John McCain's Website Review

-John McCain's website is very informative and educational to the people he wants to vote for him. I believe his website is straight to the point.
-On his website you can navigate to many different sites such as a poll link which lets you look at many different Gallup polls. There is also a link which allows you to write a letter to Mr. McCain.
-I believe that he is aiming his web page toward the younger generation of voters because he has many "click-ons" on his homepage that would interest the younger population rather than the elder population. Such as create your own banner.
-On the homepage there are tabs toward the top of the page which has different elements about the campaign such as issues, blog, about and home. When you click on one of them a drop menu appears then you click on a specific detail within that tab.
-If you want to join the movement there is a side bar that you click on with choices of make calls, get 5 voters or vote now. You also have to include your e-mail and zip code.
-I believe John McCain wants to portray himself as a great civic virtuist and a great president.

Written by Nick

Barack Obama Website Review

After reviewing Senator Obama's website, I believe it is very informative and hands on, as well as neat and understandable. After entering barackobama.com, the screen shows Obama seated in the grass, presumably in front of his home, with his wife Michelle and his children Malia and Sasha sitting next to him. Underneath this picture is a sign-up to "join the movement" or volunteer to help. I believe the picture was included to portray Obama as a family first, down-to-earth person who can relate to the middle class. Once you actually get to the website, there are tabs across the top that include Home Page, Learn, Media, Action, People, States, Blog, and Store.
On the Home Page, there are things such as an Obama-Biden interactive tax cut calculator, that processes data about yourself (such as annual income, marital status, and number of dependents) and shows the tax cut you would receive under Obama vs. McCain.
If you move your cursor over Issues, you would see a list of things the next president faces, such as the economy and the war in Iraq. If you were to click on one of these, you would see a blue box at the top of the screen that gives you the basic platform on the chosen issue. If you would like to see Obama's stance in more detail, you could scroll down and read it to it's full extent. I think that briefly stating the platform is a good way to give reader's the information they want without the hassle of searching through long chunks of text.
Under the Media tab, you can see political advertisements and bios of Barack, Michelle and Joe Biden, scroll through pictures from the campaign trail, and download screen savers, buddy icons, and posters. You can also purchase (and I'm not making this up) ringtones to your cellphone that have things like a hip hop group rapping "Go! Go! Go! Obama, Obama, Ohh!" and "This is Barack Obama. It's time to change America. Answer the call!". There is also an Obama album that is available for purchase and includes artists such as Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Lionel Richie, John Legend, and Jill Scott. (Regardless of your
Under Action, there is a place for you to sign up to volunteer for campaigning as well as a place for you to donate to the Obama campaign.
There is also the tab labeled People. This is like McCain's website's Coalition tab, where people who fall into different minorities can come together in an online format to persuade other's of that minority to support their candidate of choice. Some of these groups include Seniors, Environmentalists, Americans with Disabilities, People of Faith, and even Republicans. All of the groups post events and opinions on a forum, and some have sub-groups that fall into a wider minority.
States is a category where you can click on your state and see current events and participate in something called Drive for Change, a program where citizens of a decided state campaign in swing states or states that are leaning Democrat (our nearest one is New Hampshire).
The Blog tab is where you can post opinions about Barack and Joe Biden, as well as watch clips from speeches on the trail.
And last but not least, the Store. Here is where you can buy Obama paraphernalia (such as T-Shirts, sweatshirts, hats, buttons, stickers, and the like). And for all my fashionistas out there, there is a section of the store called Runway for Change. This features items like an Obama T-Shirt that says "Dude, Where's the Hope?" by Juicy Couture, a Vera Wang "Vote Obama 08" T, celebrity designed T-Shirts that include Pharrel Williams, Jay-Z, Beyonce, and Tory Burch as their artists, and tank tops designed by Alexander Wang, Zac Posen, and Nanette Lepore. Oh, and the bags. Designers such as Diane von Furstenburg, Isaac Mizrahi, and Marc Jacobs (!) have all designed amazingly cute tote bags for Obama. To all my McCain supporters--I'm truly sorry for your loss.
On a more serious note, I believe that Obama is reaching out to the middle class with his emphasis on tax cuts (like the tax calculator) and interested in young people. There were interactive applications and technical downloads like ringtones. Overall, I found Obama's website to be very classy and interesting (and I'm loving that Marc Jacobs bag).
-Christina

Favorability of Candidates- Gallup Poll

The overall Gallup poll was one that I was interested in because it shows what everyone thinks (not just a particular category). This Gallup poll went from June 9 to November 2. People gathered information from all types of people from the United States. They were different ages and different races. I believe this Gallup poll was important because it shows what the whole country thinks. In the beginning of the poll Barack was winning and kept the lead for most of the poll. There was a tie when the percentage of people who said they were voting for John McCain and Barack Obama were at 45%. This occured during the week of August 18th-24th. Then the only time John McCain had the lead was in September between the 8th and the 14th. So I wonder if what the polls show will really occur on election day.

