Venezuela Elections: Chavez Faces a Determined Democratic Opposition (From our irony file)

Heritage  "The Venezuelan state has become a vast patronage machine. Nationalizations have gobbled up the private sector. Government voters are recipients of Chavez’s largess. The national electoral council is in Chavez’s hip pocket. He has increasingly restricted media freedoms and uses unregulated media access to sell himself and his candidates. Voters face a wide range of obstacles that include, after a 2009 electoral law, electoral districts heavily favorable to Chavez’s party. There will be no meaningful international observers and limited domestic observation. The potential for significant fraud cannot be discarded."
 But here in the US, we have an unbiased and fair press, private enterprise with freedom to innovate and academic freedom-all our bulwark against socialism.