Election Reflection – Final Post!

To all participating government and politics students:

Thank you so much for spending much of your time reading various media and each other – often imparting your own ideas – to generate constructive political discourse related to the election.  I do believe there is great value in tools like blogs to democratize learning, and your involvement only reinforced that belief.  Beside completing this post, you will receive a written evaluation that I hope you complete to help me and other educators who make an attempt to create a similar forum.

For this final post, there will be no media to read/view, only your original thoughts.  The campaign season was exhaustive and unpredictable even for political junkies like me, but the results were somewhat anticlimatic despite the historic nature of the election (the polls were remarkably accurate).  With a decisive win, President-Elect Obama has a relatively clear mandate to govern with public support and a majority in Congress, yet, despite your political affiliations, there is no doubt that expectations are exceedingly high for Obama’s performance (i.e., I’ve seen articles beginning with..Franklin Delano Obama).

Discussion Questions:

Using common paradigms for other presidents:

What does Obama need to accomplish in his first 100 days?  What does he need to accomplish in his first term?

Looking into the future, what will historians/political scientists write most prevalently about with regard to the 2008 presidential election?

**Note: Although I am not an historian (more of a social scientist), one of the most impressive qualities of weblogs is that they are historic/social artifacts.  This blog will never disappear (unless I remove it, and I won’t), and you can always refer back to the ideas contributed to it, especially your own.  Twenty years from now, perhaps students will read the comments of peers their own age to learn about a critical election in history rather than reading about it from textbooks.

Share your voting story – Election Day!

Standing on line this morning, I was pretty amazed, as were the people waiting, how many came out for the opening of the polls.  I always vote before work, and since I live pretty far from where I work, that means that I need to arrive early.  Usually, there are three or four souls who just rolled out of bed (even in previous presidential elections).  Today, there were over 100 people lined up before 6am.  It was not just the sheer numbers, the anticipation and excitement was palpable.  This typical Northern New Jersey suburb, not particularly political or ideological leaning in one way or the other, certainly represented quite a different atmosphere than in past years.  I talked with mostly older voters, sharing some stories and spending time to decipher the ballot questions (about the methods/processes to elect municipal judges).

After voting, I always feel immense pride knowing that I’ve expressed myself in the most powerful way.  I know many of you are not eligible voters; I feel bad you are not able to vote – you certainly proved you are informed and sophisticated enough to cast your ballot.  For those of you who are 18 and do vote today, I invite you to share your story about what is most likely your first voting experience.  What was it like?  How do you feel now, after voting?

Many more thoughts, stories, and questions to share later…

Are you obsessed with the election? – post #8

For many, this Tuesday will mark a momentous, highly anticipated day, but election followers have begun to realize that the absence of the around-the-clock focus on the election may leave a serious void in their lives (including me).  Last evening, after watching this video, I began to question myself when I realized that I had been on weather.com the same day to check Tuesday’s forecast in Ohio, Virgina, Missouri, and other swing states.  This CNN video refers to the phenomenon (half-joking, half-serious) of election obsession.

Take a look: Election Obsession

Questions:

1. Why do you think this particular presidential election has caused people to be obsessed in the way the CNN video describes?

2. Are you one of the individuals depicted in the video?  How will you feel after Tuesday?

***NOTE: The next post (#9) will be an ongoing dialogue on election night for you to respond to events as they unfold.  I encourage you to check and respond to posts that evening to get updated information and to see/share responses with your peers.  Post #10 will occur one week after election night.

Bracing for Potential Voting Problems – Post #7

With some states already voting for the election, much debate has arisen about the challenges posed by permitting citizens of some, but not all states, to vote early.  Review the summary of early voting taking place across the U.S. (34 states) in the USA Today.

Beyond the question of early voting, problems are likely to occur with voters being unsure about specific election rules for their state, and there are likely to be failures at individual precincts in their handling of adverse conditions (large voter turnout, malfunctions with ballots, etc.).

NPR’s Pam Fessler answers questions about potential voting problems and specifically addresses early voting in her Q and A session.  Listen to her recent podcast to hear more: NPR podcast (click on “listen” right before article begins).

