1. Explain the difference between hard and soft money:
*Soft money is basically money that was donated to the party, but not for a specific candidate or purpose and hard money is money raised by political candidates that must be reported to the FEC.
2. What is the electoral process and is this something that you agree or disagree with and why?
* The electoral process begins well in advance of the actual election as individuals declare their candidacies for office. I agree with the electoral process because then if they don't declare their candidacies before the election day then they wouldn't have any candidates to choose from.
3. What is the difference between a closed and open primary?
*In an open primary you do not have to declare a party affiliation, but you can only vote in one of the party's primary. In a closed primary you must be a registered member of that political party in order to participate in the primary.
4. Explain what absentee voting is and what the positives and negative may be with regards to it:
*Absentee voting is a
vote casted by someone who is unable to attend the official
polling station. Some positives of absentee voting gives government agencies more time to tabulate votes. This can cut down on the need to hire extra poll workers for Election Day or vote counters later. Some negatives are critics contend that these alternative forms of voting increase the potential for voting fraud, especially when ballots are sent in and make votes more difficult to count.
5. What changes do you see in the way we run elections ten years from now?
* I think that it will only get easier to vote because im guessing that everyone will chose to absentee vote which will cut down alot of jobs for the people who work at the voting stations. It wouldn't take as long to count the ballots and they would get the results back faster. That's just what i think.
6. Explain your views on money and elections with regards the amount of money that is spent:
*I think that sometimes that people put alot of money into campaigning and if they lose look how much money they wasted on signs and stuff. If they do win then i guess that most of the money went to a good cause. Some people think that the more money you spend the more likely you will win and the less money you spend the more likely you will lose.
7. Go to
cnn.com or
foxnews.com and find an article dealing with the election process. Post the article in your blog and provide your viewpoints pertaining to the article.
* "Since the midterm elections, at least four national polls in the next race for the White House have been released. But one thing's missing: Candidates.
Last time around, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani formed a presidential exploratory committee in November 2006, with Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore launching exploratory committees the following month. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California didn't even wait for the midterms that year, announcing his first formal steps towards a White House bid in the week before the election.
Fast forward four years and the sense of urgency's very different. While many of the potential contenders for the GOP presidential nomination are very active behind the scenes, and many are making stops in the crucial early voting states, none have taken any formal first steps in the long road to the White House.
"It's a decision I'll make later in the year, next year," said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, on ABC's "The View" on Monday.
Huckabee, who ran for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination and who is considering another bid for the White House, also told reporters Sunday in Iowa that "Honestly, I'm not on a time table."
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who also ran for his party's presidential nomination last time around and is seriously considering another run, told supporters in a conference call last week that January and February would come and go without any announcement from him.
"People are exhausted from the 2010 election, and they're not anxious to begin right away with the next campaign," said Romney in the conference call, which was first reported nationally by Politico and confirmed by CNN.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who's also considering a bid, says that he's "a few months away" from making a decision and indicates that no announcement would come before late winter or early spring. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour say they'll wait to announce any possible bids until their states' legislative sessions end in the spring. Barbour adds that he's not setting any "artificial deadline."
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia says any decision on a bid for the nomination would come in February or March. And Sen. John Thune of South Dakota doesn't appear to be in any rush either.
And former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who tells the New York Times that she's "engaged in the internal deliberations" of a possible White House bid, has not mentioned any timetable.
So what's behind the glacial pace this time around?
The polls are maybe one reason. National surveys of Republicans indicate that there's no front-runner at this early point in the battle for the GOP nomination. No front-runner means no sense of urgency for potential candidates and campaigns, giving them some breathing room.
And this time around, unlike in the 2008 campaign cycle, many of the potential GOP hopefuls are pretty well known to the public.
"The front runners, if they are indeed the front runners, are all very well known to Republicans: Romney, Huckabee, Gingrich, Palin and Barbour," says Republican strategist Rich Galen, the author of Mullings.com, an on-line column.
"Thune, Daniels, and the others are not as well known. But as long as the first tier candidates are quiet, the second tier-ers can husband their ammunition for now," adds Galen, who advised Fred Thompson during his bid for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.
Another reason is the calendar itself. The two parties have pushed back the start date of the first contests in the road for the White House. The Iowa caucuses, which kick off the presidential primary season, were held right after New Years in 2008. Next time around they are scheduled to be held in early February, a full month later.
Galen says new technology may also be contributing to the later starting date: "This may be the first presidential cycle in which the new media is fully understood. The need to get to every hamlet in Iowa 13 times before the Ames Straw Poll may not as pressing when you can get followers on Twitter and Fans on Facebook to the same effect."
Add to all this a need to better understand the 2010 midterms' effect on the 2012 race.
Potential candidates and campaigns may want to wait until the debris can be examined from the midterm Tsunami. No one is certain whether that was a one-time wave, or a political-climate-change induced sea level rise," adds Galen.
And finally, a very simple explanation. We're all exhausted from the midterms.
Says Galen: "The media, the candidates, and the voters are all just worn out from a 2010 mid-term election cycle which seems like it started in 1947!"
* I think that people just need to take their time and see if they actually want to run for the 2012 presidency and Potential candidates and campaigns may want to wait until the debris can be examined from the midterm Tsunami. No one is certain whether that was a one-time wave, or a political-climate-change induced sea level rise.
