Political pundits, presidential candidates, mother’s with babies and diligent voters descended on Amercia Central to celebrate the election in a way only possible in the #RotoloVerse!

All photo credit: The Starship NEXIS © 2080

#ELECTIONCLASS VOTES

On Tuesday, November 6, Amercian citizens will vote in their first election for president.
Here are the details of the voting process:

• The designated polling place will be the NEXIS lab, located in Hinds Hall 339.
• Voting will be available between the hours of 9AM and 7PM.
• Voting must be completed in person.
• Voters may be required to show an SUID card to access the polling station.
• Voting is open to all members of Syracuse University.

Candidates Robert Lawrence (R), Matt Diaz (D) and Carter Rhodes (I) will have campaign headquarters located on the third floor of Hinds Hall. Campaigns will have staff in these locations to answer questions, speak to the media, etc.

Polls will close at 7PM and the winner of the election will be announced sometime before 9PM.

Gov. Hugh Jass and Gov. Jake Price push to become Independents in the race for President. Speaker Rotolo is holding a forum to discuss the legality of this event. With input from constituents he is put under pressure to make a decision.

Should Amercia mirror the actions of America? Should these candidates be allowed to enter the race? The public will speak on the topic of these campaigns and make a decision regarding the fate of the Independent candidates.

Let’s take a look at our Independents:

You may recall Gov. Jass as a previously in the  running for President but fell behind in the preliminary voting process. He is a Conservative and the sitting Governor of Taxes. he is no quitter. he has made the decision to continue his campaign as an Independent because he believes he has a lot to offer our great nation.

Our next candidate is lesser known,  Governor Jake Price of Pennsylvania.He is an independent candidate for the President of Amercia. He self proclaims to be a Hemp and bio-fuel enthusiast, as well as a Libertarian. We have not been able to find much information about Gov. Price as his media exposure is limited. His appearance at the next debate will uncover more of his platform. Best of luck, Gov. Price!

Speaking of the next debates, we are counting down to this historic event. A recap of the previous debate leaves us with Samantha Adams dropping out of the race only to join the campaign of Robert Lawrence. She has stated that she has great confidence in Mr. Lawrence and can see him as a competent candidate. The big surprise was a tie in the Democrats race between Albus Potter, the only openly gay candidate, and Matt Diaz, an outspoken, strong-minded politician. If there is truth in the power of ads, we at the Gazette feel Sen. Diaz may have an edge on the other candidates. His continuous stream of ads have hit the airwaves with a resounding impact. His portrayal of himself as a leader comes through loud and clear in his ads. If you have somehow missed his most recent ad you can see it here. Diaz comes out shooting with his campaign videos and ads. It is clear that he has his eye on the prize. We would like to share one of our favorites.

This a bold move by Sen. Diaz and we will be curious to see how it fares at the next primary vote. Best of luck Sen. Diaz!

A look at the Republican candidates reveals a clear winner with businessman Robert Lawrence. It is a great surprise that a person with no political background to speak of won by such an overwhelming margin. Mary Ann Taylor and Brandii Matthews came in closest behind Lawrence. This race is truly interesting!

Check back as we take a look into the futures of our remaining candidates and bring you the NEW NEWS of Amercia!

That’s right Amercia! We have narrowed down the field to just two opponents with the Independents still vying for a position on the ballot. Gov. Matt Diaz and businessman Robert Lawrence have captured their party’s endorsements. It has been a long road to this place in the election, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

This unknown face to the world of politics has taken the Republican National Endorsement from many experienced and qualified candidates. What has caused his popularity? Could it be his business prowess and his captivating presence that has endeared him to some Americians?

Many people that we interviewed have stated they believe Lawrence has a vision for America. His business approach gives them great promise for a much needed uplifting of the Amercian economy. For a better understanding of how the economy works watch this video .

Our Democratic candidate, Senator Matt Diaz, has been considered one of the favorites of the democratic race from the inception of the election. His style of politics has given great confidence to the Amercian people. He has embarked on a successful ad campaign that has been the driving force behind his campaign.