-Chistina

Gallup Poll By Gender

This Gallup poll was very intriguing. This poll is showing the relationship of candidate support between gender. I predicted the outcome of the most recent poll to be to complete opposite. This poll has been going on since June 9 and the latest addition was the week of the 20th to the 26th of October. The overall leader by gender for Barack Obama is women. The highest percentage they have had on John McCain is 54% and those numbers were from the past two weeks. The lowest percentage held for Barack Obama was held by the males and it was 41%. This poll number was during the week of September 8th to 14th.
The overall leader for John McCain by gender has been the male population of the United States. The highest percentage of males for John McCain was 52%. This was held the week of September 8th to the 14th.The lowest percentage for Senator McCain was held by the males this past week. Seeing these results I can't wait to see the result of the election.
Written By Nick

Gallup Poll-2

This Gallup poll I find fascinating, because I'm always very curious to see how religion (and not just the typical minority trends of age and race) play into a presidential debate, since non-profit organizations (i.e. churches) are not allowed to express political opinion. This poll shows candidate preference within the American Jewish community. The survey tracked data from June 2008 to October 2008. It shows Obama holding a steady lead over McCain from June to August. Then in August Jewish support for Obama jumped from 61% in July to 66%. It continued to rise at an increased speed, with another 3% increase from August to September, and a 5% jump (perhaps from the current economic crisis) from September to October, giving Obama 74% of votes. This also gives Obama a whopping 52% lead over McCain, who started at 31% in June and now has 22% of the votes. The biggest loss for McCain came in August, where McCain fell from 34% to 25% (9% loss). Though the Jewish community is not the biggest minority in the United States, it will be interesting to see how the vote pans out on election day.
-Christina

Presidential Gallup Pole By Age

I believe that this Gallup poll was very interesting. This Gallup poll splits the ages into four different groups. They were: 18-29,30-49,50-64 and 65 and up. The group that supports Obama the most consistent throughout the time period of august 4 to October 19 was the 18 to 29 ages. McCain starts in the lead with the oldest generation of citizens in the beginning but he loses his ground as the time period moves on. In the Latest poll of October 13-19 Obama is winning all the categories in the age Gallup poll.

Posted by Nick

John McCain Television Ad

This is a television ad that shows that Barack Obama has voted to rise taxes 94 times, even though a major piece of his platform is around cutting taxes for the middle class. It then talks about how he is untruthful, unlike his liberal colleagues already in Washington who admit to raising taxes and who oppose solutions to problems within our nation that would cut the financial burden on the economy substantially.
-Christina

Barack Obama Television Ad

This is poison advertisement that attacks John McCain. It shows a video that features Sarah Palin during the Vice Presidential debate, explaining John McCain's health care plan that would include a $5,000 tax credit so families can purchase their own health care. It then shows Joe Biden, telling those watching that John McCain would fund those $5,000 by taxing employer health care benefits, which he explains would be an unfair trade off. So, Barack Obama believes McCain's health care plan is a trick.

-Nick

Sarah Palin Cartoon

I enjoyed this cartoon because it was political and also about hockey. In this cartoon there is a hockey game going on between the male candidates of the 2008 election. Barack Obama checks John McCain and he goes flying losing his gloves, stick and a few teeth. The over the boards Sarah Palin comes to save him. This is a funny cartoon because Sarah Palin is from Alaska an Alaska is known for there hockey. So, this makes it look like Sarah Palin is a "Hockey Mom" to the rescue.

Posted by Nick

Political Cartoon-1

Hehe....this one is funny! The McCain campaign has become notorious for accusing the media as being biased towards Senator Obama. This cartoon shows Senator McCain holding a conference to discuss this issue...but because the press is biased, no one comes to it.

-Christina
(Cartoon from http://www.mije.org/files/u422/mccain_cartoon_press.jpg)

Iraq Platform

Barack Obama says he...

