McClain's Tactics

I personally believe that it is too late for John McCain to come up with any tactic to contend for president of the United States. He has tried many different tactics in the past month during the Presidential Debates to gain votes in next months election. There has been major talk that the two campaigns have been taking negative personal shots at each other, and this is the worst it’s been in election history.
I believe that McClain’s strategists took the wrong direction when they used the tactic of Obama being associated with 1960’s domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. According to the Boston Globe this was a failed tactic and their distant relationship isn’t a legitimate issue in the presidential race. The Boston Globe reports that most voters are smart enough to see through that attempt at guilt by association. This attempt of McClain was to show that Obama is a secret Muslim terrorist. I believe that this attempt was worth a try, however McClain shouldn’t constantly drill the subject after realizing that it’s not important to voters. Colin Powell seemed to support Obama by saying McClain act was an act of “demagoguery”.
One huge mistake that I think McClain has made in his campaigning is not making the distinction between him and President Bush’s economic plan. Since, his partner is the leader of the country and his tactics have gotten the country in a horrible economic state voters want to know what is he going to do different than Bush. Thus, far McClain has made one key point to Obama, in the last debate he states “ I am not George Bush and if you wanted to run against George Bush you should have four years ago.” this was a key statement and if I was McClain’s strategist in these next, few weeks I would strongly make a point to distinguish my economic plan from George Bush’s. The voters are concerned about the economy and how it can get better.

Election Polls

The 2008 presidential election seems to be just a blink away and there have been many interesting factors in this election. I have never seen republicans turn democrat or vice versa. However, since the economy and government is in such a crisis, this is just what I’ve been seeing. President George Bush has done such a terrible job in the past eight years that Republicans are casting their votes for the rival party. This election is so important that people aren’t voting for their typical Republican or Democratic party. People are so interested in this election that they are voting for the best candidate.
This election is very distinct to those in the past because southern states are shown to be in more support of McClain and northern states seems to be in support of Obama. This isn’t the way things have been when America was formed. In the past southern states seemed to be more democratic and northern states republicans. This just shows the diversity and importance of this election.
One other huge difference that I’ve noticed while following this election is that of the education factor. In past elections it has been shown that people with higher education tend to vote more for republicans and those with less education vote for democrats. This election is soo important to the future of this country that those with higher education are seen to favor Obama in this presidential election.
It seems as if these two candidates and their views are going deeper than republican or democrat. In a sense this election is more about capitalism or socialism. It seems that the republican candidate is more about greed, or private wealthiness and less concerned with the less wealthy class. On the other hand, the democratic candidate is pushing for government funding of the less wealthy and underprivileged . When analyzing this election I see it as being deeper than John McClain vs. Barack Obama, or Republican vs. Democrat, but more as Capitalism vs. Socialism. Which is better for our society and future?

Role of Minority

The minority party plays a huge role in a democracy, as stated in Hetherington and Keefe the “ the minority party can mobilize congressional majorities and help shape public policy.” However, the goal in Congress is to be a part of the majority party, it doesn’t happen for everyone. The minority party behavior is affected by the majority party’s margin over the minority. Being in the minority party can have a mental affect on it’s members depending on how long the party has been a minority. The strategies the minority party use aren’t determined by its preferences of leadership or by opportunities that are presented from time to time. The role of the minority party is influenced by importance that they have no control over. If the minority party is resourceful it can play an aggressive and creative role in the legislative process. The minority party often has the outside sources that the majority party is searching for. Often times the minority party can assist the majority party in work that needs to be completed on the majority agenda because the majority doesn’t have time to complete all the work.
According to economists and politicians the Bail Out Bill was supposed to ignite the Stock Market. So much for that bill, huh? Since the bailout bill the Dow Jones has dropped over 620 points. This is the worst the stock market has been since the great depression. Americans as a majority were not in support of the Bail out bill. The Senate passed the bill on the first try because it’s supporters were giving them the wrong information and the senate seems to be more concerned with state needs. Opposing the senate and its representation is the House of Representatives, they seem to focus more on the people and were given unclear on the information concerning the bill. Sine this is an election year the House wanted to get every detail clear and the first time they voted I believe they were concerned about their own political futures. This is a time of crisis and they felt that they didn’t want to contribute to something that would make the economic conditions worse, and so far the Bail out bill has made it just that.