. they said that there were three options being looked into, and the third option was LOWERING 'doctor reimbursment' from hmo's. and i was very pleased to hear that, because its something that i have been talking about for a very long time. you know why its being looked into? because its common sense, or people who would have never heard about it from someone else, wouldnt have thought it up. if im thinking it, how come cnn analysts are thinking the same thing too? because its common sense. so no i didnt 'misunderstand', and i certainly didnt make it up either as you keep claiming.

reducing reimbursement doesnt mean the same thing as a salary cap. Lets say some doc is paid by capitation at 1200 dollars a patient, and they reduce it to 800 somehow. His income drops but he can get back to his old income simply by picking up more patients and taking less time per visit to see his patients and so on. A salary cap means that nobody can make more than a certain amount of money, which is not part of ANY politician's proposal, including the communist pygmies among them

[MossadConspiracy]

Originally Posted by raatkirani2005

This is the biggest bunch of garbage I've ever read. First of all, do you even know how hard it is to become a doctor? How much you have to sacrifice? When others are having fun in their college years, goofing off, getting laid, going to parties, most serious premed students are isolated, with their noses in their books or in the lab. It's a huge sacrifice in the prime of their lives. That continues during med school and residency (where incidentally they work their tails off for virtually no money). Would you work overnights and weekends without extra compensation? I doubt it, but doctors do. Continue to when they get an actual job...again they are working their tails off....weekends, late nights, doing CME, etc. They have hospital administration and the threat of ridiculous lawsuits choking them. You seriously have no inkling of the kind of pressure physicians face. Everything they do is scruitinized to a T in this litigious society. One of my husband's friends is being sued by the family of an 85 year old woman because...she died. Seriously, the old lady kicks the bucket from natural causes and her family is convinced they have a lawsuit. The amount of stress these lawsuits puts on doctors is incomprehensible.

In addition to what Mossad stated, healthcare costs are high for another couple of reasons:
1. Insurance companies and their complicated demands for billing specialists, coding specialists, practice managers, and all that BS
2. Litigious patients and their shyster lawyers (I'm looking at you John Edwards) who sue at the drop of a hat.
3. Hospital administration who pocket profits
4. Patients who demand extreme treatments for every little ailment. A simple cold? They NEED antibiotics. A little back pain? They NEED Vicodin. How about bucking up and not medicalizing every single thing that happens?

The general population is always so quick to blame doctors for healthcare costs. We live in a very unhealthy society where everyone is fat and depressed. Perhaps the government should spend money tackling the root cause of these issues (i.e. educate the masses about eating less, exercising more, working on their relationships, improving mental health, finding holistic ways to improve their lives) rather than war mongering. Doctors make good money, but not that good. They don't get bonuses like CEOs, nor do they get commissions like those in the financial sector. And truth be told, why should a doctor work for free (except for charity or pro-bono work)? He's providing a service and you should pay for that service. We never ask police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses, dentists or anyone else to give us their precious services for free. Doctors work very hard for their money and if you worked as hard, you'd make the same amount too and you wouldn't be here *****ing about their incomes.

salam

very nice points, the only thing I would add is that aside from the actual payouts that result from lawsuits, the practice of defensive medicine tends to increase healthcare costs unnecessarily. But as you said, thats really the fault of scumbag lawyers like John Edwards

ws

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by MossadConspiracy

salam

very nice points, the only thing I would add is that aside from the actual payouts that result from lawsuits, the practice of defensive medicine tends to increase healthcare costs unnecessarily. But as you said, thats really the fault of scumbag lawyers like John Edwards

ws

communism? since when does people's lives have a price tag on it? you say that a hospital cannot refuse a patient. but what do they do when that patient cant afford to pay? did you even watch that movie sicko? one guy had to choose which finger to reattach, where one finger costed more to reattach than the other. tell me mossad, you dont need special machines to reattach a finger. tell me mossad why does a doctor have to charge $6,000 frickin dollars just to S.T.I.T.C.H. two fingers back onto a hand???? this is disgusting! this is highway robbery. and thats why i say you people in your profession prey on human misery. no wonder john edwards and those lawyers exist.

