Predictions

Obama: currently 334
McCain: currently 157

I think my guesses were just a little off.
But mostly close.
And I think I underestimated the landslide so I can't feel bad about that.
AND, there are 5 more Democratic senators in the country now, and 16 new Democrats in the House.
It's ridiculous. I love it.

Obama!

Oh. My. God.
It's for real. This is amazing and truely revolutionary. I feel like everything is going to start off fresh again.
My mom kept talking about how when she was a little kid segregation was still a key concern, and how far we've come as a country. I can't believe it.
Also, Obama is such a great speaker, and it's going to be such a change to listen to a president that can put emphasis on all the right words and really gets to the heart of the country's problems. I thought Obama's speech was very powerful, although he exaggerated many 'harsh' conditions that people went through to help him win. They did perform admirably, but I thought some of what he said was a little too poetic. It really doesn't matter at all though.
I also thought McCain's speech was very good. You could tell he had been crying, and I think that made it a little better, even. He has very good speech writers, but it seemed mostly heart-felt coming from his mouth. I also generally have a very soft side and can't stand seeing people lose. I always feel bad for them. So I'm glad he won Arizona, if very little else.

But most of all I'm so excited for what's going to happen now, and I'm so excited for all of the people who worked so hard to help him get there (despite what my previous blog may have said.). It all paid off and I really really admire them. It happened. It's real.

Grandma.

Obama's grandma just died yesterday. It would be so hard to continue campaigning after that- I don't blame him for crying during a speech. It'll also be hard to celebrate if he wins without her there, or defeat will seem even more severe.
Usually people have a way of hanging on until a significant event has passed, like they were waiting. That's why this is so strange to me.
It's sad.

Last Day.

It's the last day. I'm so excited to watch the election news tonight. That's the best part. For the last election my dad and I went down to the Democratic headquarters,a nd I guess tongiht there's a little party for Obama supporters downtown. I might go.
I can't believe it's finally here.

Ha.

Election Day

I'm trying to get all of my homework done today so that I can watch the results tomorrow night. Maybe even go to the Forward Colorado party thing. Ha. I'm excited for tomorrow, and nervous. And even though some people are saying they'll be glad for it to be over no matter who wins, I think that's really not the case with most. Not with me, anyway.

Canvasing.

People are getting so involved with this election and it's making me feel kind of bad for losing my fervor with it all. There are so many people who have been volunteering these last few days of the campaings, and many people are missing school to canvas and make phone calls tomorrow. Also, people are leaving school tomorrow to go see McCain. At this point, his visit doesn't really matter to me. The election has pretty much been won one way or another, we can't can't see the results on our tv screens yet. Last minute visits won't make a difference, and people have decided whether they're going to vote or not- another phone call probably won't make a difference either.

3 days.

As much as I love election season, I can't wait for this all to be over. It'll be nice to hear people talking about something else for a change.
:)

McCain?

McCain might be coming to Grand Junction on election day?
That would be cool I guess.
I feel like election day would be too late to change anything though. Most people would have voted early, or would vote early in the day. McCain being here then would take away from peoples' time to get to the polls.
But I could be way off...

Campaign Buttons

Everybody likes buttons. At work today at the Rockslide I saw so many different ones. The Palin ones are really funny. "Palin: the hottest candidate from the coldest state." A woman who seemed to be like 60 was wearing that one.
The Obama ones always make him seem sophisticated, except one I saw that said "Obamamama," on a woman who looked a little like a soccer mom. I've also seen tons of different Obama shirts.
Oddly enough, there have been no McCain buttons around, or shirts, even though this is a very Republican part of the state.

Crazy

People are crazy.
Bumper stickers have been stolen, tires have been slashed, and outrageous effigies have been created. "Obama for president of Afghanistan?"
I think this is all way too out of hand. It's an election not a battle. Someone's going to win, sure, but people should still be civil in their endorsments.

