In Chicago's March 15 primary election, hundreds of people are running to become their parties' delegates to presidential nominating conventions. Many are unknown to voters.

• Both presidential candidates have energy polices that conform to this slogan: "Drill, baby, drill!"
• Neither party will cut the $1 trillion the U.S. spends annually on the military.
• Despite the health-care hyperbole sounded by Republicans, the fact remains: Both Gov. Romney's Massachusetts health-care program and Pres. Obama's Affordable Care Act have their basis in a plan created by a health insurance-funded economist.
• Obama has said that he and Romney agree on "what to do" with Social Security—namely, cuts or privatization, not something simple like an increase in the payroll tax cap.
• Neither talks about the crisis in civil liberties. Two examples: the unprecedented prosecution of government whistleblowers, and the massive gathering of citizens' personal data by the National Security Agency.
• We don't hear anything from either candidate about dealing with the ongoing home-foreclosure crisis, or any of the continued abuses by the banking and financial services industries ("Wall Street")—such as the refusal to renegotiate homeowners' underwater loans, despite record profits on the heels of a huge government bailout.
• Speaking of records, what do the candidates have to say about addressing a record level of poverty? What do they say about a structural unemployment crisis? What solutions—beyond tax cuts (or repealing tax cuts), which won't even begin to solve the problem—do they propose?

Journalist David Sirota on the record of President Barack Obama: Sirota contrasted Obama's campaign commitments with his actions while in office. This excerpt comes from the 8/26/12 interview program Media Matters with Bob McChesney.

David Sirota clip:

At the Green Party's national convention, party members rail at a common belief: Voting for a third party (such as the Greens) in the presidential election helps Republicans win the White House. Length 3.9 minutes.

Standard audio: