Final ‘08 Push Hits Inboxes

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire–Both presidential candidates made their final pitches to voters not just on the campaign trail, but also through supporters’ inboxes. (The final pitch emails, both sent late Monday evening with the word “tomorrow” in the subject line, are below.)

By now, email is a relatively old trick in the bag of both Sens. John McCain, R-Az., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., although text messaging is relatively new on the scene — and has the potential, experts say, to be an effective way of communicating with young voters.

Earlier this week, the Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas asked, “What Next for Obama’s Text-Messaging Database?”

“How many cellphone numbers, through its nearly 18-month-old text messaging program, are in Sen. Barack Obama’s database?” writes Vargas. “Scott Goodstein, the text guru who runs the program, declines to say. Same goes for his boss, Joe Rospars, who oversees Triple O, Obama’s online operation. But since the campaign has been tireless in collecting their supporters’ cell numbers — they introduced Sen. Joe Biden as Obama’s vice presidential choice by text — many guess that it’s in the millions.”

Sen. Obama’s final email message came first:

We’re just one day away from change.

Election Day is tomorrow — Tuesday, November 4th.

We’ve asked you to do a lot over the course of this campaign, and you’ve always come through.

Right now, I’m asking you to do one last thing — vote tomorrow, and make sure everyone you know votes, too.

Watch a short video about how far we’ve come, and how close we are. Then find or confirm your polling location and make sure your friends and family do the same.

When this campaign began, we weren’t given much of a chance by the pollsters or the pundits. But tomorrow, we can make history.

We’ve made it this far because supporters like you never stopped believing in your power to bring about real change.

Take the final step now.

Watch the video, find your polling location, and get everyone you know involved on Election Day.

With your vote, and the votes of your friends, family, and neighbors, we won’t just win this election — together, we will change this country and change the world.

Thank you,
Barack

And a few hours later, from Sen. McCain:

My Friend,

From the time I entered the Naval Academy at age seventeen I have been privileged and honored to serve my country.

Throughout my years of service, I’ve been faced with challenges where I could have taken the easy way out and given up. But I’m an American and I never give up. Instead, I choose to show courage and stand up and fight for the country I love. Today, I am asking you to stand with me and to fight for our country’s future.

Our country faces enormous challenges and our next president must be ready to lead on day one. My lifetime of experience has prepared me to lead our great nation. I’m prepared to bring solutions to our economic challenges, bring our troops home in victory and improve our nation’s healthcare system.

Time and time again, my country has saved my life and I owe her more than she has ever owed me. I have chosen to show my gratitude through a life of service to our country and tomorrow, you will have a choice before you.

I humbly ask you to make the choice that will allow me to serve my country a little while longer by casting your vote to elect me as your next President of the United States.

Finally, I ask that you never forget that much has been sacrificed to protect our right to vote. We must never forget those Americans who, with their courage, with their sacrifice, and with their lives, have protected our freedom. It is my great hope that you will exercise your right to vote as an American tomorrow.

I thank you for your kind support, your dedication to our cause, and most importantly I thank you for your vote.

With sincere appreciation,
John McCain

-gww

Gregory Wallace is an independent voter and junior at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH.

Saint Anselm College Hosts Student-Organized ‘Results Watch 2008′

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire–A “magic map,” Tuesday Night Trivia, and spot political analysis will be among the attractions at Saint Anselm College’s Results Watch 2008, the Kevin Harrington Student Ambassadors at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics announced on Sunday.

“Because this is such an historic election,” event organizer and Ambassador Maura Leahy ‘09 said on Monday, “we wanted to make sure we. . . made the night something to remember.”

In the main auditorium, students can join faculty and community members to watch election returns on the projection television screens. Just outside of the auditorium, results from New Hampshire and Massachusetts will be displayed on the Common Ground café flat panel monitors. In the War Room, students can track results from other states, as well as use the “magic map.”

