Obama cracks funny with Johnny Stewart

HERE IS THE LINK, BUDDY!

It's Our Turn

Pennsylvania is buzzing with political excitement as a key primary takes place today. In two weeks, it's our turn.

While I've participated in primary elections on behalf of a campaigning congressional family member, the buzz around Indiana's democratic hype is especially exciting.

Will Indiana democrats rock the vote? Will a generation of perceived tech babies awaken to do their public duty? This is a critical turning point for our generation: It's time for us to show up to work.

We're stereotyped as an apathetic generation, and I've certainly seem some examples of that in my tenure here at Ball State. Yet I'm always amused when I meet driven college students willing to work for a cause - for free.

Volunteering isn't a word I hear commonly associated with our generation, but there are a handful of us who believe in it and value the experience. I've made friends on both sides of the Democratic spectrum here, but have yet to meet a student volunteer from the Republican side.

Hopefully that's an indication of the election to come. ;)

The End Is Near

In case you missed last week's democrat debate, you can watch the 1 minute version here:
http://www.236.com/news/2008/04/17/pennsylvania_debate_in_1_minut_1_5947.php

Today's primary in Pennsylvania could make Indiana's either meaningless or very important. I admit, I'll be watching to see how it comes out. I guess it really is the Keystone State!


I am happy to see that the end of the semester is almost here. It has been a long one with a lot of work.
I think what we have created in this class is pretty cool. It will be a fresh take on the primary season for the Digital Insight program.
Good job everyone. We saw some good, funny, creative and interesting videos. The web site is cool with the flash lessons in the electoral college being very useful.
Thanks for a great semester. Have a wonderful summer.

This is definitely the final version of my video

Worst Debate Ever!

No wonder...this is ABC and George Stoponopololiisiss is a real shithead. First 45 minutes...let's hit Obama question after question after question and then let Hillary sneak right away from her 'sniper' question. He held his own but man he was struggling quite bad with words until they finally decided to talk about policy.

As I said on facebook...why not put this on VH1 or E!...

Rock Concert Movement #341

Well, Obama's visit to Muncie was the first time I had ever been to any sort of political event. And it was nothing that I ever expected. Yes, I expected long lines at the tickets. Maybe even at the door. What I didn't expect?

Vendors.

T-shirts, buttons and caps all for low, low prices compared to the candidate's websites.

One problem...aren't you wanting to support the candidate...and not some guy selling stuff at random that he made to copy it?

Final version of my video (probably)

That's it. I don't want any lower thirds. They would be inappropriate.

So Bush is definately going to the Olympics in China and for once I think I am actually supporting his decision. The Olympics are supposed to be a peaceful time for countries to just chill out and let their athletes compete against the rest of the world. I think a lot of people have forgotten what the olympics stand for, and it's kind of sad. It was embarrasing to watch protestors try and blow out the torch. Like I said, good for Bush to rise above the crap and actually remember what the games are all about.

Credits

Digital Insight: Special Edition
Host
David Studinski
Director
Tim Underhill
Writer
David Studinski
Teleprompter
John Martin

Tape Operator
Iris Antonietti
Graphics
Sarah Anderson
Kyle Hufford

“Campus Christian Politics”
Executive Producer
Brian Handler
Teleprompter Operator
John “Vince” Martin
Photographers
Martin Ryder
Kyle Ramsy
Correspondent
Brian Handler

“Who is Chelsea Clinton?”
Producer
Martin Ryder
Photographer
Adam Winn
Correspondent
Martin Ryder

“A tale of two campuses”
Executive Producer
Brian Handler
Producer
John Behrle
Photographer
John Behrle
Correspondent
Brian Handler

“Indiana: The Democratic Battleground”
Producers
Iris Antonietti
John Martin
Correspondents
Iris Antonietti
John Martin

Lighting
John C. Dailey, PhD
Photographer
John C. Dailey, PhD
Barack Obama Town Hall Footage Courtesy NewsLink Indiana

Super Tuesday Flashbacks
Producer
Kyle Hufford
Tim Underhill
Editors
Kyle Hufford
Tim Underhill
Special Thanks:
BallBearingsonlne.com
Ball State Daily News
Ball State University
Campus Crusade for Christ, Ball State University Chapter
Department of Telecommunications, Ball State University
Earlham University
NewsLink Indiana
Digital Insight is a production of the Department of Telecommunications’ Digital Storytelling Program at Ball State University.
Copyright 2008 Ball State University

Total Runtime 26:46 …or…. 28:46

Loose lips sink ships?

Barack Obama's surge in Pennsylvania appears to have stopped after the controversy over his remarks about bitter small town voters clinging to guns and religion, according to a new poll.

But the Quinnipiac University survey, the first taken since coverage of the remarks, also doesn't show immediate evidence that Obama has been wounded.

The poll showed Hillary Clinton with a 50 percent to 44 percent lead over Obama, the same as a week earlier over Obama, who had been narrowing her lead from single digits.

I know some people in small towns are upset with Obama's statements. He admitted he should have phrased his thoughts a little differently. I understand how people in small towns who have lost jobs might be bitter and upset, but I don't get the guns and religion reference. In difficult times people often seek solace through a higher power. So I can see "clinging to religion," as a way to deal with hard times. But I don't see that as a bad thing. Whatever helps people get through, especially religion should be looked at as good.

Now explain to me how guns figure into the equation.

Hillary Hits Crown Point

Oh, what, Hilldog, we're not good enough to party with here at Ball State? Whatever.

Hot Hillary Clinton Party Photos

Muncie "Fights" for votes

Thanks Muncie for getting your name in the news one more time for something stupid and embarrassing. A man representing the Republican party got into a fist fight with a reporter from the Muncie Star yesterday. Apparently they were arguing about voter registration. At least the news stories I heard ended in a positive matter talking about how the election board worked late to get all of the last min. voter registrations entered. I still never heard what the argument was specifically about.

waiting in line

I went to the village at 4:35pm to get the tickets and I was really amazed about the masses of people that queued once around the block. Shortly after I came the end of the line started to touch the beginning!
.....well....at least the weather was nice....and you always make new friends when you are waiting together - all with the same goal!
The only thing that frustrated me, that the ticket distribution was in my opinion not properly planned. After more than 2 1/2 hours of waiting (15people in front of me), they ran out of tangible tickets and we had to put our contact information on a list. One voluntary said the list means we have a spot for sure....another one said IF they get tickets from Indianapolis they will call us.....
I hope the first one is true, because otherwise waiting would have been a waste of time.....

Example of Political Tactics

This is a story that caught my attention from the opinion section of the campus newspaper. It also perfectly fits what I feel are normal strategies that are strong during the political seasons. One side trying to demotivate the other side. Some things such as presentations change, while views can stay the same.

Graphics Update

So, for the weekly update...

Here's the updated web site: http://seanderson.iweb.bsu.edu/690Test

I started working on the lower thirds graphics for Brian (any input welcomed, I'll show in class!)

I have logged on to our iWeb account & got things rolling... I'll pass along more info when we get to it...

Not to add to the cynicism but...

Expecting change from just one person is asking a lot. I understand the president of the United States is called the "most powerful person" in the world, but it takes a lot more than just one person. You need the full cooperation of the congress and senate to start with.
We look at the presidential and vice presidential candidates when we choose who to vote for. But maybe we need to look beyond those two. Who will be in the new cabinet? Who are the likely advisors who will have the ear of the commander in chief?
Should we be concerned about remarks made by the candidate's pastor, spouse, child or elementary school teacher? I bet those people can provide some insight into the person and their background, but the real question is how much involvement will they have in the White House?

And now for the requisite cynical perspective

Every four years, it's fun to play make believe and find yourself a candidate who is gonna storm that White House and make some real changes. Not like that last guy. This guy (and now they come in woman, too!) is the real deal. He has our best interests in mind. In fact, that's why he's gone through all this crap to get this far. He just wants to sacrifice himself for the greater good of all Americans, no matter their race, gender, economic status, religion, and all those other characteristics (shackles?).