• Opposed military force in Iraq when voting in 2002 and has voted for a war spending bill containing a redeployment timetable.
• Would bring home troops at a rate of one to two brigades per month. With this plan, all American forces would be out of Iraq by the summer of 2010.
• Would keep a very small portion of the military deployed to carry out specific things, such as protecting U.S. service persons and diplomatic officials and tracking remaining Al Qaeda members.
• Would create a compact or treaty with Iraq that would protect the country's borders, give financial assistance towards Iraq's reconstruction, and target Al Qaeda.
• Opposed the troop surge of January 2007 but believes it has been successful in "quell[ing] the violence."*
  

John McCain says he...

• Supported military force in Iraq when voting in 2002, and was one of the earliest supporters of deploying additional troops to Iraq.
  
• Has and would veto any legislature that contains a timetable for redeployment in Iraq.
• Would suggest that the international community fund effective financial plans within Iraq to boost small businesses and entrepreneurs
• Would ask Middle Eastern countries to help stabilize Iraq's economy by giving a portion of their income from oil exports to Iraq.
• Supported the counterinsurgency troop surge and believes it has been successful.

*Quote from a speech made by Senator Obama in July of this year
-Christina

Healthcare Platfroms for the Candidates

BARACK OBAMA

Barack Obama has two major pillars of health care that he promises to follow through.

• He wants to enable the health care to fit the needs of people and businesses instead health insurance agencies. One way to make sure this works is to make sure that regardless of previous health record Americans can still get health care with good benefits at a fair price. Obama also agrees to establish a new Small Business Health Tax Credit for businesses and their workers. Thirdly he will give everyone who needs one a tax credit on their health care.
• Barack Obama plans to lower costs of health care. If he does this he will on average save the typical household 2,500 dollars a year. To do this he will lower costs of catastrophic sicknesses for employers and also employees. He will also reduce medicine prices by letting safe deliveries of medicines from other developed countries to come to us. Obama also promises to encourage the use of generic drug use of companies other than promote the use of non generic drug using companies.

JOHN MCCAIN

John McCain has four approaches to better improve our health care in the United States.

• He wants to lower the price of insurance and medicines. To ensure that this happens he will make sure that every section of health care tries hard to meet the needs of the people of America. If we bring quality into the health care world he believes that families will be able afford health care.
• John McCain believes that families should be able to choose what type of health coverage they have.They should also have the accessibility to what quality of health care they have.
• He also thinks that people of America should have the right to keep their health plan from job to job. He also wants to ensure the security of citizens plans and coverage.
• Lastly, he wants to promote and build quality in health care. To do this he will encourage research and development in new drugs and also health wellness. John McCain will educate Americans about what quality of health care really is and how to achieve it.

Posted by Nick

Civil Rights Platform

On LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Rights

Barack Obama...
-Opposes same sex marriage, but does not agree with a constitutional prohibition.
-Would as president give marital rights, such as hospital visitations and joint property ownership, to same sex couples.
-Believes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identification
-Promoted legislation that would have included discrimination of sexual orientation or gender identity as a federal hate crime

John McCain...
-Opposes same sex marriage, and believes that state and local government should create their own laws on marriage policy.
-Voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and said in an interview in 2000, "I think that the present laws that clearly prevent a discrimination of any kind certainly [apply] to gays and homosexuals as well...I think that enforcement of existing law could work rather than passing special laws for special categories of people."

Persons with Disabilities

Barack Obama...
-Will, as president, have America be one of the first nations to sign the U.N. Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
-Will urge the Senate to ratify the aforementioned Convention

John McCain...
-Signed the ADA legislation in 1990, which banned employers from discriminating against persons with disabilities in hiring and promotions, as well as giving those same benefits to disabled employees working in state and local government.

USA Patriot Act

Barack Obama...
-Believes we should have a Patriot Act that does not take away our natural rights or our safety, but instead one that does both
-Voted YES to reauthorizing the Patriot Act
-Voted NO to extending the Patriot Act's wire tapping stipulations

John McCain...
-Voted YES to reauthorize the Patriot Act
-Voted YES to extending the provisions of the Act's wiretapping

-Christina

The Candidates Education Platforms

BARACK OBAMA
Barack Obama believes there are three major problems with education in the United States.
-Firstly, one problem he believes that is occurring within our country is that the "no child gets left behind" act wasn't funded correctly. To fix this he wants to fund the law and also give teachers the adequate supplies to help the children succeed in the state exams that are required of them.