Prizes, candidate photos, maps to color (“who doesn’t like to color?” ask event organizers) and election-themed food will complete the evening.

“We hear a lot about college apathy, and I want to show that that isn’t necessarily true, especially at St. A’s,” Leahy said. “We hope to draw a big crowd and show people that politics is fun.”

The event is organized by the Student Ambassadors, who organize events, welcome guests, and support the Institute’s mission to educate, engage, and empower the campus and community.

-gww

Gregory Wallace is an independent voter and junior at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH.

Three Saint Anselm Students Vie for State House Seats

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire–When Granite state voters mark their ballots on Tuesday, some will be able to choose a Saint Anselm College student — not for president, but for state representative.

Kate Kerins ‘09 is running on the Democratic ticket for one of eight seats in Hillsborough’s seventh district. Connor O’Brien, a junior from Windham, is one of 13 Democrats vying for a seat in Rockingham’s fourth district. Sophomore Brian Poznanski, also a Democrat, lives in Nashua and is running from Hillsborough’s 26th district. All three are politics majors, and cite their courses in the humanities, English, and philosophy as credits to their judgment.

Each sat down for an interview with Saint Anselm College junior Matt Fuller and are subjects of a video produced by sophomore Rebecca Damon on their candidacies.

“I think Saint Anselm has affected my views on politics in quote a profound way,” O’Brien said. “I am a politics major, but we can go beyond that — we can go to things like the humanities program and the whole liberal arts education. The whole idea that it should be comprehensive, well rounded, all encompassing — that’s what politics is. If affects every aspect of our lives, and we need to realize that in order to have effective government.”

Kerins looks forward to “taking the job seriously and the role of representative to heart” in the general court.

“You don’t have career politicians, you don’t have people in there trying to make a buck,” Kerins said. “If I get elected, I will be making $198 dollars for two years and they tax that, so I’m not really doing it for the money — I’m doing it to make a difference for New Hampshire, Goffstown, and Weare.”

Poznanski says it is important to bring a youthful voice to the state house.

“My campaign is about getting. . . youth involvement in New Hampshire politics,” Poznanski said. “Me being nineteen, obviously it would put a little more youth into that and I believe that its necessary because we don’t have representation, we don’t have a voice, yet we are extremely affected.”

The three candidates agreed that being students — especially at a liberal arts college — adds to their ability as legislators.

“We’ve been in the schools, we’ve seen some things first hand,” O’Brien said. “I think that perspective is key to have in government.”

“People look to age as an experience factor, which isn’t necessarily the case,” Poznanski said. “Youth can bring a different perspective, we’re from a different era, with different morals, which is a good thing.”

“For some reason our generation. . . Its one of the largest, but its also one of the most politically apathetic,” Poznanski continued. “And that’s really too bad, because we could sway any election one way that we wanted to. The best way that we can do that now is to utilize the sources that we have, which have not been available to us in the past: the internet, Facebook, Myspace. Facebook is. . . a pain, but it can also be a great tool to get out information and to network.”

New Hampshire, said Kerins, tends to educate students and then loose them when they enter a today’s ‘real world.’ But a more accessible world is also a good thing — and has led her, O’Brien, and Poznanski, as well at Saint Anselm College classics professor David George to seek state office.

“Obviously the world is becoming more accessible to get involved in and certainly that’s the case for the four of us who are running,” Kerins said.

“We can get more young people involved in the civic process, in government, in elections, by having civic education,” agrees O’Brien. “I think the biggest thing is apathy — this idea that no matter who gets elected it won’t affect me. . . . Everyone has issues that they care about. In some form or fashion, government affects that. If you can find an issue that you are really passionate about you will be able to effect that in government.”

He also sees a need for increased bipartisanship in Concord.

“I think the spirit of bipartisanship has really broken down, and if we’re going to get through some of these things like the budget deficit, and education, we’re going to need a bipartisan effort and we’re going to need real solutions — not just the partisan lines,” said O’Brien.