Of course, we all know that this isn't true. Voting for a presidential candidate is like picking between rotten apples and rotten oranges. They're gonna taste like shit, but maybe you'll prefer the taste of one type of shit over the other.

Not everyone is able to play make believe, though. Like whoever did this graffiti:

And whoever created the myspace page for No One for President.

Not voting isn't the answer, though. Neither is voting. We don't have the answer. Still, you might as well vote. At least then you'll have legitimate grounds from which to complain about what the winner does for the next four years.

Ripple of Hope

I had forgotten again to do this blog thing but what I was going to blog seems so small compared to what I experienced last night. My wife and I went to see the premiere of "Ripple of Hope" a documentary on the speech that RFK gave in Indianapolis the day MLK was killed. It was 40 years to the day yesterday "when a shot rang out in the Memphis sky" I had no expectations going in to the Madam Walker Theater last night, all I knew was that this film was a production of Covenant Productions in partnership with Anderson Univ. What I came out of there with was overwhelmingly enlightening experience.

I knew about the speech and I knew some of its historical significance, but I did not have the understanding of the event as I have now. Bobby Kennedy gave one of the best non political-political speeches in American politics history. After everyone including the police, Washington DNC leaders, the Mayor of Indianapolis, and his top aids told him not to go to this black part of town where he was scheduled to speak he went anyway. While many cities in the US burned that night, many historians attribute the peace in Indianapolis to the RFK speech. The documentary is not a film about a speech, its not about the Presidential campaign of 1968, its about peace and understanding. We have come a long way since 1968, but there is still work to be done. Who will be the next JFK, RFK, or MLK in our generation?

After the film was done there was a panel discussion with the film maker and leaders in Indianapolis. A great dialog went on for 2 hours after the film was over. And the amazing thing about that 2 hours was how positive the discussion was. People were talking about awareness and about positive change. The theater was half white half black and we were all there in dialog because of a "digital storyteller".

To make some connections to 2008, this year is the first time since 1968 that the Indiana Primary has been influential. Obama was to make the same trip that RFK made on April 4th 1968, but at the last minute canceled that trip. Also during the panel discussion after the film a very well dressed man walked up to the stage to thank the film maker before he had to leave. We all felt it was a little odd and when he turned he looked a little familiar. It was in fact Max Kennedy the son of Bobby Kennedy. He was in town campaigning for Obama when he heard about this film. No one knew he was there, not even the film maker. After some prodding by the crowd he got up on stage and said a few words. He tried not to campaign, but he did say that there is a candidate in this election that shares the views and vision for America that his dad did.

I hope everyone has a chance to see this documentary for perspective, and to affect a ripple of hope in their own community.

www.rippleofhopemovie.com

Timeline for 1/2 hours show

:10 – Open
:30 – Welcome/explainer from host
8:00 - Religion & Politics – Brian
1:00 – Bumper 1 (Number of people covering Super Tuesday)
:30 – Host ramblings
5:30 (15:40)- Chelsea at BSU - Marty
1:00 – Bumper 2 (Leher)
:30 – Host ramblings
5:00 (20:40) - Earlham – Brian
1:00 – Bumper 3 (Best political teams)
:30 (22:10) – Host ramblings
3:30 (25:40) - Hilbama
:30 (26:10) - Host close
:?? - Closing Credits
TOTAL: ??:??

Intro Graphics Idea...

Here's what I've been working on for the intro graphic... Let me know what you think!!!!

http://seanderson.iweb.bsu.edu/graphicsdemo.swf

Cut the crap

Seriously, if these candidates send anymore actors to our college...

Look, I'm sure Sean Astin and Kal Penn are probably alright guys and they're not terrible actors. You know, they're not as bad as a Tom Cruise or a Nicholas Cage. But what exactly do they have to do with politics?

Sean Astin wasn't even that bad. He's a child actor who managed to avoid the typical child actor pitfalls and remain relatively successful.



But Kal Penn? He's famous for being in two Van Wilder movies and a movie about potheads who like White Castle.


How exactly does that fit in with the Obama campaign's message?

Oh, I know how. We're just a bunch of dumb, drunk college students who get all kinds of excited when we see a real life celebrity! Gee, candidates, thanks for pandering to us! Don't worry about gracing us with your actual presence. Just send some more C-listers to entertain us. Clearly that's what we want.

Obama in Muncie FRIDAY

I'm so excited that I just pee'd my pants...who's going with me?!?!


I'm going to be a raving lunatic if I don't get in!

Hillary Announces Runningmate!

I guess Obama's rejection affected her a bit more than we thought...

CUPERTINO, California (April 1st, 2008) - Hillary Clinton took a break from her campaign to make a major announcement in her run for President. She was in California at Apple's national headquarters to announce her new choice for her Vice-President, Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

On the steps of the Cupertino offices, Jobs stood with Clinton as she made her announcement. "Today begins the next step for the White House." Clinton continues, "Steve has brought advancements to both society and to technology for Americans as well as the world. I believe that he can also help advance this nation where it needs to go."

After her comments, Jobs stepped up to give his responce, a screen behind him displaying Hillary's campaign logo. "America is looking for change. A government that is accessable and able to respond to their very whims. I believe with the leadership of Hillary and the help of the Apple brand, we can do just that."

The announcement was brief, saying that more information could be found at both Hillary's website as well as Apple's. Both sites have been running slowly since the conference and thus the press has not been able to review the information. This story will be updated as the day goes on.

Watch out Ozzy, there's a new family in town

Isn't it so enriching to see such love between a family. Alright now honestly. Chelsea was asked about her Father's scandal for the second time while she was at UNC (the 1st time at Butler U.). Personally I think the student at UNC was just trying to get his 15 minutes of fame, but Chelsea, come on! Both times you have taken the question personally and got your panties in a bunch. These questions are fair game. Hey...if your mommy doesn't make it into office maybe your family should consider talking to MTV and getting your own show, "The Clintons".

Al Gore throws his hat into the ring!

Al Gore will run as Independent for president, Bloomberg tapped as veep

You might want to sit down for this: Al Gore has announced his candidacy for president. Wait, wait, don't get up yet: Gore, a lifelong Democrat, will run as an Independent. He's even announced his vice-prez pick: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who only last week dodged rumors that he'd be Barack Obama's second fiddle. But Bloomberg only has eyes for Dreamy Al. "This is a man who gets things done," Bloomberg said. "We're tired of waiting on Democrat and Republican bickering." In a speech in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday morning, Gore listed climate change, foreign policy, and getting the economy out of the dumps as his top priorities. And he minced no words in deflecting skepticism about his chances. "With all due respect to Senators Clinton, Obama, and McCain," he said, "what America needs is Al Gore."

The popularity of politics on YouTube

A NewsLink Indiana student crew did a story about Friday's visit to Muncie by Hillary Clinton. That story posted to You Tube, has gotten over 300 hits. There's plenty of other videos from the event online too. The Star Press carried the speech live on it's web site and the Indy stations were in attendance as well.
At least one of the viewers of the NLI story was really looking closely. The crew had exhausted it's good wide shots and took one from the feed to end the story on. The line was about continuing to campaign in Indiana and other states. The comment from the You Tube viewer called out the crew for using one shot that wasn't from Muncie.
I know You Tube has a lot of interest, but just didn't think people would be watching that critically!

Hillary in Muncie

....I could not help myself and had to go to see Hillary Clinton....I probably will never ever have that chance in my life (not that this bugs me, but....)

It was really an interesting experience, but honestly: I would have expected more people to come (even tough people had lined up at 4pm already)....maybe I have a wrong perception but she is running for to be the most powerful politician in the whole world (that's at least what they say over the big pond!)
It was funny, because the side I was sitting on had college students on the right side, older people in the middle and traditional democrats to the left....so whenever somebody tried to engage a "wave" for Hillary it would be strong to he right side, die right in the middle and ebb a little bit at the left side.
The only thing that spoiled it a little bit for me was that I was reading too much about American values lately, so whenever she said something about hard work and rolling up your sleeves and family&faith etc., the bells in my head started ringing...I could hardly concentrate with all that noise!
Overall I think it wasn't too bad, she tried to customize her speech to the situation in Indiana, added personal and individual stories, covered the most important political issues (sometimes lacking how she wants to achieve what she claims....but that's not unusual in a political rally)

For me as an international student it was definitely worth seeing.

Stick a fork in her, she's done...

So...she's taking it to Denver ehh? That's not going to happen, not by a long shot. I'm glad the media is writing her obituary - make it right there in the faces of everyone watching and most importantly those who are still to vote.

Let's be serious...she can't win a majority of electoral votes without winning about 60% in all remaining races (she's only hit those numbers in her home states of New York and Arkansas as well as Rhode Island) AND getting a recount in Michigan and Flordia (which isn't going to happen). So, say she SOMEHOW accomplishes 60% in all these states...she'll only lead 1,777 to 1,757.

Obviously, that's not going to happen. So she says she'll take it to the superdelegates. Ok so your campaign couldn't win the popular vote, the electoral votes, or number of states and you're going to overturn the will of the voters effectivly stealing a campaign away from a black man. Well just see how well that does her in the General Election. Everyone knows that would be disaster and now that the media are saying it nice and loud...well great.

Am I saying lets marginalize the remaining votes by having her drop out? Well, we do it every other year in the spirt of party unity...but no. She can stay in, she can lose real seriously in North Carolina and Oregon..maybe split Indiana...and then when all the Supers jump on the winning horse...she'll be dead in the water.

So - thanks Hillary for being such a decive pos. Go run for govenor of New York or something.

Chelsea Clinton and Sean Astin

I was there today too. For the most part it appeared that the Ball State students in attendance were there to listen to what Chelsea had to say. There were several people holding signs for both Clinton and Obama, but neither side was very vocal.
At one point shortly before the guests took the stage, a group of Hillary supporters tried to get a chant of her name going. It didn't work. Either the BSU apathy was in full force or they just couldn't be swayed into being cheerleaders.

Chelsea came to campus... and I have photos!

As Martin already posted, Chelsea Clinton came to campus today… I saw a few of our classmates there, and I think we could pull something together for our final piece… I have an audio recording of the entire event, as well as interviews before and after… The Atrium was a HORRIBLE place for audio-gathering, but hopefully I got something good out of it… I also have tons of photos from a few photographers, from several different angles….

Anyway, we can see what everyone thinks in class tonight….

Chelsea Clinton

So Chelsea Clinton is coming to campus. You know who thinks she is really pretty and all kinds of great? Brian Handler. He doesn't like her mother, but boy oh boy would he like to hold her hand at the movies.

John McCain's daughter is more my taste.

She's the pretty girl standing next to the gross corpse. Must be at a Halloween party or something.

Raining McCain

Who else just decided to vote for McCain?

Media and the elections

I am processing the data from my surveys distributed last week in Oklahoma. There were journalists from all over the place. Most of them were local not network employees. These folks were in Norman to learn to be better storytellers. Many of them avoid national politics concentrating instead on what their viewers are looking for, local news and information.
I'll let you all know during our presentations how the numbers add up.

Indiana Does Exisit After All

Here is my beef about this years primaries. Almost every primary that Indiana has ever had has not been important at all. Most candidates never even visit Indiana until the general election. You can't tell me that Obama or Clinton would have showed their face in Indiana if they did not need the delegates in this unique year. I wish someone would have asked Hillary that question in the middle of everyone stroking her ego down there in Anderson. It was sickening to hear all of the people in Anderson thank her so much for coming to Indiana and to Madison County. Both her and Obama would have cared less about Indiana if they had secured the nomination. They are using us and "gracing us with their presence" for a vote. The primary system needs to be fixed. The problems have always been there it took a extraordinary election to truly expose them. All 50 primaries need to be no more then a month a part from each other. Making them all "count" every election year. Then maybe we can then fix the electoral college.

Obama's New Platform: Bracketology

Well, it's that time of the year again. NCAA Basketball Tourney time. And people in offices and hoping beyond hope that they will get it perfect...and make some money.

But it's nothing like that for Barack Obama. He's just a fan of the game and the press just had to know about the candidate's pick. For new champions of the court.

Oh! And before I forget, here is the story.

It includes a nice little bit about trying to beat McCain in his brackets for a free fleece shirt! Joy!

Mr. Beck wants Mr. Handler

So a couple of weeks ago my peer and I got into an argument about Glen Beck. Apparently my fellow student did not share the same opinion that I had on the Beck, and it got my gears turning. There are so many anchors out there that the public watches, but who is to say that the person they watch is better than another? Aside from Nancy Grace, a lot of the anchors bring a lot of different points of view and I would think that the avid political person would take as many points of view as they could get.

Cherry Blossoms?

So it turns out that I missed the cherry blossoms in DC. Only by a few weeks, too. Boy, am I disappointed! I am. Disappointed.

Press Release

So, as most of you know, I'm writing a press release about our projects... Here is the rough draft... I had Lori Demo look it over.... And I have lots of changes to make... I'll send out a final version for everyone to see before it goes out officially...

Washington D.C. is not the only place buzzing about the 2008 Presidential Election. Ball State University Telecommunications Graduate students are creating, airing, and publishing projects about the election. While most political campaigning goes on hundreds of miles from Muncie, Ind., these students have been able to focus stories on the Ball State campus, and surrounding communities.

The first round of projects includes three videos, one information graphic, and a podcast. The work will air on several media outlets, including television, radio, and an online magazine-website. The projects are available to view online at _________________.

Students have total freedom in creating projects for this class. Graduate student, David Studinski, chose to work both behind the scenes and in front of the camera.

"The chance to not only host a news magazine show but help in its production and dissemination is an incredible and rewarding experience. Mixing the resources of the university with the excitement of a presidential election year gives way to unlimited potential," Studinski said.

One team focused on the international aspect of the election. German exchange student, Iris Antonietti gave an international viewpoint for the project.

"Youth and voting is a universal topic. It is as prominent in Germany as it is in the US. For me as a German student immersing myself into the US culture, it is interesting to learn about differences and commonalities in the voting system and politics in general," Antonietti said. "Trying to find and contact the political groups on campus was an interesting challenge! It showed me how much passion young people have to have to get involved into politics and how hard they work to get their goals accomplished."

The class is currently working on a mega-project which will combine everyone's work into a half-hour episode of Digital Insite which will air ______. Students with diverse backgrounds are teaming up to create this final product. As a supplement to the television show, segments featured on the show will be available to view online, as well as a few web-exclusive pieces.

Over 500 miles from the nation's capital, Ball State University students are preparing for the presidential election. This opportunity only comes once every four years, and a select group of students are utilizing this chance to create a piece of history.

Self-Destruct in 230 Days, 19 Hours...?

So, the doomsday predictions are coming around from the Democratic party. We are all going to die. Also known as the Republicans are going to win due to self destruction.

With all of the sudden hatred in the Democratic primary race now, who knows what will happen then. Will it all blow over in time when the candidate is finally announced? Or will this bad blood be brought back up when the race is most important.

No one will really know until the time comes. And the clock is ticking.

The GOP is now gaming our primary for Clinton.

This is from kos...blah blah blah.

It's important that you see what's happening here and this explains it well.

____________________


Now that John McCain has won the GOP nomination, Republicans are voting in the Democratic primary in increasing numbers, hoping to pick their opponent for the November election, or at least cause more turmoil in our already divisive nomination battle.

Their choice? Hillary Clinton.

Yesterday, in the Mississippi primary, 24% of Hillary Clinton's support came from Republicans. Unlike the Republican support generated by Barack Obama, according to exit polling data, Clinton's Republican support appears to be part of the explicit plan promoted by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh to wreak havoc upon the Democratic Party by voting for Hillary Clinton.

Let's first take a look at the bigger picture.