i mean 'communism'. is your garbage man 'communism'?? is your police dept 'communism'? is your fireman 'communism'? is your public library 'communism'? is your public transport such as buses and metro trains 'communism'? is your mailman 'communism'? these are all government run services, and so should be healthcare too. look at canada, free universal healthcare. look at the U.K., they have the national health services.

you know what a british doctor said about american doctors. if you want to live in a multimillion dollar home, and own three or four luxury cars, then doctors need the current american style health care right now. thats a british doctor talking, not my words, not my opinion, but the opinion of a briitsh doctor, not some student but a actual doctor.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Breaking News:Mitt Romney wins Republican caucuses in Nevada. (AP)

Romney wins quiet Nevada caucuses

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
14 minutes ago

Mitt Romney won quiet Republican presidential caucuses in Nevada on Saturday while John McCain and Mike Huckabee dueled in a hard-fought South Carolina primary, a campaign doubleheader likely to winnow the crowded field of White House rivals.

Democrats shared the stage in Nevada, where Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama vied for a caucus victory and the campaign momentum that goes with it.

Romney's western victory marked his second straight success, coming quickly after a first-place finish in the Michigan primary revived a faltering campaign.

Nevada Republicans said the economy and illegal immigration were their top concerns, according to preliminary results from surveys of voters entering their caucuses. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, was leader among voters who cited both issues.

Mormons comprised about 20 percent of all caucus-goers, another advantage for Romney, who is trying to become the first member of the faith to win the White House.

Alone among the Republican contenders, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas aired television ads in Nevada, and the libertarian-leaning Texan was running a distant second behind Romney.

The first scattered returns showed Romney with about 46 percent of the vote. Paul and McCain were close together, far behind in second place.

Nevada offered more delegates but far less appeal to the Republican candidates than South Carolina, a primary that has gone to the party's eventual nominee every four years since 1980.

That made it a magnet for former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who staked his candidacy on a strong showing, as well as for Romney, McCain, the Arizona senator; and Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas.

McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, appealed to a large population of military veterans in South Carolina, and stressed his determination to rein in federal spending as he worked to avenge a bitter defeat in the 2000 primary.

Huckabee reached out to evangelical Christian voters, hoping to rebound from a string of disappointing showings since his victory in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses.

Romney campaigned on a pledge to help restore the state's economy, much as he did in winning Michigan.

In South Carolina, the economy and immigration were cited as top issues, and preliminary survey data indicated a strong turnout by evangelical voters.

Survey data in both states were from polls conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.

Alone among the major Republican contenders, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani skipped the day's events. He camped out in Florida, the first of the big states to vote, with a winner-take-all primary on Jan. 29.

If the Republican race had no clear front-runner, the Democrats had two, and little room in the campaign spotlight for the third man on the ballot, former Sen. John Edwards.

Obama and Clinton both ran all-out in Nevada, even though only 25 delegates are at stake.

Obama won the backing of an influential Culinary Workers Union. That, in turn, led to an unsuccessful lawsuit by some of Clinton's supporters who hoped to ban specially arranged caucuses along the Las Vegas Strip that could draw thousands of unionized casino and hotel workers.

Obama, hoping to become the first black president, spent nearly $1 million in television commercials. Clinton, campaigning to become the country's first woman chief executive, ran nearly $700,000 worth of commercials, and a union group backed her with nearly $100,000 spent on an independent ad campaign.

Former President Clinton was a constant presence, as well, in a state he carried twice on his own in 1992 and 1996.

Remarkably, neither Obama nor Clinton has aired a television commercial criticizing the other, and both of the rivals stepped back earlier in the week from a controversy over race. But that didn't prevent almost constant sniping between the two camps, each pointing out alleged inconsistencies in the other's record.

Huckabee, greeting voters at a polling place in South Carolina, said he was worried about turnout in the more conservative upstate regions.

"You never know how that's going to affect people who will go your way or the other way," he told reporters. "And obviously, the upstate is an important part of South Carolina for us, and if it starts snowing up there, that's something we hope doesn't happen. But we have to take the weather what it is. We don't get to choose.

"I just hope that our voters are so committed that it doesn't affect the fact that they're going to go out and vote, because they believe this is a mission," Huckabee said.