Where do these candidates stand on the issues? How do they compare? Lets look at that now.

Candidate                 Economy

Innovation & Education

Government Reform

For anyone who hasn’t been keeping up with the presidential debates, these words smashed together might not make much sense. However, they were some of the most popular topics that came out of the Obama v. Romney debates, and, unfortunately for Romney, none of them are really in his favor. The job of this post is to give an explanation of why these words and phrases were so popular. Just in case anyone really does live under a rock.

Big Bird

During the first presidential debate, Mitt Romney said that he planned to pay for tax cuts by cutting funding to programs like PBS, which includes shows like Sesame Street, which, of course, Big Bird is on. His exact words: “I like PBS. I love Big Bird. Actually, I like you [Jim Lehrer], too. But I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for.” It should also be mentioned that the debate moderate, Jim Lehrer, who Romney supposedly likes, is the host for PBS’s NewsHour.

Binders Full of Women

During the second debate, Obama was asked the question: “In what new ways do you intend to rectify the inequalities in the workplace, specifically regarding females making only 72% of what their male counterparts earn?” Obama discussed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and then Romney was asked to answer the same question. Romney started out by saying that when he was building his cabinet, he noticed that most of his staff members were men, and that surely there must be some qualified women somewhere. So they went to find some. The Result: “I went to a number of women’s groups and said: ‘Can you help us find folks?’, and they brought us whole binders full of women.”

Horses and Bayonets

During the third debate, Romney made the comment that that United States Navy “is smaller now than at any time since 1917″ and that he wanted to provide the Navy with more ships. A fine idea, but Obama didn’t like it. When it was his turn to speak, he said,”We also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military’s changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.”

Despite all of this, Romney is slightly ahead of Obama in the polls. Only time will tell if Obama will serve another term in office, or if Romney will take over.

As I was speaking to a friend about the 2012 presidential election, I mentioned to her that there are third party candidates running for president. She responded by saying, “Oh, who knew?” And this is a person who is intelligent and well informed on the election. Isn’t that an interesting premise, that in this world where any political party is welcome to run, that there is almost zero to no awareness of those candidates? Even as I filled out my Vermont absentee ballot, there were three other candidates listed other than Obama and Romney.

So, since everyone is talking about the second debate between Obama and Romney, why don’t we take a break and look at what other candidates are doing to run their campaigns. To put these campaigns into perspective, Obama’s main Twitter feed (@BarackObama) has 21,087,365 followers, and 7,072 tweets, while Romney’s Twitter (@MittRomney) has 1,489,209 followers and 1,266 tweets. Their Facebook pages boast 31,039,672 and 9,980,184 Likes, respectively.

Gary Johnson

Former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson is the Libertarian candidate for President, and is on the ballot in 48 states. His Facebook page tells the story of an entrepreneur who “built a one man handyman business into a 1000 persona company,” whose favorite book is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, and who is an adventurer. His Facebook has donation options, an event calendar, and posts range from behind the scenes pictures to articles, to rhetoric on the campaign. The page boasts 309,000 Likes.

Johnson’s Twitter feed (@GovGaryJohnson) is updated regularly with comments on the campaign, images from campaign stops, and discussions on the third party candidate debates. The page boasts 87, 190 followers and has 2, 589 tweets.

Dr. Jill Stein

Dr. Jill Stein is a physician, environmental-health advocate, and the Green Party candidate for President. She’s the author of two reports on the environmental impact of aging and development, created a “Healthy People, Healthy Planet” teaching program, has acted an expert on numerous news shows and ran for Governor of Massachusetts in 2002. Her Facebook page posts often and has extensive user interaction and discussion on the merits of not only Stein’s run for President, but on the third party candidate process. Her page has 67,046 Likes and has a donation tab and a custom Stein meme generator app.

Stein’s Twitter feed (@jillstein2012) is active and interactive, with conversations on getting rid of the “lesser of two evils” candidate philosophy, linked articles and calls for donations. Her Twitter has 17,434 followers and has tweeted 2,129 times.

Virgil Goode

Virgil Goode is the Constitution Party’s candidate for President from the state of Virginia. His Facebook page states that he is “American Patriot, former Congressman, and illegal immigration opponent and that he is for getting the U.S. out of the UN and supports freedom and liberty. His page has 2,814 Likes and has significant follower interaction on almost every post the campaign logs, and welcomes debates on the issues.

Goode’s Twitter feed (@VirgilGoode) is practically inactive, with only 9 tweets and 531 followers. The last post was on October 5, and was a YouTube video response to the first Presidential Debate between Obama and Romney.

Rocky Anderson

Former Mayor of Salt Lake City Rocky Anderson is the Justice Party nominee for President. Anderson is also the founder and former Executive Director of High Road for Human Rights, practiced law for 21 years, and is a champion for several causes, including GLBT rights and ending the “war on drugs.” Anderson was the only mayor to advocate for the impeachment of President George W. Bush for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. His Facebook page posts often, including campaigning as a write-in candidate in many states, and links to interviews and articles, and has 8,330 followers.

Anderson’s Twitter feed (@RockyAnderson) interacts directly with followers and followers regularly post polling statistics and opinions on third party candidacy. Anderson has 3,064 followers and has tweeted 1,585 times.

While the social media stats clearly signal that America is not fully behind a third party candidate, if you add up the different candidates Facebook and Twitter fans, it would equal 387,190 (Facebook) and 108,219 (Twitter) which could make a difference in votes for either Obama or Romney in specific states. While no one suspects that any of these candidates could disarm Obama or Romney for the eventual presidency, some believe that their votes in certain states could affect the outcome of who wins that state for Obama or Romney.

It should be noted that even though these four candidates have not been seen on the national stage standing next to Obama and Romney, they are taking to social media to debate the issues, primarily on Google Hangouts. There will be a YouTube debate between Stein and Johnson on October 25, and a debate moderated by former CNN host Larry King will take place on cable and online between Johnson, Stein, Goode and Anderson. Of the third party candidates, King says, “They have a story to tell. It’s a valid story. It’s a two-party system, but not a two-party system by law.”

Congratulations, Amercia. You have followed the status quo and selected two candidates who barely distinguish themselves against the backdrop of presidential history: two men, white, wealthy, with party line opinions, Senator Matt Diaz and Robert Lawrence. Nothing stands out for me with either of these candidates; they even look like one another, minus the black plastic frames.

In the history of our country, we’ve only had one Catholic President, and one non-white President. And they were all men.

We’ve never had a female President, or for that matter, a female Vice President. If you need a visual, picture the image above with all blue stars, and no pink.

What is wrong with Amercia that in this age of progress and increased equality, we still don’t see women as viable candidates for the world’s biggest job? Mary Ann Taylor performed fantastically during both debates, and has more experience in the political arena as well as within the military, but lost significantly to Robert Lawrence. I’d love to see the breakdown of the votes by gender, to see if there was a significant amount of women who voted against the female candidates, specifically against those who were not polarizing (like Rachel Wayde), particularly Mary Ann Taylor. She held her own, and had clear, definitive plans to improve Amercia and to support its citizens. So why, why wasn’t she chosen as the party candidate?

In a race with so many diverse candidates (Hispanic, gay, female veteran) how is it that Amercia decided to choose the two candidates that are as boring and as conformed as sliced Wonder Bread? Could it be that Amercians want something comfortable, someone who won’t surprise them and who won’t deviate from the status quo? Are we scared to elect someone who may have a different perspective, different ideas, and who may accurately represent a growing population of Amercians? I hate to think so little of my country and her voters, but in all honesty, I’m ashamed that we picked what looks like the two correct candidates against the historical backdrop, but who may not truly represent what Amercia looks like, acts like, and understands our needs.