In January and February, while the Republican nomination contest was still being waged, just 3.9% of Democratic primary voters were self-described Republicans. On March 4, the day that John McCain won enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination, Republican participation in Democratic primaries more than doubled.

As you might remember, a day earlier, Rush Limbaugh had appeared as a guest on several radio shows to encourage Republicans in Ohio and Texas to cross party lines and vote for Clinton as way of sabotaguing the Democratic primary promise. On election day, Bill Clinton gave an interview to the guest host of Rush Limbaugh's show.

Yesterday, 12% of Democratic primary voters in Mississippi were Republicans -- triple the numbers from January and February.

::

As the number of Republicans in the primary has increased, Hillary Clinton's share of the Republican vote has skyrocketed, going from a 69-31 deficit in January and February to a whopping 75-25 lead in Mississippi. Although Barack Obama's share of the Republican vote declined, his absolute percentage did not change much, hovering around 3-4%. In other words, he was simply winning a smaller percentage of a larger pie.

In the abstract, there's nothing wrong with receiving votes from Republicans in the Democratic primary -- as long as those votes come from Republicans who are truly committed to a Democratic candidate. That appears to be the case with Barack Obama, who consistently does well among Republicans and independents in public opinion surveys.

Hillary Clinton's support from Republicans, on the other hand, is coming from Republicans who will not support her in the general election. They are simply wreaking havoc in the Democratic primary, hoping to further divide an already divided party, and perhaps even help Hillary Clinton win the nomination.

How can I be so sure that this is the case?

Well, look at the exit polls from yesterday.

On several questions a shockingly high percentage of the people who voted for Hillary Clinton indicated they did not like her -- numbers that were not reflected in the views of Obama supporters of their own candidate.

For example, 31% of Hillary Clinton's voters said she was not honest and trustworthy. By comparison, just 4% of Barack Obama's supporters said the same.

24% of Hillary Clinton's had a strongly favorable opinion of John McCain -- compared to 6% of Barack Obama's supporters.

Although cross-tabs are not publicly available (at least to my knowledge) these is exceptionally strong evidence that about one-quarter of her vote yesterday came from Republicans were just trying to stick it to the Democratic party.

(I've explained my methodology at the bottom of this page.)

::

What impact does this have?

First, it has an impact on delegates.

Yesterday, Barack Obama won 60.6% and Clinton won 37.2%. If her Republican voters hadn't shown up, she would have won about 28% and Obama would have won about 68%.

The threshold for winning a larger share of statewide delegates is 62.5% -- so the Republican voters definitely cost him delegates.

I don't know exactly how many and will update this blog entry when I've got more numbers.

Here's an update on the delegate totals from our very own wizard of odds, poblano. According to poblano, net/net Obama might have been able to do as well as 24-9 instead of 19-14. Put another way, he could have netted +15 instead of +5 delegates -- a ten delegate swing. Anyway, here is poblano's comment (and while I'm at it, let me plug poblano's brand new blog, fivethirtyeight.com):

He was very close to the 62.5% threshold to gain 3 out of 4 pledged PLEOs.

He was also close to the threshold for getting 5 out of 7 at-large delegates (he needed 64.3% of the two-way vote to do this).

AND he was close to getting the 70% he needed to win a 4-1 split in CD-3 (he got 66.8%).

AND he was close to getting a 6-1 split in CD-2; he needed 78.6% of the vote to do that, and got 76.3%.

AND he was close to winning CD-1 outright, which would have netted him an extra delegate (he got 48.3% instead of the required 50.000001%).

If Obama had an extra 4% of the vote statewide, he would have surpassed each of these thresholds, and the delegate split would have been 24-9 rather than 19-14.

Second, it has an impact on media perception. One of the key takeaways from the media yesterday was that Hillary Clinton's supporters didn't like Barack Obama as much as Barack Obama's supporters like Hillary Clinton.

They implied racial animus was at the root of this division, nicely playing into the whole Geraldine Ferraro storyline.

They thing they left out was that a full quarter of Clinton's supporters were Republicans! And the Republicans didn't like her either! Because they were gaming the process!

It wasn't race! It was Rush!

Third, Republicans may -- and I qualify this because if they did it was close -- they may have tilted (edit: the primary vote in) Texas to Hillary Clinton. I estimated that she won at least 65,000 votes from Republicans that she wouldn't have won had there not been an increase in Republican cross-over voting. She won Texas by 100,000. Given the fact that I think some Republicans who are tricky enough to game a primary will lie to exit pollsters and say they are Democratic, I really wouldn't be surprised if Republicans actually won Texas for Hillary Clinton.

::

The bottom-line as far as I'm concerned is that this new trend is symbolic of a Democratic primary that has gone completely haywire.

Not only is there division between the Clinton camps and the Obama camps, but now Republicans are actively intervening in our primaries and caucues to screw with our process.

It's only going to get worse -- Republicans will change parties when there is closed primaries and in open primaries, they will cross-over and vote for Hillary Clinton in increasing numbers.

Effectively, this emerging pattern calls into question the validity of any voting from here on out, even in closed primaries. There's just so much lead time before the next contests that Republicans have plenty of time to register as Democrats and monkey with our primary.

Imagine just how effin' hard it will be to make sure revotes in Florida and Michigan don't end becoming a huge clusterf**k.

::

Ironically, this is exactly the kind of scenario that super delegates can be useful in.

How?

The ones that are on the sidelines who clearly support Barack Obama but have not committed to him -- superdelegates like Nancy Pelosi and others -- can publicly declare their support for Barack Obama.

As you can see from this chart, the fact is that in an ungamed primary, there's absolutely no way Hillary Clinton is going to take over the pledged delegate lead. It's just absolutely not going to happen. Nobody thinks it will -- not even the Clinton campaign.

There's also just about no chance she's going to win enough superdelegates to get the nomination.

The problem is that Republicans whose only goal is sabotage our nomination process are going to make this seem closer than it really is. And that's going to embolden Hillary Clinton to continue to make more attacks on our eventual nominee. And it's going to further divide the party. And maybe even cost us the election.

But if enough super delegates step up now, and declare that they will support Barack Obama it will become clear that Hillary Clinton has no path to the nomination -- and even if she does not withdraw from the race, her support will evaporate, and we can begin the process of uniting this divided party so that we can take back the White House in November.

Barack Obama has all but won the nomination. It's time to make it official.

The Republicans are having a party at our expense. It's time to shut it down.

DC's stupidity

So I went to the National Mall to get some footage that we could maybe use in our final project. Guess what?

You're not allowed to film using a tripod without a permit. Holding the camera? Fine. Resting the camera on a tripod? NO!!! BAD!!! STOP!!!

Now how in the hell does that make any sense?

"Gee, I totally could have planned a terrorist attack if only my video footage wasn't slightly shaky. Foiled again!"

Last time I checked this was my nation's capitol. My nation. If I want to film it with a camera attached to a tripod, then so what? I know I'm overreacting, but it's things like this that make you wonder why the American people are being punished for what a small group of terrorists did seven years ago.

Going Negitive All the Way

This past Tuesday we saw how negative campaigning can work. I am not in favor of negative campaigning. However, it worked for Hillary in Texas. What does this say about the American voter? Are we becoming a more hateful negative culture? How can Obama point out how negative Hillary is without being negative himself. To stay positive and on the issues you have to almost ignore what the other candidate is saying. I am wondering if the negative attacks will continue now that the Cliton campaign has seen results from their use. It is sad to see campaigns become attacking and less about the country and more about the individual. It is selfish and not for the betterment of the nation. What good can come from attacking your counterpart other then you winning the election. It is a purely selfish motive to start attacking the other candidate. If you stick to the issues you focus on what is the best for the people and nation. Just a thought.

Possible filler

I'm driving to DC on a whim for Spring Break. I'll bring my HDV camera and two blank miniDV tapes with me and get some footage.

Maybe I could get a segment out of it. Or maybe just some b-roll of the Capitol. Or footage of the police arresting me for sleeping in my car. No matter what, I'll have some kind of footage.