Besides the size of state government, all three student candidates agree that Granite state government is a special place to be.

“They’re very down to earth, they’re very real people,” Poznanski said. “They’re not your typical politicians. Although a lot of them are retired at this point, they have real jobs. The joke in New Hampshire is that everyone has been a state representative at some point — so I guess, why not start now?”

-gww

Gregory Wallace is an independent voter and junior at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH.

Obama by default, but only at first

It’s definitely not because his campaign volunteers have called me twice, every other day for the past mounth, inviting me to events, inquiring whether or not I’d like to volunteer  and, or asking for my vote that’s got me casting my ballot for Obama on Nov. 4th. It’s also not because I’m a registered Democrat and so therefore I’m voting for him because he’s the party candidate, because I’m not registered as a Democrat. His savvy, strategic, tv advertisements get a laugh out of me or a head nod every so often, but they’re not filling a slot on the list of reasons why I’m voting for him. And he certainly isn’t winning me over in the televised debates (not the last one anyway.)

To be honest Obama got my vote by default. I won’t lie, I was gunge-ho for Hillary in the beginning.  I loved her.  She was strong, smart, passionate.  I wouldn’t classify myself as a feminist, by any means, but in my own mind I am a women’s rights activist (i just don’t do much acting). I believe in equality. Meaning in my mind everyone is equal. I don’t care what race or religion, sexual orientation or gender you are. I believe everyone has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

So by no means am I am man hater (even though I’ve hated a few men in my day), I just think women should be able to have the same opportunities as men. It isn’t even about power.  We’re a democracy the thought of anyone or anything having power over me makes me burn inside with ffrustration. So, for my saving grace and the fact that I need to still pretend I have some control in this economy, and in this world I live in, we’ll leave the topic of power for another blog.

Hillary had my vote, yes partly because she was a woman, partly because I’m originally from New York and partly because I agreed with what she stood for. What a progressive leap forward in the struggle for equality that would have been for America if she had been elected, I thought. Unfortunately, she got sucked into the campaign tactics game. She lost sight of the issues and it became more game focused on winning then on changing the world.

This is when I started to look at my second choice, Obama. I’m writing as a Democrat blogger, but like I said above, I’m not a registered Democrat. Truth is, I’m registered as an independent. I know, I know all you democrats out there can stop making that face at your computer screen. And while I’m confessing here I’ll add in  that I didn’t vote in the NH primaries either (and the reason I didn’t vote isn’t because I’m registered independent, because I could have  totally changed parties before the primary and switched it back after). I could give you a list of excuses, like I was home in New York during a college recess, or I didn’t get an absentee ballot in time. But those truthfully aren’t the reasons why I didn’t vote.

Point blank, my reason is that I just didn’t care at the time. Yes, I’m a duel Political Science and Journalism major, I should care more than any of my other peers. But I think that’s why I don’t. I’ve become jaded and cynical, as some  political theorists have predicted my generation to become.  The messiness of it all, the lies, the money game that’s played. The fact that third parties don’t even get a shot because our system in place makes it impossible to raise adequate funds for them to even campaign.  These are just some of the reasons why I’m ticked off. Reasons why our governmental system isn’t really a democracy at all.

So you may be sitting there asking, what will make me vote this time? Well, the more I looked at Obama and what he stood for, the more I realized I agreed with him, his views, his policy plans.  I support pro-choice, I agree that Americans need a universal health care program.  I’m one of the many  Americans that’s lacking proper coverage.  I’m all for lowering the cost of education.  As a senior in college who is graduating in May I fear that I won’t be able to pay off the mass amounts of debt I’ve accumulated over the last four years (thank god it only took my four). Although his plans probably won’t fix the debt I’m in, they will at least break the costly college trend and make college affordable for future generations. And heck ya, I want a tax cut because I know as a journalist there’s a good chance I’m not going to make over 250,000 a year.