I suppose we can wait to see who these candidates choose as their running mates, and I can only hope that at least one will have an alternative choice. But if on Wednesday, when the campaigns announce their VP picks, they look exactly like them, I may have to pick up and move to Germany, where at least they see the validity in electing female leaders.

Governor Jake Price is always working on the go

In an interview with Governor Jake Price this morning, the governor made an announcement. “I am pleased to announce that I will be running as Vice President of Amercia under Governor Hugh Jass!”  Both governors are running as independent candidates in the Amercia election.

We then conducted our standard in-depth interview with Governor Jake Price:

Background:

• Price was born in the Poconos, north-east Pennsylvania, attending school in Scranton, PA
• After grade school, Price attended Lehigh University, studying journalism and pre-law
• Post his 1984 undergraduate graduation, he attended the University of Pennsylvania
• Price then worked for the City of Scranton, PA in their law department
• After three years there, he served as City Councilman, then becoming the Mayor of Scranton
• Finally, Price was a two term governor of Pennsylvania, a positon where he currently serves
• While a self-proclaimed democrat, Price, along with Jass, are running as independent libertarians
• Price is a family man. While married, he and his wife do not have any kids. “We hope to adopt domestically, focusing on orphanages where kids have lost their parents.”

• Legalization of Hemp
  • Price wants to legalize the hemp plant, and not just for the legalization of marijuana
  • Price plans for the government to profit from this, and potentially offer free rehab to drug addicts
  • He plans to explore the many uses of help, “the six foot help plants can help make bio-fuel for cars and any diesel engine can use this. All the car would release is co2 which is environmentally friendly!”
  • Lastly Price feels that this would save much money that is currently being wasted on drug prevention
• Prisoner Reform
  • Since hemp would be legal, all those currently serving time in jails for hemp related charges would be released.  According to Price, this accounts for 3/5 of all prisoners
  • He plans to relocate these funds elsewhere
• Increase Jobs
  • Through he legalization of hemp, more jobs would be created
  • Price sees the hemp industry expanding, legally.  These would be in hemp-related retailers, as well as other areas.
  • “Hemp paper is more recyclable, its better for the environment”
    
• Bring Troops Home
  • Like Jass, Price is against foreign affairs, and wants to keep as small of a presence as possible
  • We “want to keep a domestic presnece, but want to bring out troops home and these wars now”
  • He plans to relocate these funds elsewhere
• Education Reform
  • Through the money saved from the above issues (legalization of help and bringing troops home), Price hopes to put this money towards education
  • He plans to redo the standardizing testing system
  • “Let the kids benefit rather than the inmates”

We greatly thank Governor Jake Price for his time, and wish him the best of luck during the Amercia 2012 election!

On Tuesday’s night the  Town Hall debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney took place at Hofstra University. This time around much emphasis was placed on Obama and whether or not he would play a more aggressive stance to regain an advantage he lost in the first round of the debates. Well on Tuesday night, it was a fierce and an engaging debate between both candidates  as they were both on the offensive.

Obama was criticized for being too passive during the first debate 2 weeks ago. In the town hall debate he showed much more emotion and aggression in his responses towards Romney.  He calls Romney’s 5 point economic plan a “1 point plan”, points at Romney’s flaws on his social policies in the comparison to Bush, dismisses Romney on   “You’re the last person to get tough on China”, and more.

There was a point where both candidates get heated in the topic of energy policies and appear as they are about to dish it out as they circle close to each other and pointed fingers angrily.

Obama shows his emotion regarding the Libya events. He takes responsibility for what occurred  and responds firmly against any suggestion that he or his staff would play politics on a tragic issue. Romney then attempts to dispute Obama’s statement for calling the event “Acts of Terror” the day after the event and that Obama didn’t call it that until 2 weeks later. Yet his attempt falls very short as the moderator Candy Crowley reaffirms Obama’s statement. Obama takes advantage of it, asks her to say it louder and it draws a positive applause from the audience. Chalk that up to a win for the President there.