I'm not leaving until Friday morning, though, so if anybody has any suggestions, let me know.

Taking the lead...

On Tuesday, March 4, 2008, there was an ice storm hitting Muncie, Indiana, pretty hard. BSU canceled evening classes, but the TCOM 690 students took the lead and proposed meeting early to get the half-hour program set so that everyone could get back home in case the weather really got bad. I want to commend them for taking the lead and being pro-active. They could have, easily, blown it off, but the did not. One student could not make it due to the weather but let me know in advance and offered to do "whatever" on the project. The others met, parceled out responsibilities, and, now, we have a doable plan of attack to produce a half hour program for TV and the web. This is when it's really fun teaching.

Delegate Calculator

This is cool... I have the link for the calculator at the bottom of the story...

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/03/04/clinton_down_but_not_out_for_t.html?hpid=topnews
Clinton Down, But Not Out, For the Count

By Peter Baker
Forget Wii. The real computer game for those of us mesmerized by Ohio and Texas today is located over on the site of our corporate cousin, Slate. As Dan Balz mentions in this morning's "8 Questions" that could be answered by today's primaries, "every political junkie around the country is spending hours with Slate's delegate calculator on the Internet or with more complex spreadsheets that are being passed around by e-mail." We think he meant us!

Slate's delegate calculator is reasonably simple but ingenious. It lists all the remaining Democratic contests, starting with the four today - Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont - all the way through Puerto Rico on June 7. You can plug in what percentage of the vote you think Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) will win in each of these states and the calculator then tells you how many pledged delegates each of them will have at the end of the primary season.

It doesn't actually take hours playing with it to understand just how deep a hole Clinton really is in. On the surface, it wouldn't seem like she's that far behind even before the two big primaries that she may win today. After all, by the count of NBC News, which is what Slate uses as its basis, Obama has 1,192 pledged delegates and Clinton has 1,036, a difference of just 156. (This does not include the much-discussed superdelegates, but let's leave them aside for the moment.) Given that a candidate needs 2,025 delegates to win the nomination, it would seem the contest is still very tight.

But let's go ahead and plug in some numbers. Let's assume Clinton wins three of four states today -- Ohio, Rhode Island and Texas. And let's assume she wins by the average of recent polls, as tabulated by the Web site, Real Clear Politics, and split the undecided evenly between the candidates. That would mean she would win Rhode Island with 55 percent, Ohio with 54 percent and Texas with 51 percent. Obama would take Vermont with 60 percent, judging by the latest polling. That would obviously be a great night for Clinton and one that she hopes would revive her flagging campaign. She would prove that she continues to win the big states even if Obama still has the lead among delegates and it would raise questions about why he has not been able to close the deal.

If all of that happens, then, what would Clinton need in the remaining contests to catch up among pledged delegates? There are a dozen contests still to come after today, starting with Wyoming on Saturday and Mississippi next Tuesday. Then you have Pennsylvania on April 22, followed over the next few weeks by Guam, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota and finally Puerto Rico. Working the Slate calculator, she would need to win 62 percent in each of those states to pass Obama in pledged delegates, giving her a total of 1,605 to 1,604.

For starters, the idea that she would win, say, Mississippi or North Carolina may be a stretch under any circumstance. The latest polls show Obama with a double-digit lead in North Carolina, while Mississippi has similar demographics as other Southern states that he has won in landslides. But even assuming she could win those two states, to understand just how steep a hill it would be for Clinton to get 62 percent in the remaining states, all you have to know is that she has gotten that much in only one state in all the voting so far -- her onetime adopted home of Arkansas. Even in New York, where she is the sitting senator, she won 57 percent. She won 55 percent in Michigan where Obama was not even on the ballot.

Now, the Slate calculator is imperfect, of course, and the vagaries of caucuses and delegate rules and so forth mean this analysis is inexact. And this does not include Florida and Michigan, whose delegates were ruled ineligible by the Democratic National Committee because those states held primaries earlier than allowed under party rules -- delegates Clinton would like to seat since she won those states. But you get the point. And this is why the Obama camp remains confident that they will finish the primary season with a lead among pledged delegates no matter what happens today.

Of course, there are nearly 800 superdelegates and the Clinton camp hopes victories today would give it enough momentum to keep those party elders from flocking to Obama at least until Pennsylvania. If Clinton could prove in the interim that Obama is a paper tiger and not up to the scrutiny a front-runner invariably attracts, her strategists think the superdelegates will decide they have to go with her for the sake of the party.

It's a big gamble and few at Clinton's headquarters in Arlington are fooling themselves about the odds. But this year has shown that anything can happen and politics are not so neat and predictable as we might think. Or at least not as neat and predictable as Slate's delegate counter.

http://www.slate.com/features/delegatecounter

Only 5 hours to Canada

So i'm very curious as to why Hillary is being so timid about her health care plan. What happened to the Hillary when Bill was in office? The one that turned peoples heads, and pushed the right buttons at every opportunity. Why can't we have a socialized health care system? I think our doctors and insurance buisness owners could still survive with only a $1 million house instead of a $5 million one. I don't understand why she doesn't revert back to those days when people loved her for her personality and her willingness to help the country to the best of her ability. I guess running for president doesn't require the same tenacity.

I feel your pain?

Hillary is trying to win Ohio by saying she is pushing solutions, not feelings. I thought the latest and greatest storytelling tool is emotion.
Do you think by trying to avoid making a "good feeling," that Hillary is on the right track?
I think that even though people say they are interested in the issues, in the end it's the emotion that wins votes.

Clinton races to Ohio primary

WESTERVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton is toughening
the rhetoric as Tuesday's crucial primaries near.
Clinton is sweeping across Ohio, telling supporters her campaign
is "about solutions," not feelings. She says she's the "only
candidate" left with a plan for universal health care. And she's
focusing on her opposition to trade agreements that she says have
drained thousands of jobs from the nation's industrial heartland.
The former first lady also tells reporters she's "sharpening
the contrast" with her rival Barack Obama, who's won the last 11
nominating contests. Polls show tight races in Ohio and Texas,
which vote Tuesday, along with Rhode Island and Vermont.
Clinton shrugs off suggestions the drawn-out contest will hurt
the Democratic Party in the fall election. She says the party will
unite once the primary battle is over.

eeting Notes: (3-1-08) Final Project Ideas!

690 Meeting Notes: (3-1-08) Final Project Ideas!

Ideas: (Went around the circle- everyone gave ideas)

Sarah: Local perspective & Graphics (How-to that accompany everyone’s video packages)

Iris: Young voters, local… Satirical- should it be serious or satire? Would like to aim at Digital Insite, with video packs, & website that promotes it…

Dave: Facebook/Social Networking info, Kyle had info on blog-refer…

John: Get off Ball State… Who are our connections? Collaborate with other schools? Focus on young voters? Who do we know that could help: Justin Gladis/Brians friends at Kent, Johns friends,

Brian: Comparing Ball state to Earlham College in Richmond, Ind.

Main Question: Should we make a half-hour show? Digital Insite?

Ideas:

Burris & School House Rocks- Dancing down McGalliard?

Set up at NL, as our own studio… Watch “election” coverage on MySpace, Facebook, etc…

30 Minute show… Filler/bumper pieces… Political Variety Show?

Go home & watch: Attack of the show? (Per John’s idea…)

How are student elections at other Universities? Should we include them?

Decision: Digital Insite’s Special Report on the 2008 Presidential Election

Content:

- comparison of Networks (Tim & Kyle’s piece)Done re-edit (down)

- Electoral College (Sarah & Dave’s graphic)

- Religion in Politics (Brian)

- Online Election

- School House Rock!

- Young Voters

- Ball State Student Political Groups (Iris/John- Iris in studio)

-

Tasks for Projects:

Interactive: Creating site & repurposing all pieces
Video Pieces:

On Tuesday: We need to figure out a timeline & specific jobs for everyone.

