Final Week and Hurricane Sally

This is it, the final full week of the campaign!

With the Polls closer than ever campaigns are on edge hoping the election will fall their way. There are multiple roomers out there and you will no doubt be hearing more about the battle ground states and the quest for 270, electoral votes. On top of the regular issues such as the economy, jobs, and healthcare there is also Hurricane Sally that is the October surprise this year.

With the hurricane crashing into the East coast today this will no doubt effect the election. In the event that the Obama Administration doesn't manage the disaster well the President could suffer in the polls. Not to mention the storm could affect turnout in the east coast and put more states in play. 

My recommendation  for Obama is, be presidential and don't make the disaster political its no doubt going to help him if he shows his leadership but do not go out of your way to do so. No ones like it when you gloat or politicize disasters..

For Romney, If I were his campaign I would stay as far away from the storm as possible. Do not get in the way of the disaster relief, aid where needed.

I pray for those effected by the storm and hope that they receive all the help needed to come back from this natural disaster.

11 Days!

What's next!

With 11 full days left, so begins the foot race to the finish line. We are just beginning to hear the last minute appeals by the candidates for our support and in some cases 11th hour announcements on policy issues. Are you prepared to make your choice?

 It will come down to the pivotal battle ground states and will most likely be one of the tightest elections since 2000.  Colorado is currently tied 50/50, Ohio and Florida are both too close to call.

How do you think the Battle Ground States are going to go? What do you see as the results of the Election?

Also the battle for control of the House of Representatives and Senate will be decided on November 6th as well. What party will win control of Congress? What are the issues that will control the outcomes?

Either way these decisions will be made on November 6th in the voting booths across America!

WILL YOU SHOW UP?

Miss-steps again!

This time it is with the Indiana Senate Race! Following the debate this pas week the GOP candidate made some statements on abortion and rape that can be taken as very offensive.

Richard Mourdock's response to the abortion question was tough to follow. He meant to say that a pregnancy is life and thus is a gift from God even if the pregnancy is the result of rape.

I just do not understand why more politicians and candidates make issues out of abortion and rape after all of the issues that have already come up. Honestly Stephen Colbert said it best, the GOP needs truly avoid talking about rape it is not an governmental issue, its a horrific act that should be punished to the full extent of the law.

These issues do not just effect the candidates that are uttering the nonsense it is affecting he entire election cycle. According to the New York Times these miss steps are going to affect the overall battle for control of congress.

What do you think of all these issues? Is there really a war on Women? What is the logic with continuing to make social issues front and center if so many have been crucified for their statements?

Social Media and Politics!

What role does Facebook play in politics?

Odds are that you have heard all about the ideas that social media is a means of political engagement. Well the Pew Research Center has been "studying on the social impact of the internet." They conducted research on the impact of Facebook on the spread of political information. Understanding how the public uses Facebook for political speech can help understand what the future of civic engagement will be. 


"Here are the key findings in a recent nationally representative survey: 

38% of those who use social networking sites (SNS) or Twitter use those social media to “like” or promote material related to politics or social issues that others have posted. Liberal Democrats who use social media are particularly likely to use the ‘like’ button—52% of them have done so and 42% of conservative Republicans have also done so.
35% of social media users have used the tools to encourage people to vote. Democrats who are social media users are more likely to have used social media to encourage voting—42% have done that compared with 36% of Republican social-media users and 31% of independents.
34% of social media users have used the tools to post their own thoughts or comments on political and social issues. Liberal Democrats who use social media (42%) and conservative Republicans (41%) are especially likely to use social media this way."

To see the entire survey and its findings follow this link.

Upon learning this i would like to know what your reactions are to the finding? 

Do you feel that Facebook and Twitter are the future of civic engagement? 

Do you pay attention to the political posts and groups?

New Numbers!

Recent Polling 

The election is drawing closer and so are the polls. Fresh off the last debate the major news organizations have released their new polling numbers. CNN's poll, pictured here, surprised me the most because of Governor Romney appears to have taken a slight lead over President Obama among likely voters in Florida.

What do you think of the continued polls? Are you surprised that Florida is so close?

For more information on this poll take a look at this article.

Debate Season

Presidential Debates

Last night was the second presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney. It was a pretty good slug fest between the President and Romney. I would say that President Obama won hands down. I can understand some of the arguments from the republicans against the moderator but to me she the candidates to the time limit as best as possible and ensured that both men got chances to address each issue. 

Today both men are headed to Ohio to campaign and then of to different states. The election is drawing closer and closer as the days go on and polls keep labeling it as too close to call. It it definitely going to come down to the battle ground states. Ohio and Virginia are taking center stage for the Republican efforts.

Congressional Debates

Tonight at Illinois State University there is a debate between Rodney Davis and David Gill for the Illinois  13th Congressional District.  The new 13th district was drawn with the hopes of the Democratic Party taking back the House of Representatives. From polling data that i have seen the races is leaning slightly in Republican Nominee Rodney Davis' favor. He has a slight lead but the race is not over yet. If you live in the 13th district and are close to Illinois State University's campus I recommend coming out to the debate. It is at 6:00 PM in the Brown Ball Room in the Bone Students Center. Here is the Facebook page for the event. 

The next few weeks there are debates going on in Illinois District 12 and 11 as well. These are great chances for you to learn more about your new districts and the candidates looking to represent you in Washington D.C. for the next two years.

VP Debate Recap...What's Next?

Last night was an a very interesting debate.

For one they were sitting down. I find that set up very odd and hard to think of as a debate. When I think of a debate I see both candidates standing at podiums some distant apart and arguing back and forth. It was odd that they were so close to each other. 