McCain got in some last-minute campaigning at a plant that makes armored vehicles for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, then said he and his wife Cindy would take in a movie.

His choice: "There will be Blood," a historical epic set in California's oil boom region a century ago.

In southern areas of the state, a misty rain greeted people at the polls.

Doug Pinkerton, a financial adviser, was among about 20 people who voted early in Mount Pleasant.

"Giuliani was my original favorite, but he seems to be running such a halfhearted campaign and putting it all on Florida. I just think that was a bad idea. If he had campaigned here more and showed some interest I probably would have voted for him, but I think that Romney will be the candidate," said Pinkerton, 59.

David Dawson, an information technology manager, said he cast his vote for McCain because he believed the Arizona senator is the most honest. "I rely on him to tell us the truth whether we like it or not. That is pretty much it," said Dawson, 32.

___

Associated Press writers Seanna Adcox and Libby Quaid, both in Columbia, S.C., Bruce Smith in Mount Pleasant, S.C., and Glen Johnson in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

AP calls Romney as winner in Nevada

The Associated Press projected that Republican Mitt Romney won Nevada's caucuses. CNN is waiting for more results to come in before projecting a winner. Voters headed to the polls and caucus sites today in South Carolina and Nevada, contests that could propel two candidates to front-runner status in this year's wide-open presidential races

Election Results

1% precients reporting

Nevada

Republicans

Romney

46%

McCain

16%

Paul

14%

[MossadConspiracy]

Originally Posted by GOTFIVEONIT

communism? since when does people's lives have a price tag on it? you say that a hospital cannot refuse a patient. but what do they do when that patient cant afford to pay? did you even watch that movie sicko? one guy had to choose which finger to reattach, where one finger costed more to reattach than the other. tell me mossad, you dont need special machines to reattach a finger. tell me mossad why does a doctor have to charge $6,000 frickin dollars just to S.T.I.T.C.H. two fingers back onto a hand???? this is disgusting! this is highway robbery. and thats why i say you people in your profession prey on human misery. no wonder john edwards and those lawyers exist.

i mean 'communism'. is your garbage man 'communism'?? is your police dept 'communism'? is your fireman 'communism'? is your public library 'communism'? is your public transport such as buses and metro trains 'communism'? is your mailman 'communism'? these are all government run services, and so should be healthcare too. look at canada, free universal healthcare. look at the U.K., they have the national health services.

you know what a british doctor said about american doctors. if you want to live in a multimillion dollar home, and own three or four luxury cars, then doctors need the current american style health care right now. thats a british doctor talking, not my words, not my opinion, but the opinion of a briitsh doctor, not some student but a actual doctor.

I did see sicko, but unlike some people I choose not to obtain my knowledge on complex topics from movies. I'm sure you watched jurassic park as well but that doesnt make you an expert on genetics or zoology, so lets just drop the nonsense with regards to sico. If you choose to accept Michael Moore's opinion as the gospel then thats your choice, but I beg to differ with his view. I also dont need to watch a movie to learn about how hospitals handle patients because I happen to spend most of my time in hospitals and I understand how they work.

As for whether a doctor deserves to make $6000 for reattaching fingers, I'd say they probably should get more considering how complicated the surgery is. A hand surgeon isnt just some guy who stitches. He is somebody who earned an MD, completed a long and tough fellowship in Orthopedic Surgery, and (usually) went on to complete a fellowship in hand surgery. If you feel that reattaching fingers is just a matter of stitching, then just go to a tailor if you ever need that service (god forbid). I'm sure he'll stitch them right back on for $50, and tailors are much better at stitching than surgeons are.

But if you want a competent hand surgeon then either you, or you insurance company, or medicaid are going to have to be willing to pay for that surgeon's expertise. There are shortages of capable orthopedic specialists in places with communist healthcare like the United Kingdom or Canada. People who lose fingers usually just have to deal with the fact that they will never have those fingers reattached. Americans are fortunate to have a good supply of specialized surgeons who can do repairs like this.

