Canvasing photos

My third and final volunteering was 2 days before the election. I went out with James Ollerhead to canvas for the Obama campaign. On November 2nd, their main focus wasnt to get people to vote for obama, it was more to make sure that people could get to the polling place. Many people were not home or did not want to talk. There were a few conservatives but most of them were pretty nice, and stopping us before we spoke our whole speech. I had a lot of fun going around with James. It was a lot more fun then going around by myself. These 10 hours that i served really got me involved with the election and i had a great time doing them.

Volunteer work #2

This volunteer work was a continuation of the first volunteer work. After I inputted all my information for the phone calls I clicked on the link (on the Obama website) to volunteer in the community. It gave me a list similar to the phone call list, except, this list had names of people and addresses on it. This was my first shot at canvassing. I received people on my street and the street across from mine. A lot of people (even my own neighbors) asked not to comment and it was pretty hot the day that I walked around. This was Sunday the 26th. Once I finished canvassing my area I went online yet again and inputted all of the data that I had received from that day. Some people were very friendly and answered my questions and took the flyers that I had printed out others, who I specifically knew were home, didn't even bother to come to the door. Personally I like calling better than canvassing because you don’t have to see the person in real life and it is way easier to talk to people on the phone. Nevertheless I had fun but it’s definitely not one of my past times.

Volunteering #1

I decided to volunteer for the Obama campaign. My first volunteering job was to call people and ask them questions about who they were going to vote for. I got my list off of the Obama site. All I had to do was register on the Obama site and then I got assigned 40 different people. On Saturday October 25th I sat down for 3 hours and called all of the people on my list. Then I spent another hour and a half inputting all of the information that I gathered in my phone calls onto the computer. People were a lot friendlier than I had imagined and in the end I only had a few not answer and a few more ask not to reply. I enjoyed calling people and seeing for myself the overwhelming support that Obama had. I would definitely enjoy doing this again in the future.

Election Post Week 6 (LAST ONE)

Alright! Time for my super prediction abilities!

I think Barak Obama will win this election. He has had the lead in all of the polls and has really inspired the American people for change. He is an amazing public speaker and sadly this will persuade some to vote for him. His Vice presidential candidate Joe Biden has tons of international experience and most americans would trust Biden over Palin if, heaven forbid, anything happens to the candidates. I think Obama will win the popular vote and will get 322 of the electoral votes.

VA Senate it is between Mark Warner (D) and Jim Gilmore (R). I highly believe that Mark Warner will win this election. Virginia has been leaning democrat for the past 2 elections and we will finally get what we want. Warner has also been way up in the poll and will most liekly win by a landslide

10th District- Frank Wolf (R) vs. Judy Feder (D). Honestly I believe that Frank Wolf is going to pull out on top for this one. Judy Feder is an extremeist when it come to her Democratic policies. Also Wolf has been our representative for over 20 years!

11th: Keith Fimian (R) vs. Gerry Connolly (D). I seriously know nothing about either of these two candidates but i believe that Gerry Connolly will win the election because of the amounts of Democrats in the area.

Alright so who is ready for tomorrow night?!?! In somewhere around 24 hours we will know who the next president of the United States will be.

Election Post Week 5

Swing States. These are states in the US that candidates cannot predict whether they will vote Democratic or Republican and these are the key states for the candidates. A secure win of these states could win you the presidential election.

Virginia is a swing state this year and could make a big difference in this election. Virginia has not voted democratic in 44 years! If Obama were to win here in VA it would make an even bigger change in history. Recent demographic changes, especially in Northern Virginia have made the state competitive for Democrats. The last two governmental elections were won by Democrats. Also, the last senatorial election was won by Democrat Jim Webb, and Democrat Mark Warner is projected to win the seat being vacated by retiring Republican John Warner. Both McCain and Obama have visited this state, Obama more than McCain, to try and win us over. I believe that Obama will win Virginia because we have faded from red to purple and now the blue is starting to show.

Another swing state is Ohio. Ohio is almost always considered a swing state and its 20 electoral votes is exactly the reason why. Those 20 votes saved George W Bush in the 2000 election. McCain and Obama have worked really hard and put a lot of money into this state. I think that it will go Republican because that is how they have voted the past 2 elections.

These swings states are critical in McCain’s campaign. Many polls show that he will have to win all of them to have a shot at the Presidency. Sorry maverick but I think you need to step down.

Current event #6

Status Uncertain
The uncertainty over in the Middle East is looming over this presidential election. We have worked for the past eight months to plan to leave Iraq. The presidential election here and over in Iraq is placing even more pressure to finalize the plan and have a fall back plan in case everything does not go according to plan. Rival Shiites are rebelling even more nowadays with the new plan up for ratification. Shiite leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, know very well that Iraq needs continued support from U.S. troops but they also know that taking a public stand in favor of a continued American presence could cost them heavily at the polls, and in Tehran. The United Nation’s plan suggests that all troops will be pulled out of Iraq by January 1st 2009. Iraq officials are wary about this idea and hope to ask for more time for help from our troops. As it stands, the "status of forces" agreement appears reasonable. It calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraqi cities by July and to leave the country by the end of 2011. But it makes the timeline conditional on the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over and allows for an extension of the final withdrawal date if the Iraqi government requests it. The next president may be better positioned to seal an accord with Iraq, but he should not have to inherit a crisis over the status of American forces there. I believe America should follow the plan that we have now but, try to please the Iraqi government while we are in their country. We started this “war” we need to end it responsibly.

Election Post Week 3

For the 10th congressional district in Virginia The democratic nominee is Judy Feder and the Republican nominee is Frank Wolf.
Judy Feder holds a B.A. from Brandeis University and received her Master's in 1970 and Ph.D. in 1977 from Harvard University in political science. She is Co-Director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She has been working from the beginning of her career to make healthcare more affordable for the citizens of the united states. Judy's husband, Stan, is a former intelligence analyst for the CIA who spent more than 20 years working to reform the intelligence community and now occasionally teaches analysis for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. Feder's main focus is health and health policy for all Americans.
Frank Wolf has represented Virginia for 26 years now and is the oldest memeber of the house. He received his B.A. degree from Penn State University in 1961 and his law degree from Georgetown University in 1965. Congressman Wolf has been involved in nearly every major transportation improvement in the region over the last 25 years, from helping obtain funding for the original 103-mile Metrorail system to improvements on critical commuter routes such as I-66, Route 50, Route 7 and the George Washington Parkway. He is presently working to bring mass transit out the Dulles corridor to Loudoun County and to establish a Bus Rapid Transit system on I-66 outside the Beltway. He has worked on anti-gang policies and police forces, and has made a small but significant difference. Congressman Wolf also has a long record of speaking out for the persecuted around the world and is considered one the leading crusaders in Congress for human rights. He has traveled the world to call attention to human rights abuses and religious persecution around the globe.

Polls have shown Wolf with a slight advantage over Feder but, cannot definitely say that Wolf will win the election. This year the sights are changing and Virginia is starting to turn blue.