-Another problem that Obama sees in our education today is that 30% of teachers new to the profession quit their teaching career within their first five years of teaching. One way Obama would like to change this is by preparing teachers for the job. First off, he will require a performance test from each new educator to make sure the teacher is ready before she/he steps into a school to teach. Barack also agrees to reward teachers to further exceed in their teaching skills. He will allow districts to reward accomplished teachers who have mentored students as well as new educators.

-Lastly, he believes that the steeply increasing college prices are unacceptable. Some people are graduating college with 19,000 dollars in debt. To do this Obama will create a tax credit to college students. This credit will be refundable and will allow most Americans to eliminate the first four thousand dollars of their total college bill. It will also cover two thirds of tuition for typical public colleges and universities.

JOHN MCCAIN
-John McCain has some different views on education for America. To start he believes that the No Child Gets left Behind act has provided the schools of America the information of who isn't doing well and who is doing well. So he believes that the NCLB is a just the beginning to rebuild education in America. By this he means we now see the students who weren't being noticed and we are now helping them.

-He also thinks we should fight to hire character building teachers and then reward them for what great they have done. When we get great teachers we will have better innovative schools for our children to learn in.

-Thirdly, John McCain wil put parents and students in the center focus point of education. To do this he will enable parents to choose which school and education their child will receive. He believes that the financial help should be given to parents to help them choose the right school for their child. By letting the parents choose a school, this will make it a better chance to keep their child from failing. McCain also promises to simplify the financial hep for college students. This will occur when he makes the process easier for students to apply fro aid and when he gives them a higher understaning of their eligability for the aid they need.

Posted By Nick

Taxes Platform

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If elected, Barack Obama proposes to…

• Cut income taxes for working Americans (up to $500 dollars per person or $1,000 per working family) to offset payroll taxes.
• Stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas and instead give tax breaks to corporations that hire American employees.
• Keep income tax cuts in place for everyone, except for couples making more than $250,000 and single filers with an income of more than $200,000.
• Eliminate income taxes on retired seniors making less than $50,000 a year.
• Offer $4,000 in tax credit to college-age students for help with tuition costs. To be eligible for this credit, the student must have completed 100 hours of community service.

If elected, John McCain proposes to…

• “Phase out” the Alternative Minimum Tax, which imposes a charge above a certain amount of exempt income. The tax was not indexed to keep up with inflation, so what was considered a “wealthy income” is now considered an income that falls into the middle class bracket.
• Make the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 permanent for everyone.
• Cut corporate income taxes, which would “keep businesses here, and it would keep jobs here and create jobs here.”*
• Give a $3,000 per-person tax credit to enable people to purchase health insurance.

*2008 GOP debate, Boca Raton, Florida, 01/24/08

-Chrisina

Candidates views on Environment/Energy

BARACK OBAMA
-Barack Obama has different views on the environment/energy issue within the United States. First off he would like to provide struggling families financial support at the gas pump. One approach to do this is by swapping light oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in exchange for heavy crude oil to lower the financial burden to buy gas for families.
-Another way he is looking at this crisis is by decreasing our oil imports from the Middle East and Venezuela. A way Obama promises to do this is by getting 1 Million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015. These automobiles will get 150 miles per gallon and they will be domestic made cars.
-Barack Obama will also establish 5 million new jobs that will better improve our environment. These jobs will be called "Green jobs." Over the next ten years he will invest 150 million dollars in private efforts to build a cleaner America.

JOHN MCCAIN
John McCain has approaches to better help our environment and energy issue inside our borders of the United States.
-First off, he would like to expand the domestic oil exploration and production. He believes that there is no better way to prove to the world that we do not need them to enlarge our energy production. This will keep our money in the states and less going outside our borders.
-McCain also wants to invest in alternative energy sources that are environmentally friendly. To do this he promises to become leaders of the world in a green economy. He promises to establish new "green" jobs and technologies.
-Thirdly, McCain and Palin will promote energy efficiency. The largest consumer of electricity in the world is the Federal Government. So, he will make sure that they lead by example to take the initiative. To do this he will enforce a higher efficiency standard on the buildings being built and future constructions.

Posted By Nick

Project Introduction-Election 08

Hello! Our names are Nick and Christina from Mrs. Groskin's 8th grade social studies class. This fall we are following the Obama/McCain election. To further understand the election, our class is going to be blogging every Monday and Thursday...Nick will be the one posting Monday-Thursday, Christina will be posting on Thursday-Monday. We're doing this for a grade at the end of the project. Check back for updates, and don't forget to leave a comment!