Obama’s jabs isn’t the only trick up his sleeve, his defensive game is not bad as well. When he is confronted by Romney regarding his pension and it containing money in oversea accounts as well, it seems as Obama doesn’t want to or has no response in defense. So in response, he jokes that he doesn’t check the pension because its not as big as Romney’s. He draws laughter from the crowd and that would dismiss Romney attack from having much emphasis.

Then in the final question it was asked how have they have been misrepresented and can they dismiss those criticisms. Romney used that opportunity to indirectly explain himself from his 47 percent remarks stating that he cares “about 100 percent of the American people. I want 100 percent of the American people to have a bright and prosperous future.”

But Obama also took that opportunity to target the 47 percent remark directly, “I believe Governor Romney is a good man. Loves his family, cares about his faith. But I also believe that when he said behind closed doors that 47 percent of the country considered themselves victims who refuse personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about.” He took his spin to it to show he is the candidate that chooses to care for all the American people and fight for those people Romney’s 47 percent dismisses.

Obama gave and rolled with the punches that night of the debate. Without any doubt he brought out his much needed “A” game and showed that he is no pushover this time around. The next and final debate is set to occuring Monday night October 22nd and we can be sure that the candidates will both be more on the offensive with the Presidency on the line.

Here are the top tweeted topics tracked from the second round of debates on Oct. 16th.

Second presidential debate
Sponsored by the Commisson on Presidential Debates
Hosted by Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Debate attendee Katherine Fenton, to debate participants Barack Obama and Mitt Romney:

In what new ways do you intend to rectify the inequalities in the workplace, specifically regarding females making only 72 percent of what their male counterparts earn?

- Katherine Fenton

Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s response, following Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s reply:

Thank you. And — important topic and one which I learned a great deal about, particularly as I was serving as governor of my state, because I had the — the chance to pull together a Cabinet and all the applicants seemed to be men. And I — and I went to my staff, and I said, how come all the people for these jobs are — are all men?

They said, well, these are the people that have the qualifications. And I said, well, gosh, can’t we — can’t we find some — some women that are also qualified?

And — and so we — we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. I went to a number of women’s groups and said, can you help us find folks? And I brought us whole binders full of — of women. I was proud of the fact that after I staffed my cabinet and my senior staff that the University of New York in Albany did a survey of all 50 states and concluded that mine had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state in America.

…

- Mitt Romney

Below, read a brief round-up of three news’ outlets coverage of “bindergate.”

FoxNews.com put a positive spin on Romney’s “binders full of women,” reporting the support of former female Romney cabinet members testifying to the former governor’s commitment to women’s representation within his staff and understanding of and empathy for women’s issues.  (It was reported that Governor Romney’s administration led other gubernatorial administrations in women-filled senior leadership positions.)

Two other news sites posted content in stark contrast to the article published by Fox News.

CNN.com was home to an opinion piece by Democratic strategist Maria Cardona chiding Romney’s poor instincts in addressing the debate’s questioning on workplace inequality.

(Interestingly, whereas FoxNews.com reported the Massachusetts Government Appointment Project’s acknowledgment of the increase in number of women in top government positions, CNN’s editorial pointed out that the percentage of women in senior positions actually declined.  Both sources acknowledge that the Massachusetts Government Appointment Project began before Romney took office.)

Finally, the New York Times published an editorial blasting on Romney’s off-base attempts to connect with women voters on the subjects of access to contraceptive services and the the Lilly Ledbetter Act.

That’s all for now, #ElectionClass – I need to go tend to dinner.  Stay tuned for a follow-up piece examining the impact on social media of Governor Romney’s “binders full of women.”

Relive the entire second debate on NPR.org here (in text and audio formats).

Image courtesy of CNN Opinion.

- Filed by #ElectionClass campaign blogger Jessica Murray, 10.17.2012