The fact is, Obama may have gotten my vote by default, but he earned it with his policy plans.  I truly believe that he is the better candidate.  And isn’t that how we are forced to vote now with only a two party system, vote for the lesser of two evils. Luckily I don’t think Obama is an evil at all. I think he’s going to push our economy out of this recession, I think he’s going to revamp the democratic system we have in place and I also think he’s going to instill a sense of trust back into the American people.  That’s why Obama has my vote and my cynicism is what’s forcing me to the polls in New Hampshire on Nov. 4th. I’m scared that our economy is in shambles and that I won’t be able to find a job after graduation. I’m angry that I feel like I have no say in our political system. I’m upset that I don’t have proper health insurance because my parents are self employed and paying out of pocket for insurance isn’t in our budget. Therefore, when I have to go to the doctors I feel like they cut off a limb with the office fees im charged and I  when I fill a prescription I honestly ponder over whether or not I should sell a kidney on the black market to make up for the  negative signs sprawled across my bank statements.

We need a change, and if Obama doesn’t get elected I am honestly scared of what will become of America and of my future. I think that if McCain wins, it will be the time I pick up and move to another country. Our economy can’t survive another four years of Bush and McCain, it’s sad to say, is a carbon copy of George W. and that alone, that thought of another four years of Bush should make everyone vote on Nov. 4th.

We are slowly losing our voice in democracy, our rights, our freedoms. Why give in and give up the little say we have left.  Go vote and vote for someone who can give us our voices back!

Closing Arguments Begin

With nine days left in the general election campaign, political commentators are increasingly comfortable with calling Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the front runner — and Sen. John McCain, R-Az., has grown increasingly comfortable as the underdog.

Sunday morning, Real Clear Politics adjusted their prediction for the presidential race, moving New Hampshire back to “Solid Obama” from “Leaning Obama” (the fourth rating change for the Granite State since October 1st).

“We’re a few points down and the pundits, of course, as they have four or five times, have written us off,” Sen. McCain said. “We’ve got them just where we want them.”

“The metrics of this election argue strongly that this campaign is over,” writes Charlie Cook of both the National Journal and Cook Political Report. “[I]t’s only the memory of many an election that seemed over but wasn’t that is keeping us from closing the book mentally on this one.”

With Sen. Obama back on the trail from visiting his ailing grandmother, both campaigns are beginning their closing arguments, hoping to make it to the finish line.

“[T]he endgame strategies of the two campaigns have come to resemble the candidates themselves,” write Mark Z. Barabak and Maeve Reston for the Los Angeles Times. “McCain restless, scrappy and used to fighting from a crouch; Obama disciplined, deliberate and serenely confident.”

Both candidates will begin their closing arguments in Ohio on Monday; Sen. Obama’s campaign is preparing reporters for a major speech in Canton, Ohio.

“Senator Obama will tell voters that after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy,” per the Illinois democrat’s campaign in a Sunday statement. “Obama will ask Americans to help him change this country, and say that in just one week, they can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up, they can choose to invest in health care for our families and education for our kids and renewable energy for our future, and they can choose hope over fear, unity over division and the promise of change over the power of the status quo.”

Sen. McCain began his final pitch on Meet the Press on Sunday, where he established economic policy differences as his theme for the next week.

“[W]e just figured it out with “Joe the Plumber;” Americans just figured it out. He wants to spread the wealth around,” Sen. McCain told NBC News’ Tom Brokaw. “He wants to raise taxes in a time of economic difficulties.”

This election, the Arizona Republican argues, is a choice between “Joe the Plumber” (himself and working Americans) and “Joe the Biden.”

“All I know is that Senator Obama’s record is very clear,” Sen. McCain continued on Meet the Press. “He started out in the lefthand lane of American politics and has remained there. He has been judged the most liberal United States senator. . . . Joe the Biden is number three.”

“The surprising thing,” about this argument, says Newsweek’s Andrew Romano, “at least in light of his earlier sallies, may be that it’s worth sticking to.”

