Exam Review Part 2: Political Figures

Here's your list of political figures to know. First, Republican Presidential Candidates:

1. Michele Bachmann
2. Herman Cain
3. Newt Gingrich
4. Jon Huntsman
5. Gary Johnson
6. Ron Paul
7. Rick Perry
8. Buddy Roemer
9. Mitt Romney
10. Rick Santorum

Current political figures:

1. Barack Obama
2. Joe Biden
3. John Boehner
4. Harry Reid
5. Mitch McConnell
6. Hillary Clinton
7. Leon Panetta (new Sec. of Defense)
8. John Roberts
9. Danny Davis
10. Rahm Emanuel
11. Pat Quinn
12. Dick Durbin
13. Mark Kirk

Exam Review Part 1: Vocabulary

Here's the list of vocabulary words that could be on your exam:

1. Globalization
2. National sovereignty
3. Order
4. Liberalism
5. Communism
6. Public Goods
7. Political Ideology
8. Political Spectrum
9. Totalitarianism
10. Socialism
11. Democratic Socialism
12. Capitalism
13. Libertarianism
14. Laissez Faire
15. Anarchism
16. Conservatives
17. Liberals
18. Republican
19. Democrat
20. Tea Party
21. Declaration of Independence
22. Bill of Rights
23. Preamble
24. Constitution
25. Articles of the Constitution
26. Articles of Confederation
27. Separation of Powers
28. Checks and Balances
29. Republicanism
30. Federalism
31. Confederalism
32. New Jersey Plan
33. Virginia Plan
34. Legislative branch
35. Executive branch
36. Judicial Branch
37. Great Compromise
38. Enumerated powers
39. Implied powers
40. Judicial Review
41. Supremacy clause
42. Ratification
43. Court interpretation
44. Sovereignty
45. Popular sovereignty
46. Dual Federalism
47. Cooperative Federalism
48. Primary Election
49. Senator
50. Congressman

GOP Economic Debate

GOP presidential candidates prepare for the party's debate
last night in New Hampshire.

You should have completed the questions about the Primary Elections at this point. Now, we'll prep for, watch, and assess your candidate's effectiveness in last night's Washington Post-Bloomberg debate in New Hampshire.


Remember: You are the campaign managers for your candidate's election committee in Illinois' 7th District. This is a heavily Democratic congressional district, led by the popular Representative Danny K. Davis. You must find a way to convince your district to vote for a Republican -- your Republican!


Last night, the eight leading Grand Old Party (GOP) candidates sat down together to talk about the issues they care most about. You will have the opportunity to look at the debate from three different points of view today:

1. Before: Preparing your candidate for the debate
2. During: Your candidate's responses during the debate
3. After: Assessing your candidate's performance

Complete the following using the same Word document you created last week.


The completed document is worth 50 points.


Part 1: Preview (5 points)
Read this short preview article from the Washington Post. 

• What does the author expect from your candidate? If your candidate is not listed in the article, how can he/she use the information in the article to grab people's attention during the debate?

You can find more information about the debate and what to expect here.


Part 2: Preparation (15 points)
Now that you've got some background information, take a look at Bloomberg's Dozen Questions on the Economy.

• Choose six of the questions. Answer them as completely as you can for your assigned candidate. Paste the link(s) where you found the information after your response.
• Based on your research thus far, make a prediction: What must your candidate focus on during the debate in order to be successful?

Part 3: The Debate (15 points)

Now, finally, you get to see your candidate in action. Hopefully he/she kept all of your preparatory work in mind during the debate!


The full debate is available to watch at the Washington Post website. It is 90 minutes long, however, so it will not be the best use of your time to watch the entire thing today. You can simply skip through the debate. Alternatively, there is a list of links to important segments from the debate on the right hand side of the page. Click on the links to watch the segments relevant to your campaign.


There are two possible assignments you can complete for this section: one for candidates who were invited to the debate, one for those who were not. 


Eight candidates were invited -- that means two of you were left out in the cold. You should be furious.