Discussion Questions: Answer one or both sets of questions.

1. Do you think it is fair and democratic to have an election where some states have early voting?  What impact do you think this year’s early voting will have on the national election?

2. After considering some of the voting problems officials are worried about and recalling the controversies from the past two elections, what are your greatest concerns about voting access or accuracy on election day?  Please post articles or sources you find that relate to this question.

Debating the “Bradley effect”: Post #6

With the polls heavily leaning toward Obama, political discussion has shifted once again to questions about race.   More specifically, people are talking about the troubling notion of people not accurately reporting their vote to pollsters or changing their minds about who they vote for purely based on an individual’s race.

A Time Magazine article, The Bradley Effect, describes the origin of voting decisions based on race and weighs in on the debate about what role, if any, it will have on the outcome of the election.  Quite interestingly, another report from fivethirtyeight.com, provides a contrasting view that shows how Obama actually exceeded predictions from polls about his success in the 2008 Democratic primary, effectively refuting the “Bradley effect”.

Discussion Question:

Do you believe the “Bradley effect” will: 1) be a game changer; 2) have a small effect on election results, but not change the outcome; 3) have no effect at all on the presidential race; or 4) be impossible to measure?

Navigating the Electoral Map – post #5

Each day, various polls are taken to predict voters’ decisions and attitudes related to the 2008 presidential election.  While national polls take the overall pulse of the race, it is the state polls, particularly in key battleground states, that voters, politicians, and the media watch closely to gauge the state of the race.  Realclearpolitics is a great place to get update-to-date polls from various sources.

The electoral map, as presently constituted according to the polls, can be retrieved from: RCP Electoral Map.

For this post, you will need to view the map and its various components to formulate your own judgments about your own expected outcomes for the election.  You will see clearly how the red states align with McCain, the blue states align with Obama, and the grey states are considered toss-ups.  RCP merges polling data from various sources, and it makes changes to the map every day.  To navigate the map, move your icon to states picquing your interest; a small box will open up where you can change the alignment according to who you think will win the election in that state.  The most recent polls from each state are also accessible from this box.

Discussion Questions:

1. After sorting through all of the information on the map and applying what you know about the states and current conditions in the presidential race, go through the process of calculating your own outcomes to the presidential race.  This means changing the toss-up states to a projected winner and possibly changing states that are leaning or solidly in favor of one candidate (there is valuable historical and current information on this site to inform your opinion).  Predict the outcome in your comment.

2A – If you believe the race is close: what 2 or 3 states are going to be decisive and closest?  Why?

2B – If you believe the race is not close: what happens on election night that turns the tide strongly in one direction?

3. When people look at the electoral map on November 5 (the day after), what is going to be most surprising to pundits?

Feel free to refer to articles/sources you read through RCP or other media sites.  Less than one month away!

The last day to register in NJ is October 14.

Reactions to the vice-presidential debate – post #4

For many, last night’s debate produced exactly the outcome people expected or hoped for, while others were quite surprised with the performance, tone, and style used by Governor Palin and Senator Biden.  In the short history of vice-presidential debates there have been some memorable moments, but these exchanges have caused minimal impact on the presidential election results.  There are some people who believe this race may be different based on the candidates involved at the top and bottom of each ticket.

Those of you who did not see the debate last night can watch it in its entirety or through individual clips segmented by topic.

MSNBC – OR – Washington Post

The rest of you who did watch the debate, go watch the two video clips in the links below.

Wall Street Journal

CNN

Discussion Questions:

1. Two competing perspectives are presented in the video commentaries.  Gerald Seib discusses how each candidate performed positively, while the CNN reporter shows how a group of young voters were turned off by the debate.  Which one of these perspectives is closer to your viewpoint?  In particular, does the sentiment captured by the Rock-the-Vote crowd reflect what you believe?

2.  Click on the two images at the top of the post.  You will see a visual representation of the language each vice-presidential candidate used (put together by Slate.com) to represent what each person said and how often these words were used.  Based on this visual and your general reflection of the debate, make a judgment about whether Biden and Palin were able to deliver his and her intended messages.

***Make sure to use the media to support your ideas in your comments!