I myself am not much of a political person, and even I feel the
pull during this election, to vent some.

I can only imagine how others feel.

But then, politics is a very volatile subject. I visit another forum, which is non medical, but has an Election 2008 forum. It started out this year during the primaries, and the moderator there put in the stickies, that she was FED UP with moderating it, and would only intervene when something really awful appeared.
But you know, in the last two weeks she is back moderating like mad! Things get really tense there, judgemental and sometimes insulting. I rarely post there, but I have used the links shared by others, most of which are very good on both sides.

I think you should listen first and foremost to your moderation staff. If they feel this subject takes up too much time, and is destructive and it is their time and effort spent there to the detriment of other tasks, then I'd not allow it.

It is very generous to get all the posters opinions here, tho.
I think most people TRY to stay within guidelines, but sometimes the subject just gets away from us. I don't think posters here mean to get carried away, but this election is really over the top IMO and hard to be reasonable about.

So I would vote for limited political type posts, but not long discussions. For example sharing a good link, like the 60 Minutes link for people who missed the show, that type of thing, could be helpful.

The many other forum places on the net are very highly
charged and becoming rather obnoxious IMO. It can be hard to visit those places and stay sane!

Thanks for asking us. That is really considerate and generous!