The day after election day (extra)

America woke up Wednesday, looked into a giant mirror made up of millions of votes and saw how it has been changing for decades. It wasn't just President Obama's re-election and the diverse coalition of minorities, women and youth that kept him in power. For the first time, voters approved same-sex marriage in three states. Margaret Hoover, a Republican analyst and CNN contributor, called it "a watershed moment." Meanwhile, Wisconsin elected the country's first openly gay U.S. senator. Two states legalized the recreational use of marijuana. A record of 20 women will be serving in the U.S. Senate. And a record number of new Asian-American and Latino representatives were elected to Congress. All this would have been crazy to imagine a generation ago, as would the idea the country would elect, let alone re-elect, its first black president. Tuesday's election showed that the United States is redefining what it means to be an American, some political and Americans say that the country is less conservative than popular belief suggests. It's no longer the same America. The nation has arrived at a "new normal."Others say the election showed that America is "fractured" and even more "racially polarized" than many people believed, while some analysts caution against reading too much into any one election. Americans may have awakened Wednesday to the same balance of power in Washington same president, same divided Congress but in many ways they also woke up to the sense that things might never be quite the same. 

Machines have a mind of their own (extra)

http://youtu.be/QdpGd74DrBM

In a recent article there was a video on YouTube video online showing and voter on Election Day apparently trying to electronically cast his vote for Barack Obama and finding it recorded as a vote for Mitt Romney instead. "I initially selected Obama but Romney was highlighted. I assumed it was being picky so I deselected Romney and tried Obama again, this time more carefully, and still got Romney," the guy writes, adding that, when he asked for help, a poll worker told him, "It's nothing to worry about, everything will be OK." He swears the footage is unedited and says he'll "GLADLY provide the raw footage" to anyone who can help prove it. Needless to say, he's already getting volunteers. Last week, a voter complained that a machine did the same thing in favor of Obama. When news from a second machine was also switching the vote the poll workers said that it was fixed by resetting the machine.  

Obama praised by Chris Christie

President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who is a Republican who is one of Mitt Romney's most vocal supporters was recently walking together in a show of government unity. Politics makes strange bedfellows, and never more so than when natural disaster strikes. And so it was that Obama, mired in both disaster relief and the fight for re-election, landed Wednesday in New Jersey for a joint tour of storm damage with Christie, a potential future presidential candidate who delivered the keynote address that tore into Obama during this year's Republican national convention. Stepping onto the tarmac in Atlantic City, N.J., Obama greeted Christie with a smile and repeated pats on the back. They walked side by side, two leaders confronting trying times, toward the helicopter that took them high above Sandy's destruction. Later, they walked the storm-ravaged streets together, talking with Sandy's victims. "I cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and the people of our state," Christie said later in Brigantine, N.J., praising what he called "a great working relationship" that started even before the storm hit. "Gov. Christie throughout this process has been responsive. He's been aggressive in making sure the state got out in front of this incredible storm," Obama added, thanking the Republican for his "extraordinary leadership and partnership." Though Christie is a Romney support his personal preference shifted because he needed help to save New Jersey and he couldn't do it on his own, so of course he was ecstatic over seeing Obama. This is also a good tactic for Obama because he is being seen as the hero to the rescue to American voters although Obama is just doing his job.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/10/31/2391666/odd-politics-as-obama-christie.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

Bill Clintons Journey

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1992/journey

Even though the presidential election and their ads are coming to an end it doesn’t hurt to look back to past election ads to see how politics has changed over the years.  One particular commercial advertisement that caught my attention was in 1992 between Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Perot. Bill Clinton, the governor of Arkansas, was indeed born and raised in a town called Hope; and that a filmed record exists of the June 1963 Boys Nation leadership event at the White House, during which the young Bill Clinton met and shook hands with President John Kennedy. Throughout the ad various images are being shown to depict the life of Clinton. The first few photos are in black and white that represent his childhood and growing up in his community.  At certain time through out the ad it show Clinton in the present siting in what looks like a study with casual clothes showing a laid back atmosphere. As the ad continues many close ups are show while he is in the study while he is talking about he’s experiences he has had and what events in his life made he want to be in politics.  As the ad continues the images are now in color to represent the present work he is doing by visiting the every day American at work and surrounding himself with child to show that he is loving. The overall message that is portrayed in this ad is that Clinton is just like the very day American who came up in a small town and worked hard for through is life to achieve where he is now.

The first lady focuses on Latinos

In yet another sign of how important the Hispanic vote is to the Obama campaign, Michelle Obama’s first ad is aimed at Latino communities in swing states. In the 30-second spot, Cristina Saralegui, a Cuban-American talk show host, asks the first lady, in Spanish, why it is important for Latinos to vote this year. Subtitles offer a translation of Mrs. Obama’s response as she ticks off the president’s goal of immigration reform, keeping the health care law and expanding education access. The ad is running on both television and radio in Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia. President Obama is relying on Hispanic voters not only to win in those swing states, but also to provide a mandate for his agenda. He told The Des Moines Register on Tuesday that he would pass comprehensive immigration reform. “Should I win a second term,” Mr. Obama said, “a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community.” The first ladies ad resembles the ad that president Kennedy’s wife was apart of. In this ad, she is speaking only in Spanish. Although Michelle Obama doesn’t speak Spanish in the ad she is still impacting the Hispanic community by talking to a very well know talk show host in the Latino community. This is a good strategy for the Obama Campaign because President Obama already leads Republican challenger Mitt Romney among Latino voters by nearly 50 percent so by having the first lady’s be involved other Latinos especially women can look up to her and can relate to her because of how she presents herself in the ad.
http://youtu.be/9hdjhIeU1lk
http://youtu.be/xWnsJmBsvHU