Sen. McCain prepared for the final leg of the campaign with a bus tour through central Florida last week, named for Joe the Plumber — although “without its namesake, the icon of his campaign’s invigorated antitax movement who has conspicuously refused entreaties to appear with McCain,” per Sasha Issenberg for The Boston Globe. (Although to be fair to Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher, he says “I did not receive an invitation” to be on the Florida tour.)

With the end in sight, Charlie Cook says this election is set to be the second of two “back to back GOP train wrecks.”

“In 2006, congressional Republicans were badly punished over the controversy surrounding both the decision to fight in Iraq and the way in which the war was being conducted,” Cook argues. “But in this election, Republicans are not being punished for the war. Indeed, the war is hardly an issue. Republicans are being punished because of the economy. . . .”

But the danger for Democrats while the train — or perhaps the bus — enters the final tunnel, is getting too comfortable with what appears to be a lead, say political thinkers.

“That’s dangerous,” says Jeffrey Clarke ‘10, a democrat and politics major at Saint Anselm College. “People will say he has got it locked up and won’t go out and vote for him.”

Republicans also have to continue campaigning, and possibly step up their game — although Sen. McCain is understood to thrive on being the underdog.

“They’ve overlooked though the minor detail of earning your confidence and your trust and winning your votes.” Palin said, “And I know that judging by media coverage, it does seem that the coronation is already set, but as for John McCain and me, we don’t take any vote for granted, and we are not assuming that we have your vote, we are respectfully asking for it.”

Whether or not there is truth to the claim, there is some humour to it — Sen. Obama joked to a Fort Collins, Colorado, crowd, “Now, I especially want you to vote early if you’re voting for me. If you’re voting for the other guy, you should just wait until Nov. 5.”

“Ha, ha, ha. I’m just teasing,” he said. “It’s actually Nov. 4 is the election.”

-gww

Gregory Wallace is an independent voter and junior at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH.

Great CNN Video

I just found this incredible video and needed to post it somewhere, and although it isn’t about a candidate or the election directly, it is evidence of the declining economy and its affect on our nation. But rather than the usual heart wrenching or terrible stories we see all to often, this one shines above the rest. The clip is from Dallas, Texas where an auction of foreclosed houses took place and how a stranger saved a family from losing their home.

Sununu and Shaheen in The Washington Post

I was searching around on RealClearPolitics.com and found an article from The Washington Post about the New Hampshire senate race between John Sununu and Jeanne Shaheen. As it is going to be an extremely close and quite historical race, it is understandably printed in national papers, but it just thrills me to see articles about New Hampshire in any publication. The article is by David S. Broder and it sheds an interesting light on both of the candidates as extremely well connected politicians in their respective parties, giving the race even more interest. In the video that is attached, Broder says, “this is probably the best state race that I’ve ever covered up here”.

Another great reason to be a lover of politics in New Hampshire.

Palin’s satire showed her superficial side

In the world of blogging I’m a novice player. I hear that blogging is a habit you have to incorporate into your daily routine. So bare with me, I hope I get the logistics of this down before the election is actually over. And since I’m behind in the blogging world my topics might seem, to some of you, like old news. Although relevance is always key in writing, I feel that some topics are too influential to pass up and Sarah Palin’s skit on Saturday night Live is one of those topics.

I saw the episode and I have to say, Bravo, Bravo, Palin. Going on SNL did exactly what you wanted it it to do. It took away the humor of Tina Fey’s uncanny and hilarious impersonation of you. Great, campaign move! Whichever little employee who slipped you that idea should be promoted and given a raise.

But I must say that although this might have helped your campaign I find it sad that you actually took your time to go on the show. Oh no, Tina Fey’s making fun of me and won’t stop. I know, I’ll go on her show and pretend I have a sense of humor. Then everyone will think I’m funny not Tina.

How superficial that you feel so threatened by the ridicule of this skit that you felt the need to try and squash it. Palin, you need to have a tougher skin than that to be the Vice President.

