Volunteering- Post 1

• More than a month ago, me and a couple friends decided to go out and volunteer for the local office in support of Barack Obama. It was a sunny, Saturday morning on the 20th of September and we went over to the office, after losing our way for some reason, to see what work they would give us. We ended up getting a canvassing packet and going over to a nearby Herndon neighborhood to ring doorbells and ask people questions about who they would support in the coming election. We were also carrying Voter Registration Forms in case anyone we talked wasn't registered.
• So after we went through the packet, which took us two and a half hours or so, we then went back to give a tally sheet to the office official at the campaigning office. In the end we were somewhat disappointed that out of the 50 houses we went to, only about 15 actually answered, most of them already being Obama supporters. Though it wasn't too bad being out there in the nice weather with friends.
  

Current Event- Post 5

• The last presidential debate took place two Wednesdays ago with the focus being on the economy, a very important issue especially due to the economic crisis currently taking place around the world. This debate led to both candidates further outlining their own respective economic plans, including the changes they are going to make with taxes and spending policies. Two secondary issues included the recent allegations of Barack Obama’s supposed relations with a former terrorist and the negative ads that are currently aired.
• I thought the debate was much livelier than the other two, partly because the questions and layout was better, and partly because the two candidates seemed better prepared to take on the other. John McCain was largely believed to have been in the lead throughout the first half, continuously taking shots at Obama’s plans on the economy, but Obama took over during the second half as McCain slowed down. The debate was conducted in a closer and more personal format, leading to much more direct debate this time around. However, McCain made quite a few enemies during the second half of the debate as he started sneering and showed his much publicized anger issues live.
  
• Another one of the major issues during the debate was the argument on both candidates' use of negative advertisements. McCain blamed Obama’s failure to accept the further conduct of town hall meetings while Obama said that McCain used “100 %” negative ads in his latest airings. I believe negative ads to now be an established part of the American campaigning process, though in these ads there also needs to be some specific information from the candidate on his plans for change, otherwise they would be of no use to me information-wise.
  
  

Week 5-Election Post

• In this year's presidential election for the United States there appear to be a few states deemed swing states, also known as battleground states, whose desicion on the next president are up for grabs. The states I will be talking specifically are my own state of Virginia and the hotly contested state of Ohio. Virginia is a swing state because of the newly created rift between the voting patterns of the northern, more-democratic region of the state and the southern, more republican regions. As the Northern Virginian counties have advanced in value and importance to the business world and have had influxes of minorities, the voting patterns of the area have continuously leaned toward the liberal point of view. Southern Virginia, however, has retained it's older, conservative views. Ohio is a swing state this election becuase of the same reasons it was an important state last election, it's large and diverse population. The diversity of the population has caused the voting patterns of the state to vary widely from county to county.
• I believe that Virginia will vote Democratic because of the increasing population of the north, which I think will swing enough votes for Obama to make Virginia a democratic win. For Ohio I also believe that Obama will win due to the diverse population of the state and how it has many diverse regions. Due to the diversity and various ideologies of it's people, I believe it will be won by Obama due to his appeal to Americans right now. Also, polls currently show that both states are in Obama's hands right now as Obama has around a 7% lead in both states, according to the averages of RealClearPolitics.com.
  

Current Event- Post 4

• This week my article was from the Washington Post again and was titled “GOP Head Compares Obama to Bin Laden." In this article I read about the head of Virginia's GOP and the words he used to relate Barack Obama to Osama Bin Laden. Jeffrey M. Frederick, the head of VA's GOP, specifically said how both Obama and Bin Laden have friends who bombed the Pentago, referring to a man Obama once knew, Bill Ayers.
  
• To me this accusation seems to be little more than a petty attack at the Democrats and it really has no chance of causing the slightest influence on even the semi-intelligent voters out there. However, the fact that GOP leaders are going around spewing lies only has a negative effect on people’s view of the Republicans. These insults are stupid and pathetic attempts at skewing people’s views in the favor of the Republicans and they help no one, only managing to dirty the respect others have for the American campaigning process. Obama did well in addressing boos from his supporters in one of his recent meetings as being unnecessary and that he would rather have people just go out and vote.
  