Polls

Battleground States
Florida: 48.5 vs. 45.0
Obama +3.5
North Carolina: 49.0 vs. 46.0
Obama +3.0
Virginia: 51.0 vs. 44.5
Obama +6.5
Ohio: 49.2 vs. 43.4
Obama +5.8
Missouri: 48.0 vs. 47.8
Obama +0.2
Colorado: 50.8 vs. 44.3
Obama +6.5
Nevada: 50.3 vs. 43.3
Obama +7.0

I really wish I could vote.
Despite my mildly insufficient blogging, I really am interested in the election. :)

Misc.

1)I saw two semi-trucks today with 'Vote Obama-Biden on November 4th' on the side of them with a huge picture of each. It was really funny. And it just demonstrates really how much money Obama's campaign is pulling in that they can invest in something like little moving billboards like that.

2)Christian's grandma voted for Ralph Nader because she didn't want to be responsible for either Obama or McCain taking office. That was funny too. I've heard people say that the public seem to be voting for or against Obama, rather than for McCain. This seemed to be an example of that attitude to me because she didn't want Obama in office but she didn't like McCain.

3)A few people on t.v. a few days ago said they were scared of Obama. What? They're scared he'll take their money? Or scared he'll keep abortion legal? This wasn't funny, it was just ridiculous. Give me one legitimate reason to be scared of him. Really.

Kids Voting

Kids Voting was a little stupid. We didn't get to voice our opinions on any of the really controvercial issues, just on the tax issues. I helped my dad fill out his real mail-in ballot, which was much more exciting. The two issues I thought were most important were whether or not to make amendments to the state constituion harder to pass, and whether to change the 'definition of a person' in the Colorado constitution. These two pair together well because if the first goes into effect, it will be harder for amendments like the second to get on the ballot. One girl got the abortion issue on the ballot, and I don't think it's a fair representation of what the state wants. The ballots would be shorter if it was harder to get amendments on them, and overall would be more significant.

P.S.

Colin Powell?
Obama is reinforcing, activating and converting.
He's unstoppable.

Gov. Sarah Palin

Spoof Katie Couric interviewing Sarah Palin

I love it.

I'm still deciding whether I'm going to go see Palin tomorrow. It would be really interesting to hear what she has to say from her own mouth, to see if she seems more intelligent in person. And the FMHS Jazz Choir is singing so how could I not go?
But really, I don't know if it would be worth it.

She opposes everything that women have been working to achieve for the last 200 years. And she doesn't recognize that she's reaping the benefits of all of it.

Healthcare

McCain is proposing to give $5000 dollars a year to every family or $2500 to every individual, as well as tax any money that people's employers would give to them.
Most people would easily have to pay that much in 6 months, and much, much more per year.
Tell me why he thinks this is going to work?

My friends...

McCain really said nothing in the presidential debate last night. He defended himself against whatever Obama said, but added nothing new to the arguments. It was like he was giving a series of pep talks as opposed to addressing any plans of his. He did talk about his $5000 health insurance plan, but it wasn't clear if that money would be given to families or individuals. If it was for individuals it would work most of the time but not all, and if it was for families it would not work. This one plan that he did explain was so unclear that it fell short of a good argument. His performance last night did nothing for his campaign.

Obama's performances have been consistent, and last night was no different.

McCain looks like he's going to have a heart attack. This concerns me.

holla.

VP Debate

I didn't really learn much from the vice presidential debate. Both of the candidates seemed pretty middle of the road, or they talked around the questions. It's been suggested that Palin step down as McCain's vp because she knows so little, and although this debate didn't really strengthen Biden's image, it did no good for Palin either. She still seems a little out of the loop.

1st Presidential Debate

I don't know that much about the history of either of the presidential candidates, and I'm not going to pretend I do. Hearing the stand points of each of the candidates in immediate opposition in a debate is really helpful for me. I tried to think about the debate objectively like you suggested, even though I'm really behind Obama. This debate showed that each of the candidates have policies that are stronger in some areas than others and are therefore more convincing- McCain with foreign policy and Obama with the financial crisis. Overall the debate convinced me that they are equally qualified and equally as strong. I actually thought that McCain seemed more together than Obama and was a better speaker in this debate. I can understand why this election is still so close.