March 4- MUST nail down specific ideas & who’s going to do what… (Need producers!)

March 17^th (Spring Break!) All Writing Done & know SPECIFIC plans.. (outline of clock!)

Shooting: March 24/31

Building/fix: Week of April 14^th

All Assets done: April 8

Final Final: April 22

Can we get Something Else/Kent State/Justin Gladis to get involved???

To-Do List- e-mail Dom/Rod Smith Italy idea???

- Talk to Kyle about Indiana Wesleyan University (Story about comparison of Universities)

- Talk to Lori about Richmond… Do they know anyone at Earlham as source?

Goal: Feature Magazine show

Serious Build-in… Break in to Tim/Kyle’s package… Then Schoolhouse Rocks.. Iris international aspect?

Wow. Just watch.

Idea for Project

Since I have a radio show for the majority of this meeting, I can not make it. I will however back up my idea from the last time.

"Change: The 2008 Presidential Election"

For the first time, we are seeing changes on how the election is being handled on multiple fronts. Some religious groups are changing their views on how they should approach this election. Information sources are being expanded as to where voters can get information on the candidates and their issues. This includes social networks such as Facebook and YouTube. But at the same time, current television sources are trying new ideas to make their own programs look like 'virtual web sites'. Ball State is a campus that has at least seen some political activity in the past. However this year, it seems that the election is out of sight as importance here on campus. Even the Student Government Association has had a difficult time trying to find four students that want to lead the student body. Finally, the Electoral College. After two years of elections that have laid on the words 'Too Close to Call' and one that has been decided only by this organization, is this system of deciding the president still useful? Or is there a need for a balancing or even striking of this form of decision?

All of this can be answered by expanding our Project 1s and fitting them into a package that can run as a single program. We would have more time to where we could gather people that would be considered experts in different fields to help explain and expand our own individual results.

Sorry I couldn't be there.

The "H" Word

We should all know the issue at the moment about Obama's middle name. It came up this week out of nowhere from a McCain rally and has taken up news time ever since.

If you haven't found out already, his full name is Barack Hussein Obama Jr.

There have been two very different views of this. Republicans are saying that it should be no big deal (despite bringing it up in every news event) and that people shouldn't worry about it. Democrats are crying foul and said that it should have never been up in the first place and that people shouldn't worry about it, though they should worry about a group that would bring it up to mean hate.

What is your view on the "H" word?

Project Idea #2

"School House Rock: The Electoral College"

Ok everyone has seen the school house rock videos. I propose that we do a version of our own for the Electoral College. I am not sure if it would be animation or live action. But we could put a music video together to explain the Electoral College.

Kyle H

Project Idea #1

"Online Election"

The purpose of this project would be to show the importance of New Media in the 2008 Election. We would perform our own election night that would be staged of course. When we would report numbers instead of reporting on states we would report on the winners of new media. For example compare friends on Facebook to see which candidate won Facebook, so on and so forth until we have covered all of the major new media. We would have a studio and a few reporters. I know this is a crazy idea but I found it to be an idea that could cover all of the new media in this years election.

Kyle H.

Satire on New Media

I have noticed another new trend in this years election in reaction to New Media. Shows like SNL, Daily Show, and the Cobert Report have begun to do satirical comedy bits on the New Media of this election. On SNL last week you saw a skit making fun of the You Tube originated Obama Girl. The Daily Show has made jokes of the major networks having Facebook, and blog reporters. So does this point to a more legitimize New Media and its role in elections? When the comedy pundits of the world make fun of the impact of Facebook and YouTube do they become more of a force to be dealt with. I don't know the answer to this question its just an observation.

I saw change

I skipped class Monday (with permission!) to attend the Dayton for Change Barack Obama rally at the Nutter Center on Wright State University's.

What an experience. I have a feeling it'll mean more to me come November and beyond, as opposed to now when I'm dealing with all the things I pushed off so I could go. :) Still, the man is a powerful public speaker - a gift I've not seen in a president in my lifetime. (Bush post-9/11, maybe .. but we were all going, "WTF?" back then.)

I could go on about the speech, but I don't want to use this blog as a political pedestal. I will say that Obama's realism and personable nature is refreshing given the current administration's tone.

Beyond the speech itself, it was greatly amusing to sit and watch the crowd interact with itself. I also gawked at the press gallery, eventually spotting CNN's Candy Crowley. (Even she wears jeans on the campaign trail.) Avid news fans (my friends and I) could tell when Obama arrived, as his press camp quickly rushed into the lower arena with backpacks and jackets flailing.

The trip was nearly 2 hours, making it a half tank of gas round-trip. For the sake of being able to say, "I saw Obama," I'm glad I took the trip.

...Just let me make up the assignments first.

Huckabee extends his visit on 'SNL'

Even though Mike Huckabee is still battling for the Republican presidential nomination despite long odds, he said Saturday he won't "overstay his welcome."

Then he did precisely that, lingering on the "Weekend Update" set of "Saturday Night Live" despite repeated cues to leave the stage.

The former Arkansas governor appeared in a "Weekend Update" segment in which he described his confusion over whether it is mathematically impossible for him to win the nomination over front-runner John McCain. After anchorman Seth Meyers explained the numbers, Huckabee responded: "I'm not a math guy, I'm more of a miracle guy. So at this point I'm gonna focus on the miracle part."

However, he said: "Mike Huckabee does not overstay his welcome. When it's time for me to go, I'll know. And I'll exit out with class and grace."

Then he remained seated at the "Update" desk even though Meyers made it clear it was time for him to leave.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802250341

A Matter of Turbans...

Well, it was only a matter of time before things got this childish in one of the campaigns. One of the Clinton supporters sending out fliers misrepresenting the native clothing Obama was given. What other slurs have you heard from overzealous fans?

Unsafe at any speed...

Ralph Nader is making the election fun, at least for the comedians!
What does he really want? I doubt he thinks he can win the Whitehouse. If he gets his message out, then maybe it's a victory for him.

It's a good example of a campaign versus a movement.

"Big business never pays a nickel in taxes, according to Ralph Nader, who represents a big consumer organization that never pays a nickel in taxes." -- Dave Barry

ONE PROJECT OR TWO???

Alright guys: Do we want to have two projects or rather one big one that counts 25%?

Please leave your two cents to this topic!

Old and Busted: Bill and Monica, New Hotness: McCain and Iseman

well, not exactly but oh boy this will be a fun one to watch!

Well regardless if this pans out or not...this is going to be interesting. Oh god I'd love to run against that wacky Huckabee! "hey guys, lets change the constitution into the bible...duh duh duh"

Anyways, you won't need to 'keep your eye on the story' because they quite literally stopped both Hardball and Lou Dobbs (worthless) to break the story. Fox News, at least as I last checked, was continuing their crapfest

Check out the article. I'm a 23 year old male so I don't really care but all those conservative Christians are gonna be waggin their fingers.


My thought, if this actually has the teeth to bring down McCain (which isn't exactly likely), we'll see Romney pop right back up. He still holds the majority of delegates over Huckabee and though he endorsed McCain...those delegates can still vote how ever they want. Obviously they'd return to their original caster along with McCains.

Guess what...

I had lunch today and guess what: a table for "Obama '08" with two quite attractive male students (campaign T-Shirts included!)! Feeling my temperature rising and preparing myself for man-slaughter I asked them in the most sweetest voice I had: "Are you involved with the BSU college Democrats?".....well: Of course NOT! (Damn....and I was sooo ready!) They belong to their own Obama supporting group!

And the morale: "Und wenn du denkst es geht nichts mehr, kommt von irgendwo ein Lichtlein her!"
---And when you think nothing works anymore, a tiny light will appear from somewhere!---

Ball State you can do it! Don't give up! I believe in you!

The Reagan Diaries

So I realize that a lot of you will make fun of me for this, but in my spare time, (ha- who has spare time during thesis!) I’ve been reading The Reagan Diaries. It’s a really interesting play-by-play account of a day in the life of the President. It’s not really related to the election, I suppose, but I just got to the day where he has announced he is seeking re-election.

