But, with such a tight race, and so many undecided voters, this year's experience could prove decisive indeed.
Indeed, with the politics of personality eclipsing policy debate, Mr Yudhoyono's record should prove decisive in every campaign.
It may even prove decisive to the viability of the All Volunteer Force.
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But in the end these are not the factors that will prove decisive.
The United Auto Workers Union, whose support could prove decisive in industrial areas of the state, has not endorsed either Democrat.
The campaigns concentrate on them because they are the voters most likely to change their minds and, with the candidates neck-and-neck, may prove decisive this year.
It ultimately has the power to choose whether to let her stand as Labour candidate or to de-select her but the verdict of the NEC could prove decisive.
It was the first penalty United had conceded in the league all season and could prove decisive at the end of the season when silverware is handed out.
All this suggests that health care itself may not prove decisive at November's elections, even as that vote itself may end up determining the fate of health reform.
The votes of such citizens may prove decisive in electing a candidate who will help determine government spending of trillions of dollars, but far less is spent today on political advertisements that bolster our democracy than on consumer products such as toothpaste.
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Young people could prove decisive in states like Wisconsin, where the Democratic senator Russ Feingold is flailing for re-election, and where 26, 000 students and other residents recently massed to see Mr Obama in Madison, the state capital and a big university town.
Second, the 1.5m Muslims in England and Wales are not numerous enough to shape the overall result, though their votes may prove decisive in a small number of constituencies such as Leicester South, which the Liberal Democrats took in a by-election last year.
The express aim of these meetings, according to the report, is to pressure Arab leaders to produce a large turnout among their constituency in the event that a referendum is held regarding the future of the Golan Heights, as the Arab vote could prove decisive.
Once his genie is let out of the bottle, his supporters claim, he will prove surprisingly decisive.
What seems clear is that 2013 will prove a decisive year for the monetary orthodoxy that has dominated the crisis response in advanced economies.
Next week, he will give another address, one that may ultimately prove even more decisive in determining our success in the global conflict of which the Iraq theater is but one part.
There is, however, another test that may prove even more decisive to the prospects for providing the American people with the sort of protection they expect and deserve: Will the four uniformed leaders of the Nation's armed forces be allowed to play a substantive and influential role in decisions that appear likely to preclude the development and deployment of effective national missile defenses?
He admitted the project had still not reached its "tipping point", but said if the EAC was successful it may prove to be the decisive moment for the project.
Tory MPs point to next month's Queen's speech: how he performs in his response to it may prove to be a decisive "tipping point" as to whether he can stave off the speculation about his position.
They are, therefore, potential allies in what will prove to be the decisive phase of the war on terrorism: the ending of regimes that enable and promote the use of this weapon at home and abroad.
Though some foreign military assistance appears to be reaching the opposition, it is not enough to be decisive, and may just prolong the crisis, which could prove detrimental, McCain said.
As with the late 1940s, such an expression of resolve and magnanimity in our own time may prove to be the key not only to the securing of a Free Iraq, but a decisive factor in making the world safer for democracy in the decades to come.
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