On the topic of British doctors and Canadian ones, Michael Moore is a marxist so he gives one side of the story. But there is another side. Since healthcare is nationalized in those places and resources are not enough to provide care for everyone, some people end up getting screwed over and it usually ends up being the old. Do you know what happens to people in Europe when they get end stage renal disease? They get to die. Of course Michael Moore doesnt care about them, and neither do the commissars who write off their lives in a manner that is no less cruel than the worst abuses that come from the insurance companies. The question is why we would want to trade one unfair and broken system for another equally unfair and broken system? The rational approach would be to fix the system we have which is unique in the world for being able to provide the best quality care on Earth to people who have access to it

[GOTFIVEONIT]

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Nevada caucuses Saturday, powering past Barack Obama in a race marred by last-minute charges of dirty politics.

Breaking News:Hillary Clinton wins Nevada caucuses. (AP)

Clinton, Romney win Nevada caucuses

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
1 minute ago

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Nevada caucuses Saturday, powering past Barack Obama in a hard-fought race marred by last-minute charges of dirty politics. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney easily won the Republican contest.

The victory marked a second-straight campaign triumph for the former first lady, who gained an upset victory over Obama in last week's New Hampshire primary.

Early returns showed the former first lady gaining roughly half the vote in a three-way Democratic race, with Obama at about 45 percent and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards placing a distant third.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

in the past, the republican candidate who won the south carolina primary, usually went on to win the nomination in itself.

McCain wins key South Carolina primary

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
18 minutes ago

Sen. John McCain won a hard-fought South Carolina primary Saturday night, avenging a bitter personal defeat in a bastion of conservatism and gaining ground in an unpredictable race for the Republican presidential nomination. Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama split the spoils in Nevada caucuses marred by late charges of dirty politics.

"We've got a long way to go," McCain told The Associated Press in an interview. The man whose campaign was left for dead six months ago quickly predicted that victory in the first southern primary would help him next week when Florida votes, and again on Feb. 5 when more than two dozen states hold primaries and caucuses.

"This is one step on a long journey," Clinton told cheering supporters in Las Vegas. She captured the popular vote, but Obama edged her out for national convention delegates at stake, taking 13 to her 12.

Obama issued a statement that said he had conducted an "honest, uplifting campaign ... that appealed to people's hopes instead of their fears."

If the Democrats had co-front-runners, the Republicans had none, and looked to South Carolina to begin winnowing an unwieldy field.

McCain defeated former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in a close race in the state that snuffed out his presidential hopes eight years ago. The Arizonan was gaining 33 percent of the vote to just under 30 percent for his closest rival.

"It just took us a while. That's all. Eight years is not a long time," McCain told the AP.

Appearing before supporters, Huckabee was a gracious loser, congratulating McCain for "running a civil and a good and a decent campaign."

Far from conceding defeat in the race, he added, "The process is far, far from over."

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was in a struggle for third place with about 16 percent, after saying he needed a strong showing to sustain his candidacy. Another Republican, California Rep. Duncan Hunter, dropped out even before the votes were tallied.

Interviews with South Carolina voters leaving their polling places indicated that McCain, an Arizona senator, and Huckabee were dividing the Republican vote evenly. As was his custom, McCain was winning the votes of self-described independents.

South Carolina was the second half of a campaign double-header for Republicans.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney cruised to victory earlier in the day in the little-contested Nevada caucuses. Final returns showed him with more than 50 percent support in a multi-candidate field.

No matter the state, the economy was the top issue in all three races on the ballot.

Republicans in Nevada and South Carolina cited immigration as their second most-important concern. Among Democrats in Nevada, health care was the second most-important issue followed by the Iraq war, which has dominated the race for months.

With a black man and a woman as the leading contenders, the Democratic race was history in the making — and increasingly testy, as well.

Before the votes were tallied, Obama was critical of former President Clinton, telling reporters, "It's hard to say what his intentions are. But I will say that he seems to be making a habit of mischaracterizing what I say."

Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, issued a written statement accused the Clinton campaign of "an entire week's worth of false, divisive attacks designed to mislead caucus-goers and discredit the caucus itself."

Clinton declined to comment on the allegation.

Whatever the hard feelings, she told supporters they would fade by the fall general election campaign. "We will all be united in November," she said, as the crowd chanted "HRC, HRC."

Her campaign issued a statement citing numerous reports of voter intimidation. It also accused UNITE HERE, a union supporting Obama, of running a radio commercial that was "one of the most scurrilous smears in recent memory." The ad, broadcast in Spanish, said Clinton "does not respect our people" and called her shameless.