Second Biden was let out of the cage and was on full out attack the entire night. He interrupted and directly called Paul Ryan out on not being very specific with his economic plans while using facts as much as possible. 

Third Paul Ryan was a strong defender of what he and Romney would bring to the oval office. He even had strong points to attack the current administration.

And Finally the Moderator was very strong on the time limits and pushed both gentlemen to stay on topic. With all the issues of the first debate this moderator held her ground and forced the debate to address all topic areas. 

Overall I deem the debate a TIE! That's right there was no specific winner or loser. Biden struck back while Ryan held his ground. Both men did what they needed to do last night and both campaigns can now prepare for the next debate next Tuesday. 

What does this mean for the Election? 

This debate really wont have much effect over all. The Vice President is not who people vote for the go for the top of the ticket. So this debate is only a chance for campaigns to really lose ground rather than surge off of.

While looking for more understanding of the election I found another blog that you can check to see what states are truly battle grounds and see polling data.

Absent Issues!

The first debate was on domestic policy. What do you think of when you think of domestic policy?

I think of issues such as gas prices and energy issues, transportation and infrastructure, healthcare and medicare, as well as taxes and the economy. Yet all the first debate cover was the economy and healthcare. I feel that the issues with jobs and taxes have squeezed out many other issues that are plaguing Americans everyday.

What do you think?

Even with all this talk of jobs and the economy there is little focus on issues that are pressing and immediate concerns to many Americans living in rural communities. I have been researching the issues that congress left on the docket for after the election and found that many of the issues have received very little press. Issues that have been brought on by the summer drought such as corn yields coming in at a 6 year low as well waterway and infrastructure issues.

After a quick Google search of locks and dam issues i found hundreds of sites and articles that go in to detail on how far our water way infrastructure has fallen. Here in Illinois almost all of the locks and dams haven't been upgraded since the 1980's.  One sight in particular showed some interesting statistics about the importance of locks and dams that i have never heard about. Check it out here!

I bet that many of you haven't even heard about the Farm Bill struggles that have been going on in Washington D.C. all summer. Even if you had heard about it it has surprisingly disappeared from the major media sources. This along with the dilapidated conditions of our locks and damns are two major issues that i would have expected to be apart of the debate last Wednesday.

For more information on the rural economy and the effects of the Farm Bill expiration check out this NPR article.


Are there more issues you believe that should be focused on more in the last 30 days???

And the Winner is....

No Surprise, I along with my followers and a majority of the people who saw the debate on Wednesday would say that Romney won hands down. He was a little more combative than i would really care for and walked over the moderator at many points. It doesn't matter how you win just that in the end you win. He has been the talk of the media all weekend and this week.

Romney saw a bump in the polls and the shrinkage of President Obama's lead in many of the swing states as the debate effects take hold. The Election is obviously becoming much more competitive in these final 30 days. Romney is riding a new head of steam now following the win in last Wednesday's debate that will no doubt carry into the VP Debate. Romney has seen his critics on the right pull an about face and they are now some of the strongest voices defending him in the past few days.

The strong comeback kid theme seems to be building around Romney and his campaign. They have effectively shaken off the 47% comments and begin to challenge Obama on foreign policy in a convincing manner. It seems that he campaign is beginning to shape the conversation to prepare for the next debate. With these new statements on foreign policy Romney is posturing to offer his view on what can be done to protect Israel and create a more stable middle east.

The entire next debate is completely on foreign policy and thus thus will be what we hear about in the news next week, after the VP Debate that is.

It will be interesting to see what the Obama team comes up with in the next few days to combat the failure in the debate and prep for the next one. I have heard of many excuses that were given to try to explain the failure and by far the oddest was Al Gore's state that the President was effected by the altitude in Denver. Yea I have heard of this being an issue but its not like Obama has never visited the city for a day.

All excuses aside Obama just fell flat and will need to work to prepare better and come out guns a blazing in the next debate to hold on to his lead. In the mean time lets all get geared up for the Vice Presidential debate on Thursday.

It's Finally Time to Debate!

Tonight is the first Presidential Debate in this election cycle. Depending on which news program you have been watching the past few days you have heard of the importance of this debate on the race. 

Many see this as Romney's chance to re-present himself to the American public and prove that he has what it takes to stand toe to toe with President Obama. Romney's campaign has had multiple gaffes the past few weeks with his 47% comments and this debate is the chance for Romney to quell those saying he has no chance in this race. He had relatively good showings in the primary debates but President Obama is a very skilled speaker so I expect a hard fought debate tonight.

President Obama's campaign has been spreading the idea that the president is not as practiced as he was back in '08. His campaign is trying to lower expectations so that if the President does do really well it will make him look even better. 

Following the debate tonight I will have a poll set up here on my blog for all of you to comment on what you thought about the debate and who in your opinion performed better. 
Make sure to watch it tonight or the reruns that play for the next 3 days. It starts tonight 9pm Eastern / 8pm Central.

Here is the full debate schedule so you can mark your calendars. They are all at 9pm Eastern / 8pm Central


Wednesday, October 3 - Presidential debate on domestic policy
Thursday, October 11 - Vice-presidential debate on foreign and domestic policy
Tuesday, October 16 - Presidential town meeting on foreign and domestic policy
Monday, October 22 - Presidential debate on foreign policy

Money and its Effect on Party Affiliation

I just found a set of interesting graphs that show party affiliation and how it corresponds to income levels.

Do you feel that a persons income effects which party they belong to? Are you surprised by the breakdown?

Check out the story at NPR