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.

Beware the Romney Ad Machine!

It is not surprising seeing all of the coverage of Mitt Romney in the past week cause a slight dip in the polls because of the missteps this past week. The election is far from over though. I have seen new ads from the Romney campaign that may possible bring more voters to his side. The topic of these new ads, that will be run in the battle ground states, is the United States coal industry and the effects that the Obama administration policies have had so far and threaten to do in the future. Romney is truly showing that he can fight back and will be using his energy policy to show how Americans are not better off than they were 4 years ago.

The debate here is over the effect of the Clean Air Act on the United States coal industry. With higher regulations on emissions and the financial burdens that these regulations have on power plants have basically made building new coal fired power plants too expensive of a venture. Not to mention the continued regulations and inspections that would come with operating the plant. It is the Romney campaigns position that these regulations restrict business growth.  The noose of governed regulation should be loosened to allow for small business growth and the creation of new jobs. This message is very apparent in the new advertising and will no doubt bolster support for Romney in blue collar and rural america.

Watch these ads. Listen to the message that is being portrayed and you will see that they are powerful.  The Election is no where near over just because of a couple missteps. I can already see Romney trying to use his mistakes to change the message back to the economy and tax policy. Both issues that the GOP brand that continues to resonate with the American public.

Electoral Math

Some of you may remember that day in your High School Government class when you learned how presidential elections are decided in this country. That little thing called the electoral college and the 538 electors who actually choose the next president. Our founders set this system up from beginning as a prevention of mob rule which brought down past republics such as Rome. I would venture to guess that our founders feared the public would be too easily swayed by politicians that they wrote this law directly into the Constitution.

The current system has been changed only a few times just to modernize the voting and add in a procedure in the case of no clear majority winner for President and Vice President. Every 4 years i feel like the news media completely re-educates the public on how the system works as if it has just changed. It has been relatively  the same since almost 1800, except for the addition of th District of Columbia's 3 electoral votes which were added in 1961.

I bring up the electoral college because in my recent stint of watching the news media, people can now act as pundits and mess with the votes to see what each candidate needs to win the election. I wanted to pass on to you a link to the "Magic Wall" as CNN refers to it. This is your chance to examine the board and see for your self the possible break down of battle ground states that could sway the election.

It is surprising to see how much of an up hill battle it appears that the Romney Ryan ticket has to get to the magic 270 votes (a majority of the 538 electors).

This is where i see the election:

I think it will come down the Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida. If you look at the math Romney will need 2 of those three to win if he doesn't get Florida. Florida is the big prize and the major battle ground but it will be very interesting to see how the campaigns deal with the ever volatile electoral math.

Play around with the "Magic Wall" and let me know what you think will be the final break down of the election.