Debate- 9/26

I would have to say that Friday's Presidential Debate was rather dull, and didn't effect me in any way. The candidates were both just answering the questions, and neither of them really gave a punch at the other. They didn't look at each other, nor did they really respond directly to each other. In my opinion, the undecided (uncommitted) voters probably still haven't made their choice on who they will support for president. Now, I am thinking that the Vice Presidential debate will spark new ideas and may be a little more exciting than the last debate. I expect that next weeks polls will be effected, based on whatever Sarah Palin and Joe Biden say. I am looking forward to watching it!

3rd Party Candidates

Cynthia McKinney, Bob Barr, Alan Keyes, Ralph Nader. Who are all of these people? What do they have in common? What do we know about them?

These listed people are all know as third party candidates, and are all running in the 2008 presidential election. From the libertarian, green, independant, and various other minority parties, they have become nominees for president. Just like Barack Obama- just like John McCain. But why haven't we heard anything about them?

Because they are not favored by a majority of the American population, they are suddenly forgotten, ignored. None of them were seen at the debate yesterday, on the television election stations, or even written about in the newspaper.

I was wondering why they were given such mimimal attention. They are running for president, and even though they are not going to necessary get the majority of people's votes, they are still going to be on the ballot in November.

I think that these candidates should at least be given a chance to put their views out into the public along with the major party candidates. This way, they have a chance to reach the American public, and can be compared to in relation to the Democratic and Republican nominees. I understand that these 3rd party candidates are most likely not going to win, but they should at least be given a chance.

For those of you who are not affiliated with one political party as of now, I have found candidate profiles that can tell you about both Barack Obama and John McCain's opinions on issues, their history, and campaign information.
See: Barack Obama's profile
John McCain's profile

On both of these web pages, you can explore and find out latest news about the candidates as well as their most important issues.
This website seems, to me, an excellent way to find the truth about what each candidate is supporting, and most issues can be found on this page. People should learn more about both candidates before making opinions on which person they feel is the best to vote for.

Here is another website which would be good to check out. Just answer 12 questions to find the right candidate for you!

Both of these sites can help anyone unsure of which candidate they support to choose one. It can also show those of you who know which candidate you support WHY you do or don't agree with each candidate.

Clinton in the election

Hilary Clinton has been working on getting supporters for the Obama campagin. He has raised approximately $5 million for Barack Obama, and is continuously giving speeches for the campaign. What she isn't doing, however, is attacking Sarah Palin. In fact, she isn't coming into contact with her at all. I thought that this is rather strange.

The reason that Hillary Clinton isn't attacking Sarah Palin is because she believes that the people on the top of the presidential tickets are more important, and she doesn't want to turn the attention away from them. When asked about Governor Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton replied: "I don't think that's what this election is about." It is interesting to hear this, as I would have expected her to turn all her attacks towards Palin and how she isn't right to be Vice President. Instead, Senator Hillary Clinton only speaks positively about the Obama campaign and how he brings more to the table than John McCain does.

This is interesting to me in that Hillary Clinton is taking an active role in giving speeches supporting Obama and that she barely comments on Sarah Palin. What is good is that she is targeting white women who voted for her in the primaries. She efficiently proves to them that Barack Obama can bring them the change that they had hoped for with her.

With Obama and McCain in dead heat in election (according to Cnn's latest polls), the candidates ideas about how to fix the economy could be key in getting voters to support them. Today, wall street is in the worst situation it has been in since after 9/11, and the Dow is down 504 points. This is mostly because the Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, making it THE BIGGEST bankruptcy in history. Now, I think the candidates really need to focus on what is on people's minds most: the economy. It could be so clear cut. The candidate who finds the best way to improve this country's economic problem could become the next president of the United States.

Check this article to read more about How the candidates feel about the economy as of now.

Electoral Maps

Check out this really cool website comparing electoral maps from June 4, 2008- today.

These maps can show us how the opinions of some states have changed opinion- turning them from Democratic to Republican or Republican to Democratic. The maps are interesting, as they can show how the polls are changing every day, and how each state is being influenced by the candidates. For example, the state of New Mexico starts out as a "Weak McCain state", then a "Barely McCain" state, then a "Barely Obama" state, then back to a "Barely McCain" state, then finally a "Barely Obama state."

Here is another cool map:

This map is a cartogram depicting how many electoral votes each state has, the percentage for McCain, percentage for Obama, how the state voted in previous elections, which which party the state is (in majority), and whether it is a strongly or weakly supporting state of the candidate in that party. This map is important to really understand how important each state's vote is, and which are the states that the candidates would want to impact most.