Issues Raised by the Madisonian Model

The Madisonian model of government raised several issues, many of them the conflicts between Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Some people believe it is an inefficient form of government because it takes so long for change to occur and responses to pressing concerns are not immediate enough. Also, it was a concern originally that it was created to take power out the hands of the people and put it back in the hands of the elite, a concern of the Anti-Federalists. Equality of the rich and poor was a major issue for them; they felt that the rich expected to get all of the seats in the government and therefore gain all of the power in a country that had just fought to get power back to the people.

Changes to the Constitution

The Constitution can be changed both formally, through the amendment process, or informally by changes in what is called the 'unwritten constitution.'
There are several different ways to formally amend the constitution, a process with two steps. First, an amendment can be proposed with a 2/3 vote in each house of Congress, or by a national convention by request of 2/3 of state legislatures. For all amendments passed ,with the exception of the 21st, Congress has proposed the amendment. Once an amendment has been proposed, there are two ways it can be ratified. Mostly commonly, 3/4 of state legislatures ratify the amendment, but through conventions called in 3/4 of states, an amendment can also be ratified.
Informally, there are four ways the Constitution can be changed. They are considered informal because the written Constitution is not changed, only the unwritten one concerning the tradition, practice and procedure of a country. Judicial interpretation, or the way the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution in court cases through judicial review is one way to change. With different judges, the Constitution could be interpreted differently. Changes in political practice can shape the Constitution and change the meaning. The current system of political parties is one change that has occured- when George Washington was president there were no parties, and so the Constitution applied differently to politics then. Technology has also advanced the way politics are viewed and speeds up the change in the unwritten constitution by exposing more ideas to more people all at once. Finally, demands on policymakers, due to both domestic and international affairs, are causing change. Growing and changing affairs create need for new policies, and these policies shape the Constitution in their own ways.
Sometimes, passing an amendments takes decades, sometimes only a few years. Change to the unwritten consitution has the same broad range. In some ways it is very easy to adapt the Constitution to fit our modern politics, especially informally, but no matter what, chage is always occuring.

Ticket

I have one. I'm really really really excited to go. I can't vote though so I feel like I'm stealing a ticket from somebody who could use it more than me. But I'm not giving it away. :)
They really should have him speak somewhere else. The orchard place holds like 1500 people? That's not nearly enough for a city of almost 150,000 in an important swing state. Bad call.

Madisonian Model of Gov't

The Madisonian model of government creates a balanced system where no one section has more control than the others. Madison's goal was to limit majority control (factions and interest groups), seperate the powers in the government and create checks and balances for those powers. His model centers around representation, with the public voting for people who represent them and who then vote for other people with higher power in the branches of government.
Madison's model was taken into great consideration when our government was formed and the actual structure almost exactly mimmicks his ideal structure. The people vote through the electoral college which votes for the president. They also vote for the state legislatures. Originally the state legislatures were in charge of electing senators, but now that power rests with the people as well. The senators and the president then work together to nominate and confirm the election of judges into the Supreme Court. Finally, the people vote for representatives in the House of Reps.
The idea of a balanced system where no branch has more power than another is reflected by the system of checks and balances that has been put in place. Each of the three branches of the government- Judicial, Legislative and Executive- all have the power to check the other two branches in some way or another. This means that none of them have complete control over any issues that arise.
The Madisonian Model of Government raises the issue of balance in particular because it is essential that one faction or group cannot gain and command all of the power over an issue in the government. Madison's model addressed this and gave us a solution to that problem.

1st

I wasn't able to watch any of the speechs of the potential presidents or vice presidents but I was able to see some of the criticism of Obama's speech afterward. I also went to watch the debate between the potential US Senators at Two Rivers, which was really interesting but all of the yelling didn't really persuade me to vote one way or another.
Politics make me really tired. :)