Anyway, I highly recommend it. I actually got it as a birthday present for my dad, but just looking at it was really interesting, so I am reading it before I give it to him!

Obama's wife hates America

Apparently, according to Fox News, Obama's wife said that she is only now proud of America. That, they explain, means that she is an "arch-liberal." And she was never proud of America. Oh, no! I hope Obama has been proud of America his entire life!!! I'm freaking out! What's real anymore!

Patriotism is so last century. Get over it, Fox News. America isn't anything to be proud of most times. Sure, I like it okay. I'm glad I was born here and all that. Proud is just going too far.

Obama is a cheater

I'm in Cooper Tire waiting for my car to get worked on (Thankfully there is a wifi connection). Fox News was talking about the Obama plagiarism story. He's been lifting lines from another politician's speeches. Not really a huge deal. Nobody is going up on stage and winging it. The words used are just a package for the ideas they are trying to communicate. If Obama or his speech writer knew someone else who already wrote the right words, then why not use them? Unless they didn't get permission beforehand like they're saying they did.

Anyways, there were two old white guys sitting to my left.

One said, "He really put his foot in his mouth."
The other said, "I hope he chews it to the knees."

Oh, racist old white guys. You sure don't appreciate black people very much, do you?

Time to get some cigars

So now that Castro has resigned as president, will this affect the campaigns of our political parties? Is there any benefit from trying to "befriend" Cuba? I know it's a small country, but right now I think our own economy could use help from ANY market that want's to buy our products.

absentee voters.....don't count....obviously

Speaking of absentee voters.....obviously they don't count as much as they could (;p!)....


I found an article from the 2004 election that was quite interesting. I posted only an excerpt here but for the full article go to http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/09/20/vote_ed3__0.php


Pentagon blocks site for voters outside U.S.

PARIS: In a decision that could affect Americans abroad who are not yet registered to vote in the Nov. 2 presidential election, the Pentagon has begun restricting international access to the official Web site intended to help overseas absentee voters cast ballots.According to overseas-voter advocates who have been monitoring the situation, Internet service providers in at least 25 countries — including Yahoo Broadband in Japan, Wanadoo in France, BT Yahoo Broadband in Britain and Telefónica in Spain — have been denied access to the site of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, apparently to protect it from hackers.In an e-mail addressed to a person in France who had tried to access the Web site, the Federal Voting Assistance Program's Web manager, Susan Leader, wrote: "We are sorry you cannot access www.fvap.gov. Unfortunately, Wanadoo France has had its access blocked to U.S. government Web sites due to Wanadoo users constantly attempting to hack these sites. We do not expect the block to be lifted."In Washington, a Pentagon spokeswoman reached by telephone confirmed that a number of Internet service providers worldwide had been blacklisted to thwart hackers. The spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Ellen Krenke, declined to comment further.The Federal Voting Assistance Program, which was designed to help both military and civilian voters abroad, is under the authority of the Defense Department.

(......article continued on website)

Absentee voters

Since I was an absentee voter for my election at home I was interested how much impact absentee voters outside the US may have

LexisNexis has numbers (article published 2004)
http://www.lexisnexis.com/about/releases/0729.asp

The article states:
"Sources vary when it comes to quantifying the number of eligible American voters abroad. The non-partisan Center for Voting and Democracy says 2 million to 3 million expatriates are eligible voters. Federal officials say roughly 6 million Americans overseas are eligible to vote: 3.2 million private expatriates; 1.4 million members of the armed forces and 1.3 million of their relatives; and about 200,000 State Department workers and other government employees."

......no matter if the lower or higher estimation is closer to the true number - I think it is still pretty impressive.
LexisNexis even describes the political affiliation of certain groups of US voters abroad (e.g. military personnel etc.)

It means that for the presidential election absentee voters indeed count....especially when the race is close!

Random Thoughts

Well, we finally have our front runner for the republicans. Despite Huckabee and Paul hanging on, it seems McCain is getting the nod

With this happening, does anyone here think that the Democratic race will be affected by attack ads from McCain's camp? And who will McCain choose to attack?

Modern day equivelant of the smoke filled room?

I've been reading more about how Candidates Pay Superdelegates in Campaign Contributions. It all seems a bit fishy to me, but then again it is politics.

Usually, when journalists look at campaign financing, we look at who gave the candidates money. But here is a twist. Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have Political Action Committees that have doled out thousands of dollars to the very people who will be voting to nominate them.

These recipients are so called "superdelegates," mostly party insiders who may back whomever they wish. Many are elected officials, such as congressmen, governors and the like. If you look at how candidates spend their campaign funds, you will often see that they help finance their political pals. Just go here and type in a congressperson, then click "expenditures" on the left side of the page. You can see how the elected official spends every dime of his or her campaign contributions.

The Center for Responsive Politics finds:


While it would be unseemly for the candidates to hand out thousands of dollars to primary voters, or to the delegates pledged to represent the will of those voters, elected officials who are superdelegates have received at least $890,000 from Obama and Clinton in the form of campaign contributions over the last three years, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Obama, who narrowly leads in the count of pledged, "non-super" delegates, has doled out more than $694,000 to superdelegates from his political action committee, Hope Fund, or campaign committee since 2005. Of the 81 elected officials who had announced as of Feb. 12 that their superdelegate votes would go to the Illinois senator, 34, or 40 percent of this group, have received campaign contributions from him in the 2006 or 2008 election cycles, totaling $228,000. In addition, Obama has been endorsed by 52 superdelegates who haven't held elected office recently and, therefore, didn't receive campaign contributions from him.

Clinton does not appear to have been as openhanded. Her PAC, HILLPAC, and campaign committee appear to have distributed $195,500 to superdelegates. Only 12 percent of her elected superdelegates, or 13 of 109 who have said they will back her, have received campaign contributions, totaling about $95,000 since 2005. An additional 128 unelected superdelegates support Clinton, according to a blog tracking superdelegates and their endorsements, 2008 Democratic Convention Watch.

Because superdelegates will make up around 20 percent of 4,000 delegates to the Democratic convention in August--Republicans don't have superdelegates-Clinton and Obama are aggressively wooing the more than 400 superdelegates who haven't yet made up their minds. Since 2005 Obama has given 52 of the undecided superdelegates a total of at least $363,900, while Clinton has given a total of $88,000 to 15 of them.


Many superdelegates to the 2008 Democratic Convention have officially announced whom they plan to nominate. Others have not yet endorsed a candidate.

An open question...

The media are telling us that Hillary is the underdog theses days and...anyone with half a brain should realize her last name is Clinton.

Regardless...she needs to do something to get the spotlight. So I wonder, what would happen if she took an absolutely unprecedented stand and named a running mate right now?

Your thoughts?

Chelsea Clinton...

I found MSNBC’s David Shuster’s remarks about Chelsea Clinton inappropriate to comment on, but absolutely unacceptable for a journalist to say. To give his own personal opinion, is not the role of a true journalist. I find this offensive and embarrassing for journalists everywhere.

Having said that, I thing the Clinton campaign is using this to their advantage. In interviews Friday, Hillary said “I’m a mom first and a candidate second.” I think she is using this incident to get some voters who may have not been on her side before. By reinforcing the fact that she is a Mom, she may be attracting fresh, new supporters…

Another speech-to-song

Someone posted a parody of that Will.i.am/Obama video using a McCain speech.

john.he.is

McCain sure does love war. You'd think he'd have gotten tired of it when he was a prisoner of war that one time.

Bite This

A study by Eric Bucy found that the 2004 election brought more candidate "image bites" than sound bites to televised newscasts. An image bite is when a candidate's image is seen, but they aren't heard from. More VOs than SOTs.
To me, it's an understandable conclusion. The story count for television news is up while the newscasts alloted time has stayed the same.
Now in 2008 the use of the internet for news coverage is commonplace. I am guessing that if you were to compare sound bites and image bites on the internet the results would be much different than traditional television news. You just might find more sound bites on the web than image bites.
The constraints of a televised newscast are no longer dictated by the clock.
Not only can we get more news, but we can get the news we want.