Interviews with Democratic caucus-goers indicated that Clinton won about half the votes cast by whites, and two-thirds support from Hispanics, many members of a Culinary Workers Union that had endorsed Obama. He won about 80 percent of the black vote.

Overall, Clinton gained support from about 51 percent of caucus-goers. Obama had the backing of 45 percent, and Edwards had 4 percent.

Obama had pinned his Nevada hopes on an outpouring of support from the 60,000-member Culinary union. But it appeared that turnout was lighter than expected at nine caucuses established along the Las Vegas Strip, and some attending held signs reading, "I support my union. I support Hillary."

Democrats looked next to South Carolina to choose between Obama, the most viable black candidate in history, and Clinton, seeking to become the first woman to occupy the White House. The state is home to thousands of black voters, who are expected to comprise as much as half the Democratic electorate.

After that, the race goes national on Feb. 5, with 1,678 national Democratic convention delegates at stake.

The split Democratic verdict in Nevada resulted from the proportional manner in which delegates were awarded. Obama emerged with one more than Clinton because he ran strongly in rural areas.

Overall, Clinton leads the delegate race with 236, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Obama has a total of 136, and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards has 50.

Romney struck first on the day among the Republicans.

The former Massachusetts governor learned of his Nevada victory when his wife Ann announced it on the public address system of his chartered jet. "Keep 'em coming. Keep 'em coming," he said.

En route to Florida, he presented reporters with his ambitious economic stimulus plan, $233 billion in all. It includes tax rebates as well as tax cuts for individuals, as well as tax cuts for businesses.

Mormons gave Romney about half his votes. He is hoping to become the first member of his faith to win the White House. Alone among the Republican contenders, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas aired television ads in Nevada. Paul was narrowly ahead of McCain for second place. Thompson and Huckabee trailed.

Romney also won at least 17 of the 31 Republican National Convention delegates at stake. McCain and Paul won at least four apiece, while Thompson and Huckabee each won two. Hunter and Rudy Giuliani each won one delegate — the first of the campaign for the former New York mayor.

In South Carolina, McCain won 19 delegates, to five for Huckabee.

Nevada offered more delegates — 31 versus 24 — but far less appeal to the Republican candidates than South Carolina, a primary that has gone to the party's eventual nominee every four years since 1980.

McCain was the front-runner at the dawn of the campaign, but his candidacy nearly unraveled last summer, with the Iraq War deeply unpopular and Republicans rejecting his position on immigration.

President Bush's shift in war strategy — which McCain had long urged — and less of an emphasis on immigration were essential to his recovery. The former Vietnam prisoner of war appealed to a large population of military veterans in South Carolina, and stressed his determination to rein in federal spending as he worked to avenge his bitter defeat from 2000.

Huckabee reached out to evangelical Christian voters, hoping to rebound from a string of disappointing showings since his victory in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses.

Survey data was from polls conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.

[kenneth]

Originally Posted by MossadConspiracy

whats wrong bro? Is it the fact that I dont want doctors to be slaves? Or that I pointed out very basic factual problems with the concept that the income of doctors is responsible for high healthcare costs in the United States today? Or the fact that I made fun of Dennis "Kucold" Kucinich?

Do you think you could be a little more disgusting and insubstantial in your criticism? I don't think you've sufficiently illustrated your intellectual immaturity yet.

[MossadConspiracy]

Originally Posted by kenneth

Do you think you could be a little more disgusting and insubstantial in your criticism? I don't think you've sufficiently illustrated your intellectual immaturity yet.

Are you gonna be specific or just whine about being unhappy with what I say? Do you have a specific problem with my views or are you just unhappy that I called Dennis Kucinich a communist pygmy whose wife is sleeping around? Thats a rather mild and quite accurate description in all its facets. Finally, the last thing I need to do is display intellectual capacity to random people on the internet. Jeez theres so much insecurity on the internet.

[Jamroll]

Thanks for posting that movie, Got5. It was quite sad to watch. I do feel quite bad for the people featured in the film, and for all Americans who are screwed over by insurance companies. It really made me appreciate our own NHS health service we have here in the UK.