To me Palin only made herself look weak. But good, while she’s wasting time Obama and Biden are busy gaining the support they deserve. Keep it up Palin, please continue to waste time and energy on issues of little importance and relevance. I can see why you and McCain joined forces, while he’s tattling on Obama and whining about harsh campaign advertisements hurting his feelings your out on center stage, in front of the cameras acting. But then again, what more can we expect from a Pageant princess.

And if Obama doesn’t take the presidency at least I can rest easy knowing that the antics of McCain and Palin will keep me busy writing in the field of journalism.

“We never hide from history, we make history.”

History was definitely made in New Hampshire today, in more ways than one.

The event was held at Sullivan Arena–the perfect place for the “hockey mom” centered Sarah Palin campaign. I attended as a volunteer–the NHIOP asked the Ambassadors if they wanted to help out in a partisan or non-partisan way, and so I of course signed on as a non-partisan and worked the press check in with my friend Cory. Needless to say, the excitment started here. Cory and I worked with a die hard New Hampshire Republican that was working for both the Jeb Bradley campaign and the McCain campaign. His wife couldn’t be with him this morning, he told us, because she was having breakfast with Cindy McCain. No big deal. He threatened Cory and I to really look at the credentials of the people coming in because this is exactly how terrorists try to gain entrance to events. Do with that what you may.

Once the press were all checked in and credentials were handed out, Cory and I decided to wander a bit. I saw my eighth grade teacher and about 100 Hampstead Middle School students (love the youth voting…sorry I couldn’t resist), Ben Franklin, two sets of twins dressed in red white and blue and being pushed in a pram covered in the American flag, and the boys that stole the show, the shirtless Saint Anselm boys with painted chests of M-A-V-E-R-I-C-K. 

Cory and I posing with Ben Franklin giving the infamous John McCain "thumbs up".

After all of this excitement, the event began. Fergus Cullen, leader of the New Hampshire GOP, was the MC and introduced the following guests that consist of the New Hampshire “J Team” Joe Kenney, Jennifer Horn, and Jeb Bradley. The focus of these speeches was of course on the great patriotism of John McCain. Jennifer Horn referred to him as the “courage and character tht we need in the White House”. The local election speeches were pretty tame, until Jeb Bradley took the stage. He took the microphone with more energy than I have ever seen from him. He charged the croud with a cheer for any veterans in the room, saying the thing that gets him out of bed every morning is knowing that there are Americans fighting over seas for our freedom. There was a bit of a time gap in between these speeches and the entrance of Judd Gregg and John Sununu that I point out because it was up to Fergus Cullen to lead the event. Fergus attempted the energize the crowd as well, but was not as succssful as Jeb had been. His rendition of both “U-S-A!” and the call and response spelling of MAVERICK fell quite flat and started the event with much less energy then the campaign had hoped for.

But on to the real show. As a whole, McCain really focused on the downfalls of Obama’s plans and reintroduced the plights of Joe the Plumber. He wanted New Hampshire voters to feel his love for him and understand that he was the underdog once in New Hampshire, and was more than happy to be in that position again. The polls were definitely on his mind this morning, as he noted “it doesn’t matter what the pundits think–people of New Hampshire make their own decisions”.  He believed Obama was not ready for the “real world” and that his plans add up to trillions daughters in expenses that his tax increase will not cover. McCain’s major concern seemed to be on Obama’s plan to spread the wealth of tax payers. The phrase “spread the wealth” was mentioned more times than anything else in his speech. The majority of his speech today focused on what Obama will do poorly, instead of what McCain could do well. His closing was very strong, shouting to the audience that they would stand up and fight and never quit.