Highs and Lows of the Campaign

Here are some charts that I found on www.electoral-vote.com, which show the highs and lows of the campaign, starting from May 2008. The charts include key events from May up until now- when Obama became the nominee, when Obama traveled abroad, when the Rick Warren interview took place, and when the DNC and RNC started.

Electoral College Graphs 2008

The graph above shows the current number of electoral votes for each candidate since Mar 22, The brown horizontal line shows the 270 electoral vote mark needed to be elected president. The gray vertical lines show the boundaries between the months.



The graph above shows the electoral votes again but omits the "barely" states. The electoral votes of a state only count in this graph if the candidate has a margin of 5% or more over his opponent.

These two maps are important to see, as they show us when the candidates were at their strongest, weakest, and how they are doing now. Overall, we can obiously see McCain's lag in the chart from mid-may through mid-august, as he had less electoral votes than Obama during these months. However,we can also see how John McCain has gained some momentum since the RNC. One rather surprising thing on this chart is that Obama's electoral votes increased during/after the RNC, then drastically decreased again during the month of September. McCain's electoral votes on the other hand decreased during the RNC itself, and increased during the month of September.

One thing that I noticed about this chart is that when one candidate is at his strongest, the other is at his weakest, so there is almost a mirror image shown in this chart. For instance, Obama's strongest point is when he traveled abroad, and this was equally McCain's worst point.

Source of charts: http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/ec_graph-2008.html

You want change- what are the candidates exactly going to do?

Source: The choice is about who will bring change
The Sunday Star- Ledger September 7, 2008
Page 18 Section 1

I read this article in sunday's paper- it relayed information on the DNC and RNC central themes- Change. It is a campaign slogan which has been used in Barack Obama's campaign since day one, but even John McCain made his acceptance speech with the intention of promoting the change he plans on bringing to the white house. The problem with this is that John McCain is talking about the change, but isn't telling us exactly what he plans to do about the problems. During Barack Obama's speech however, he spoke more directly about how he will solve the problems in the government.

Obama's Plans/ Message: Barack Obama's main plan is to reverse the policies of the last eight years during the Bush administration. He plans on making health care "afforable, accessible," giving every child a "world-class education" and recovering America's situation with other nations.

McCain Plan: McCain's plan is weak, as he has told us what he wants to change, but has not given solid examples of what HOW he plans to make all of this change happen. He has said that he wants to reject how past presidents have done things, but not how he is going to get rid of George Bush's policies.

This article was interesting, as it could show many voters which candiate they can rely on most- which one is letting them know their plans. This article impacts any voter who is wondering which candidate is going to give the the change they need- and HOW they will get it for them. I care about it- mainly because I always want to know what is coming ahead in the future. I agree with the author, who said that Barack Obama is describing his plans much clearer than John McCain, and that he has gone further than John McCain in informing his voters about his plan for change.

Campaign dispute over the flag

Source: The Sunday Star Ledger- September 7, 2008
page 10 section one

I read an article this morning in the newspaper, it told about a campaign dispute- over the American flag!

Barack Obama and John McCain recently agreed to appear together at a September 11th event at ground zero. At the republican airport rally for the McCain- Palin ticket, a radio newscaster announced to the crowd that veterans were going to give out small american flags that were discarded and rescued from Obama's DNC rally at the Invesco Field. He told the crowd that these flags were going to be thrown away or burned, and that they had been found in trash bags around garbage bins, and were given to the McCain campaign to rescue them.

The Democratic National Commitee and the Democratic convention said that these flags had actually been stolen by the McCain campain from the Invesco theater. Karen Finey, a Democratic National Commitee spokeswoman said that those flags had been waved proudly that night, and that instead of appreciating that, John McCain had took the left-over bunch of flags and made a political stunt questioning the patriotism of the democrats.

This story is very strange, and it is also humorous that a dispute would start out over the American Flag, something that should keep the country together. It would appeal to patriots in general, as it tries to show which party is more patriotic. I think it basically means that the struggle for the election has kept the parties so desperate for votes, that they are willing to stoop to the level of pulling ridiculous political accusations like this. I thought it was interesting to see that conflicts like this are arising amongst the parties and how they are trying to take votes from each other using childish methods.

90% Bush

When I was reading watching the DNC, I heard that John McCain supports George W. Bush over 90% of the time.
Is this really true??

McCain on Iraq

John McCain- I hate wars. When I become the president I will try to end wars, because they are so horrible. I want to stop having families from being separated because a son or daughter is fighting in another country. (This is a general idea of what he said, not quoted.)

I was thinking- how is he going to stop this when he is going to keep the troops in Iraq for the next 100 years???
He is only trying to make himself sound good.