Today's Primary

So how many names can our
1. Best Political Team On TV (CNN)
2. Best Political Team In the Business (MSNBC)
3. Best Political Team Ever (F-word news)
4. Most Tired Political Team (Jim Lehrer)
...fabulous news teams come up for Tuesday's primary?

It seems many have settled on the Chesapeake Primary, but I'm still hearing: The Beltway Primary, The Potomac Primary, The Layercake Primary, etc. Have you heard any others?

So Obama sweeps the weekend primaries with the only surprise being Maine. Hillary had a fair amount of organization there and she's already won some neighboring states. So what's going to happen today? Polls have Obama up in all of them but I highly doubt he can pull of VA. Maryland and DC are easy...he's got a huge following in Baltimore.

Results come in at 7/8 so keep an eye.

Can we really elect a woman? African American?

that will be the challenge - a Viet Vet - lots of video of him captured - toss in a happy Huckabee by his side to capture the south - add a husband who wants to be on stage more than Hillary - with maybe no real running mate - can the Dems pull it off?

Man Overboard

“I think there’s some people who thought it was all going to be done tonight, but it’s not all done tonight,” Romney said. “We’re gonna keep on battling. We’re gonna go all the way to the convention. We’re gonna win this thing, and we’re gonna get in the White House.” - Super Tuesday


Oops.

Seems that he took a second look at the count and realized just how far behind he is. With Romney bowing out, we have to think that McCain is a cinch. Right?

Huckabee Girl

It was only a matter of time.

Well, blogger won't let me embed the video, so you'll have to go to Super Deluxe.

Funny-ish

Would You Change Our Primary System and How?

I heard on CNN today that they were wanting people to go to their website to write how they would change our primary system. Until this year I never questioned our system that much, and that might be because it has never been this close.

Personally I think every state should be the same and consistent. I also feel that everyone should be allowed to vote for all of the parties. The primaries would also look different if our government was more then a 2 part system. Why can't Obama, Cliton, Huckabee, and McCain all run for president in the general election to let the public decide?

How would you change it?

Democracy in Action or Pumping Margins

I have been watching a lot of coverage of the primary election coverage and I cannot help be a little cynical about this whole process. Are the primaries a bigger deal this election year because of the tight races or has the media hype helped? Why would the media hype a primary you ask? They know what their share numbers are for the general election and what if they could recreate that atmosphere for these big primary days? The ad dollars are almost endless. Especially for the television news stations. I am very surprised watching the super Tuesday coverage that NBC will only have an hour special after their prime time programming and that CBS is waiting till 9pm to air their program. You would think without new programming that election coverage would bump their numbers, but maybe they are giving in to CNN and FOX News?

Obama-Mama

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to prosper.” - Benjamin Franklin

My best friend freshman year loved to plaster that quote everywhere.

Politics and liquor seem to have a lot in common with each other. (Political scandal, what?) It's no wonder a search for "Political drinking games" turns up 247,000 hits on Google. Most of these seem to resolve around the State of the Union address.

Of note today, however - some guys at the University of Central Florida have derived the Super Tuesday Drinking Game. How fun given today is also Fat Tuesday!

A group of my politically savvy friends are heading to a campus bar tonight to watch the results come in.

Tomorrow could be rough.

YES, WE CAN

Today somebody sent me an interesting video: it is the will.i.am song "Yes we can"...I know it has probably been around for a while but I don't have a TV and so I am feeling like "sitting behind the woods" and missing out on some "crucial exposure" to a major part of the media output.

I was fascinated how the speech was turned into a song. It just shows how much how important it is to draw the audience into it. Rhythm is very important to every oral performance and the repetition of certain words by the singers makes the statements even more powerful. I think it is an interesting way of "processing" and "recreating" a speech like that.

www.yeswecansong.com

Yet another reason not to have a general election

Gawker has a little item today about all the idiocy happening on this Super Tuesday.

Apparently a few Wisconsinites went out to the polling centers, not realizing that their primary isn't until February 19th. They started lining up at 6:30 am.

Voting machines were malfunctioning in Hoboken.

The Drudge Report is claiming that "the board of elections failed to deliver voting equipment to polling places ALL OVER LOS ANGELES."

Hooray for democracy in action!

Election Ads (kind of)

Happy Super Tuesday, everyone! Because so many media are covering SOME aspect of the election in some way or another, I thought I’d look at one we hadn’t talked about: Advertising. And I’m not talking about ads for the candidates.

This morning, I noticed two ads alone that somehow incorporated the “election theme” into the item they were trying to sell. First on Lifetime (a cable channel marketed towards women) they had an informational commercial about heart disease. For example, “Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women ages 65 and older. It's the second leading cause for women 45 to 64 and the third leading cause for women 25 to 44 years old.” <http://www.mylifetime.com/livinghealthy/getthefacts/ > At the end of the commercial, they closed with a line something like “Heart Disease isn’t just a health issue. It’s an election issue.” Hmm- I just found it odd that they threw in an election reference.

Another commercial I have seen recently (and find kind of ridiculous) is commercial for Swiffer. It shows the cleaner as a candidate in the election. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M24TR6ULIb0&feature=user >

I also saw an article about Pizza Hut incorporating the elections in a pizza ad.

Pizza Hut ad campaign spoofing 2008 election
By Tali Arbel
Associated Press

Pizza Hut is turning the 2008 election campaign into an ad campaign. The Yum Brands Inc. subsidiary has released a new commercial for low-priced pizza featuring sound clips of the presidential delegates and asking viewers to “please vote” just as the primary voting season is set to blast off with the Iowa caucuses.

The 30-second commercial uses a bewildering series of snippets of debate chatter to try and answer the questions, “What is your plan to improve the U.S. economy?” and “Are people seeing lower prices now?”

The ad, which is airing nationwide, then asks viewers if they are “Confused?” and presents a Pizza Hut pie as an easy cost-saving choice.

“We are also using our marketing clout to remind Americans to vote in this important presidential election, no matter their political affiliation or who they support,” in addition to selling pizza, said Scott Bergren, Pizza Hut Inc. president.

<http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801060410 >

Superbowl influence

I found this article about Hilary on the Letterman Show talking about the Giants' superbowl victory (which I am still very bitter over).

NEW YORK (AP) — That rough, husky tone to New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's voice didn't come from the campaign trail.

"Every New Yorker has a sore throat after last night," Clinton told talk-show host David Letterman during her appearance Monday on "The Late Show." She said she had been rooting for the New York Giants while watching the Super Bowl in a Minneapolis sports bar.

Clinton said she was modeling her campaign for the Democratic nomination for president on the Giants' last-minute, 17-14 victory over the undefeated New England Patriots.

"I took a lot of heart from that, Dave," said Clinton, who is neck-and-neck in many polls with rival Barack Obama on the eve of the 22-state nomination contest. "The fourth quarter before Super Tuesday, you've got to keep going."

Ok this might be a stretch, but does anyone else feel like Clinton is more like the Pats and NOT the Giants? I really don't think that she is considered the "underdog" in her political competition.

Wrestlers in Politics?

Okay, I know I haven't been around much on the tubes of the internet this semester. I just haven't found anything to write about that I had strong feelings about. This only sort of got me interested. Mostly made me laugh.

We all know about wrestling in politics as Jesse Ventura. At least that is what I believe the public in general knows it as. Never before have I heard of professional wrestlers proclaiming who they are voting for.

Now I have. At the news site Inside Pulse's Wrestling section, a story popped up about just such an occurrence. Here are the ties being made.

Barack Obama:

Hulk Hogan

Mike Huckabee:

Ric Flair (Dirtiest Player in the Game?)

Ron Paul:

Val Venis (Sean Morley)

and

Glen Jacobs (Kane)

Looks like Ron Paul is leading the race of the squared circle supporters.

Lest you don't believe me, here is the story.