Week 4-Election Post

• Today I analyzed some of the polling data related to the current presidential election in the United States, specifically looking at the Gallup Poll and the Daily Kos Tracking Poll. Having analyzed these two polls it can be clearly seen that both of these two polls show that Barack Obama is ahead of John McCain by a good 5% lead in the Gallup, while the Daily Kos shows a 10% lead for Obama. Both of these results are as of yesterday and they both show that the lead is pretty good and over the margin of error. So unless the polls are very inaccurately calculated, the people change their minds, or the candidates change their tactics, it looks like Obama would win if Election Day was tomorrow.
• Meanwhile these same polls show similar and different results in the Senate as the Gallup Poll shows that the Democrats have a lead in the Congress by 6% as of October 12th, while the Daily Kos shows a much larger lead of 13% for the Democrats as of yesterday. These results also show a country favoring the Democrats these days as people are hungry for a change in the government's administration.
• These polls also seem to me to show very accurate results which gauge the country as currently running in the liberal direction. However, I do believe that the Daily Kos may be a little skewed in its polling somehow as the lead seems to me to be a tad too democratic, but maybe that's just me. Polls are, I believe, an important part of the election process as they show the progress the candidates are making in converting random voters to their political ideology. However, I do believe that exit polls are a little too influential to be used on Election Day as they probably would change some weaker-minded people's minds.
  

Current Event- Post 3

• An article last week entitled “Obama Takes 6-Point Lead in Ohio” from The Washington Post showed recent poll results and outlined the fact that Barack Obama is in fact gaining a lead on John McCain. This lead has been most importantly seen in the key, battleground states, but has also taken the national polls as well.The surge of support for the Democratic candidate is expected, however, as Obama really is the man with a plan for change in our failing country. If Obama keeps this surge of favor for himself for another three weeks he may come out of this election a president.
  
• McCain’s lack of real plan for change in the economic area of the election is really looking like a disadvantage. As I saw going through my fellow classmates blogs I noticed that many people believe that the economic crisis really is the most important issue in this election. If McCain loses out on the most important issue he better do an amazing job at everything else if he wants to win, but unfortunately for him, the polls show that he isn't doing too amazingly well at anything in particular.
  

Week 3-Election Post

• While the presidential election is certainly the most-talked about event in politics these days there are also many other local and state elections going on right now, including the Virginia Seat in the Senate Election. The two candidates for this election are Democrat Mark Warner and Republican Jim Gilmore. Both are former governors of Virginia, Mark Warner being the most recent having left office in 2006. Mark Warner became the Democratic candidate largely uncontested, while Jim Gilmore had considerable contest from Tom Davis until the convention selected Gilmore.
• Energy has been a major topic of this election as well, with Warner siding with the firm belief in funding research for alternative energy sources and Gilmore favoring offshore drilling. This issue has been extremely important due to the once-rising price of gasoline, though now the lower price of gasoline barrels has caused a lowered focus on the immediate effect of continued reliance on foreign oil. Recent polls from pollsters such as Public Policy Polling, Survey USA, and Rasmussen Reports have shown Warner to currently have a 24-27 % lead on Gilmore.
  

Current Event- Post 2

• The Senate easily passed the new and improved bailout plan. This is the same plan that the House failed this last Monday evening, with the addition of $108 billion tax break for businesses and families and an increase in federal insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 for bank deposits, of course. The bill was passed by a 74-25 vote for the bill on the night of the first of October. But the House vote coming up on the third will be the true test of the bill’s real connection with the public. President Bush has already warned the House of Representatives of the possible economic downturn that could result from a second failure of the bill, thus pressuring them to pass the bill successfully.
• This bill seems like a temporary halt for the continuously falling economy, and I believe it’s better than nothing. It does give the government incredible power in reviving the housing market, but in doing so it helps deter the coming of another real depression. However, this should only be counted as the beginning to a solution and not a fully-realized success, as the government needs to work during the temporary stabilization to try and find a real solution that would help get us out of this mucky situation. But for now let’s just hope the bill passes in the House of Representatives.