My opinion on the event–It was definitely what the majority of conservatives wanted to hear, but not what I was looking for. I was looking for “this is how I am going to fix the economy, this is why it will work, and this is exactly what I propose to do”. Or even “this is my plan for (insert issue here) and I know it will work because (insert reason here). I was really overwhelmed with the emphasis on the poor planning of Obama instead of the positive ideas of John McCain. This event, I though, was really going to make or break my support for McCain, and I have to say he did not make a great impression on me. When McCain talked about Obama’s voting records, I wasn’t impressed. Voting records can be manipulated for the person who is using them. I want to know what McCain is going to do to fix my economy. I guess I was looking for the how, and not the reasons why not. I am going to think about this more and add more later.

All in all it was a good rally, with a few surprises here and there. But one thing is for sure, as he walked our of the arena with “Go, Johnny Go” blaring from the speakers, I realized that John McCain is going to fight for the presidency until the very last minute.

“Isn’t life a series of images…”

Last night I attended a panel at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics about the Andy Warhol Pop Politics exhibit at the Currier Museum in Manchester. The panel was centered on the influence of the political portraits that Andy Warhol had made and the influence political image-making had on the presidential elections. Not only did I enjoy the panel because of my love for art and Andy Warhol, but it got me thinking about the real worth of the image of the candidate and where it impacts voting and the current election.

I feel as though everything around us centers around this idea of the “image” of the candidates. The focus of the campaign managers and their colleagues is to sell the McCain brand or the Obama brand to voters. Campaigns have noticed Americans’ dwindling attention spans and they realize that in order to catch our attentions, and hopefully our votes, they need to come up with a quick way to make us interested. This takes the focus off the issues and on to the image of the candidates. I really wish the issues truly mattered. As I walk around campus, many of my friends have come up to me saying “Lauren you will be so proud of me–I sent in my absentee ballot!”. And of course I am proud of them–in fact it really makes me happy that more and more of my peers are seeing the importance of voting. But recently, I have been digging deeper into the question. Now I ask who they voted for and why. Some of the answers have not been convincing. I worry about those who voted for Obama because he is a great speaker, or those who voted McCain because he is the epitome of patriotism. Okay, I see where you are coming from, I think to myself, and yet I also see that the campaigns have really done a great job pushing their main selling point.

Where is the concern about leadership abilities or the idea that one candidate could secure our economic future or climate better than the other? Professor Ossoff, a Psychology professor that was on the panel last night, discussed that research shows the debates don’t really have a great impact on the electorate. The negative commericials on tv, although everyone hates them, have more of an impact then the candidates discussing the actual issues. Ironically, back in 1952 when commercials were first used in the election of Eisenhower vs Stevenson, people believed they would demean the political process. Candidates could not imagine selling themselves like a box of cereal, and yet here we are, 56 years later; the most recent debate spent more time talking about these commercials then a single issue.

Agh, I have really digressed here. I wanted to leave an intellectual post about the influence of image-making and the facades that politicans put on for us but as usual, it turned into a plea for more educated youth voters. What I will say beyond youth voting is this–the panel gave me the impression that the Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John McCain, and Sarah Palin we know may not necessarily be who they really are. Politicians are marketed products–their good points are highlighted and their negative traits are covered up. They are who their campaigns and their parties want them to be. In the New York Times today, there were two articles that highlighted this perfectly. “Palin Meets the Press” discussed a new Sarah Palin emerging–a woman that seems to be breaking loose from the restraints of her spokeswoman and press staff. The image of Sarah Palin conjured by the Republican party may not actually be the real Sarah Palin, and as she takes more questions on her own she is beginning to “wriggle free of her handlers” as Julie Bosman reported. On the other side, Obama’s campaigning with Hillary Clinton shows a forced friendship that many democrats may not have been ready for. The two senators who were once at each others throats now laugh and joke together inbetween campaign stops like college roomates. This was articulated well in the article “Clinton Teams With Obama in Florida to Sell Ticket” (that I unfortunately can’t find online).

All in all, I hope that in the next two weeks Americans really search deep down within themselves and into the candidates and vote for the person they think will lead our country the best. I will be at the John McCain event tomorrow so look forward to a post about that! I promise it will lack any youth voting commentary.

Lauren