First, find out if your candidate was invited. Then, complete one of the following options:


Option 1: Invited Candidates: Assess your candidate's performance by answering the following:

1. Count the number of times your candidate talks.
2. Count the questions your candidate volunteers an answer for.
3. Count the number of times your candidate actually answers the question posed by the moderator.
4. Count the number of times your candidate tries to steer the debate toward a topic that benefits him/her. What topics is he/she trying to focus on?
5. Count the number of times your candidate criticizes another candidate. Who is he/she criticizing? What issues are at stake here?
6. Count the number of times your candidate is attacked by another candidate. What weaknesses are the other candidates attempting to exploit?
7. Does your candidate make any mistakes? Explain.
8. Does your candidate seem to be getting his/her fair share of talking time during the debate? Explain.

Option 2: "Outsider" Candidates: In preparation for the debate, review the main issues your candidate cares about. Decide whether or not your candidate was unjustly excluded by answering the following:

1. Why was your candidate excluded from the debate? Is this fair? Explain.
2. Count the number of times your candidate could have spoken. Summarize the issues he/she could have talked about.
3. What could your candidate have attacked another candidate about? Explain.
4. What weaknesses might the other candidates have exploited if your candidate were present at the debate? Explain.
5. Which candidates seem to get the most time to speak during the debate? Why do you think this is the case?
6. What candidate(s) does your candidate match up best against? What could he/she do to be included in the next debate?

Part 4: Evaluation (15 points)

Option 1: Invited Candidates

Complete the following to evaluate your candidate's performance:

1. Check the facts. Did your candidate tell the truth during the debate? What about the other candidates? You can use this assessment from FactCheck.org to help your response.
2. Did your candidate perform well? Describe his/her body language, then explain what this can tell you about them.
3. This one's a long one. Record your mental and emotional responses to the candidate. Your own mental responses can be quite telling. Did the candidate make sense to you?
   
   Now, think about your emotions. What did you feel about your candidate's performance? Think in terms of four emotional categories: glad, sad, mad, afraid.
   
   Note: Keep in mind that your mental and emotional responses reflect your values, your beliefs, your bias, your prejudices. Are you reacting positively or negatively to everything your candidate is saying because he/she is a Republican while you might be a Democrat, because he's black or he's white, male or female?
4. Score your candidate's performance on a scale of 10, with 10 being the highest and 0 being lowest. Explain your score. Note: this score does not necessarily mean the candidate won or lost -- it is simply an indication of his/her performance based on your research/predictions
5. After being his campaign manager in Illinois' 7th District for a couple of weeks now, you're getting to know your candidate pretty well. Do you like him? Would you think about voting for him? Explain why.
6. If given the opportunity to jump ship and work for another campaign, who would you work for? Explain why.
7. Finally, who won the debate? Try to separate your response from the responses of anyone you read online. Explain your response.

Option 2: "Outsider" Candidates

Choose the candidate you liked the best from the debate. Complete the following to evaluate his performance -- hopefully you can use this information to get your candidate invited to the next debate!

1. Check the facts. Did your chosen candidate tell the truth during the debate? What about the other candidates? You can use this assessment from FactCheck.org to help your response.
2. Did your chosen candidate perform well? Describe his/her body language, then explain what this can tell you about him/her.
3. This one's a long one. Record your mental and emotional responses to the candidate. Your own mental responses can be quite telling. Did the candidate make sense to you?
   
   Now, think about your emotions. What did you feel about your candidate's performance? Think in terms of four emotional categories: glad, sad, mad, afraid.
   
   Note: Keep in mind that your mental and emotional responses reflect your values, your beliefs, your bias, your prejudices. Are you reacting positively or negatively to everything your candidate is saying because he/she is a Republican while you might be a Democrat, because he's black or he's white, male or female?
4. Score your chosen candidate's performance on a scale of 10, with 10 being the highest and 0 being lowest. Explain your score. Note: this score does not necessarily mean the candidate won or lost -- it is simply an indication of his/her performance based on your research/predictions
5. Now, go back to your original candidate. After being his campaign manager in Illinois' 7th District for a couple of weeks now, you're getting to know your candidate pretty well. Do you like him? Would you think about voting for him? Explain why.
6. If given the opportunity to jump ship and work for another campaign, who would you work for? Explain why.
7. Finally, who won the debate? Try to separate your response from the responses of anyone you read online. Explain your response.