I would just temper it though by pointing out that we pay a much higher proportion of our income in taxes than Americans do. Would the American public be willing to pay higher taxes in exchange for better health service coverage?

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Americans abroad can now vote online

By JESSICA BERNSTEIN-WAX, Associated Press Writer
51 minutes ago

MEXICO CITY - This year, for the first time, expatriate Democrats can cast their ballots on the Internet in a presidential primary for people living outside the United States.

Democrats Abroad, an official branch of the party representing overseas voters, will hold its first global presidential preference primary from Feb. 5 to 12, with ex-pats selecting the candidate of their choice by Internet as well as fax, mail and in-person at polling places in more than 100 countries.

Democrats Abroad is particularly proud of the online voting option — which provides a new alternative to the usual process of voting from overseas, a system made difficult by complicated voter registration paperwork, early deadlines and unreliable foreign mail service.

"The online system is incredibly secure: That was one of our biggest goals," said Lindsey Reynolds, executive director of Democrats Abroad. "And it does allow access to folks who ordinarily wouldn't get to participate."

U.S. citizens wanting to vote online must join Democrats Abroad before Feb. 1 and indicate their preference to vote by Internet instead of in the local primaries wherever they last lived in the United States. They must promise not to vote twice for president, but can still participate in non-presidential local elections.

Members get a personal identification number from Everyone Counts Inc., the San Diego-based company running the online election. They can then use the number to log in and cast their ballots.

Their votes will be represented at the August Democratic National Convention by 22 delegates, who according to party rules get half a vote each for a total of 11. That's more than U.S. territories get, but fewer than the least populous states, Wyoming and Alaska, which get 18 delegate votes each.

Everyone Counts has been building elections software for a decade, running the British Labor Party's online voting since 2000 and other British elections since 2003, chief executive officer Lori Steele said.

Online voting may give absentee voters more assurance that their ballots are being counted, since confirmation is not available in some counties. The Everyone Counts software even lets voters print out a receipt, unlike most electronic voting machines now in use in many states.

"We've had no security breaches. We do constant monitoring," Steele said. Online voting "provides really a higher standard of security than is available in any other kind of system, including paper."

Steele said a number of U.S. states had contacted her company to inquire about online voting for the 2008 presidential election.

"There are many, many states in the U.S. that would like to be offering this to their expatriate voters, their military voters and their disabled voters," Steele said.

But online voting has been slowed by a lack of funding for pilot programs. In a floor speech this month, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., pushed for the distribution of money already approved under the Help America Vote Act so that states can improve ex-pat voting before the general election.

Some 6 million Americans living abroad are eligible to vote in U.S. elections, but only a fraction do so. Until recently, the only option was to mail absentee ballot request forms to the last U.S. county of residence, then wait in hopes that shaky mail systems would deliver the ballots in time to vote.

The system is so unreliable that of 992,034 ballots requested from overseas for the 2006 general election, only 330,000 were cast or counted, and 70 percent of those not counted were returned to elections officials as undeliverable, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission found.

In 2004, Juliet Lambert took her Oregon ballot to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, where drop service is available because of Mexico's notoriously undependable mail.

"I had to go through security to drop off my ballot, and I remember thinking I really must want to vote," said Lambert, a 37-year-old caterer who works with Democrats Abroad in Mexico. "I think it can be really daunting for people."

This year, Lambert is voting by Internet, "because it's easier, and I'm always online anyway."

Republicans Abroad has operated independently of the Republican Party since 2003, and therefore can't hold in-person or Internet votes abroad. But it is organizing to get more overseas Republicans registered back home before the primaries, Executive Director Cynthia Dillon said.

Republican votes from overseas could be more decisive because even small margins can make a difference in their winner-take-all state primaries. The Democrats divide primary votes proportionally, assigning delegates according to each leading candidate's share.

"In the Republican primary, the overseas vote could actually have a bigger impact: That vote could be the tipping vote, so to speak, that decides an election in a close race," said Steven Hill, an elections expert who directs the New America Foundation's Political Reform Program.

With so many states having moved up their primary dates, overseas voters should hurry up and register no matter how they plan on voting, Hill said. "These compressed timetables really make it difficult."