Polling Chicago

This weekend, you'll start to find out what, if anything, people think about your candidates. 

Complete the following on loose leaf paper or in a printed MS Word document. Note: Word is best – you won’t have to re-type it later.

You will interview 3 people about your candidate. Write the name of each person on your paper.

First, ask what, if anything, they know about your candidate. It is possible that they will not know anything.

Then, create a list of three questions about the issues your candidate believes in. Ask your interview targets their feelings on these issues.

Finally, decide whether or not you think you could get your interview target to vote for your candidate. Explain.

Each successful, complete interview is worth 10 points (30 points total).

On the Campaign Trail

Mitt Romney stands on a chair at a town hall
meeting in Chandler, Arizona.

We'll pick up our investigation of American federalism next week. Don't forget -- you have a test tomorrow.

Today, we'll continue taking a look at your Republican primary candidates. Palin team, since your boss has dropped out of the race, you've decided to pack your bags and head for Louisiana, where you'll work on Buddy Roemer's campaign.

It's time for all of you to meet the other members of your candidate's campaign committee today. Since you'll be working together to actively campaign for your candidate during Quarter 2, we'll use today and a couple of days next week to compile some basic information.

Start by creating opening a new MS Word document. Save it to the Y:\Ramin American Politics\Republicans folder. Name the file "Your Candidate - Dossier". Include your complete PSM heading with the names of all group members in your document. Ultimately, you will create a website for your candidate, but  today and next week we'll start small.

Begin by combining the information you compiled last Thursday in the computer lab. Under the heading "Candidate Profile," Combine your information with your partner's to create a complete background profile of your candidate. We will expand upon this as the semester goes on.

Then, you will begin thinking about the next steps for your candidate. How will he/she earn the chance to face off against President Barack Obama in the presidential election next fall?

The first step is the primary election. Under the heading "Primary Preparation," complete the following using the links on this site, your candidate's website, and any other relevant information you can find. Copy and paste the link where you found your information after your response.

1. What is a "primary election?" Where are they held? How do presidential primaries work?
2. Are any of the primaries more important than the others? Explain.
3. What is your candidate doing to prepare for the primary elections? 
4. Is he focusing on any particular primaries more than the others? Explain.
5. Has he decided to put less emphasis on succeeding in any of the primaries? Explain.
6. How is your candidate currently performing in the polls (compared to the other Republican candidates)? Can you find any information that explains why this is the case? What inferences can you make about your candidate's campaign based on his current poll performance?
7. According to the poll data from the Real Clear Politics site, how would your candidate fare against President Obama if the election was held today? What inferences can you make based on this data?
8. Examine CNN.com, NYTimes.com, WashingtonPost.com, and other television and print news sites. What has your candidate been talking about lately? What issues keep coming up in interviews?

Bad News, Dayvion...

Alas, poor Sarah. We knew you well.

I'm sad to say it: Your candidate has dropped out of the race. Sarah Palin announced yesterday that she will not be running for president in 2012.

Meanwhile, Hermain Cain said a few interesting things about unemployment yesterday...

Here's the latest poll information, compiled by website Real Clear Politics.

Just to cover all of our bases, the same site compiled data estimating election results between President Obama and all of the Republican candidates.

On the right hand side of this site, you can see the most recent approval/disapproval ratings for Pres. Obama (NY Times Poll Watch).

One more link, for good measure: Five Thirty Eight, The NY Times statistically-based politics blog.

The Republican Candidates

Who Am I?

Here's a great site from the NY Times with overviews for each of the candidates:

Republican Presidential Candidates for the 2012 Presidential election