Who do College Students Like?

An overwhelming number of college students support Barack Obama. Why? He’s completely different. He’s very new to the whole political system when compared to Hillary Clinton or John McCain. He isn’t involved in the corruption on Capitol Hill because he is so new. Plus, he’s far more charismatic than any of the other candidates. He has a presence that none of the other candidates can even mimic more or less match. Do looks play a part? Probably, even though they really shouldn’t, people will vote for people because of how they look. Obama does not look weak like many find John McCain to be with his age. Hillary Clinton has her entire political career behind her, but many find her to be just another politician despite being the first woman candidate. Ron Paul gets support from Internet-goers and college students in droves, but his ideals are so conservative they are swinging around through the Libertarian field. His policies and ideologies are so “hands-off” that many feel our country would fall apart should he become president. Fortunately for those believers, he has no chance of overcoming Huckabee, more or less McCain.

The real question is once again: Will the youth vote? Statistically, no they won’t. But with the miserable job the current administration has done and the massive cry for change, that could change this year. But don’t count on it. Every year the pundits expect and predict the youth to come out in droves and sway the vote, they haven’t done it. This year may feature more than the norm of youth votes, but not enough to overwhelming tip the scale in favor of one candidate or another. So make sure you go out and vote so that the best candidate can win!

Current Delegate Counts!

Here are the current delegate counts about one week away from the Texas and  Ohio primaries. It’s almost over. Well, almost half over.

Democrats:

Pledged Delegates:

• Obama – 1,193
• Clinton – 1,038

Super Delegates:

• Obama – 184
• Clinton  – 281

Total Delegates:

• Obama -1,377
• Clinton – 1,279

Republicans:

Total Delegates:

• McCain – 1,019
• Huckabee – 254
• Paul – 14

Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

Ron Paul

Ronald Ernest “Ron” Paul, a Republican United States Congressman, was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1968, Dr. Paul moved to Texas. He was specialist in obstetrics/ gynecology and delivered more than 4000 babies while he experiencing his medical practice. As a Representative from Texas, Dr. Paul realize how monetary issue is one of the most concerned and important issues for everyone; therefore, he’s trying to push forward better monetary policies. He supports lower taxes and free markets. Dr. Paul believes that by advocating on those issues, more rooms for spending, saving, and investigating will be created which will later lead to better economy. Dr. Paul never votes for legislation and he’s well known for that among his congressional colleagues.
Facts about Brief Overview of Ron Paul’s Record:
He never votes on/ for
-    Raising taxes and congressional pay
-    Increasing the power of the executive
-    Unbalanced budget and a federal restriction on gun ownership
He votes against
-    The Patriot Act
-    Regulating the Internet.
-    The Iraq war.
He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.
Facts from http://www.ronpaul2008.com/about/
Economy:
“The people know much better how to spend their money than the government” – Ron Paul
Ron Paul keeps his focus on debt and taxes. He understands that high taxes hold people back from their success. People are working hard to earn money so that they can have better social status. They also have to pay for taxes which take up big portion of their incomes. By lowering taxes and opening more free markets, Dr. Paul believes that there will be more spending, saving, and investing which would led to the better economy for our country. He focuses more on economic issues because he realizes that right now, as nation, we are nine trillion dollars in debt.

Education:
“The federal government does not own our children. Yet we act as if it does by letting it decide when, how, and what our children will learn.”
-    abolish the unconstitutional, wasteful Department of Education and return its functions to the states”
-    Removing the federal subsidies that inflate costs
Introduced in congress
-    H.R.1056, the Family Education Freedom Act,
-    H.R.1059, Teacher Tax Cut Act
-    H.R.193, the Make College Affordable Act the Family Education Freedom Act
Facts
-    Close Dept. of Education, but don’t dismantle public schools. (Dec 2007)
-    Encourage homeschooling & private school via tax writeoff. (Dec 2007)
-    Don’t impeach judges for decisions on legislature prayers. (Sep 2007)
-    Present scientific facts that support creationism. (Sep 2007)
-    Equal funds for abstinence as contraceptive-based education. (Sep 2007)
-    Tax-credited programs for Christian schooling. (Sep 2007)
-    Guarantee parity for home school diplomas. (Sep 2007)
-    Voted NO on allowing Courts to decide on “God” in Pledge of Allegiance. (Jul 2006)
-    Voted NO on $84 million in grants for Black and Hispanic colleges. (Mar 2006)
-    Voted NO on allowing school prayer during the War on Terror. (Nov 2001)
-    Voted NO on requiring states to test students. (May 2001)
-    Voted NO on allowing vouchers in DC schools. (Aug 1998)
-    Voted YES on vouchers for private & parochial schools. (Nov 1997)
-    Abolish the federal Department of Education. (Dec 2000)
-    Rated 67% by the NEA, indicating a mixed record on public education. (Dec 2003)
-    Supports a Constitutional Amendment for school prayer. (May 1997)
Facts from: http://www.ontheissues.org/Ron_Paul.htm#Education
Health Care:
“[The Government] is more involved in medicine than many other areas and you see a skyrocketing of prices.”
Dr. Paul believes that health care shouldn’t be left up to big drug companies and Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) because they should not be able to administer own price for medicines and provide limit treatment options.
Facts about what He supports:
-    Making all medical expenses tax deductible.
-    Eliminating federal regulations that discourage small businesses from providing coverage.
-    Giving doctors the freedom to collectively negotiate with insurance companies and drive down the cost of medical care.
-    Making every American eligible for a Health Savings Account (HSA), and removing the requirement that individuals must obtain a high-deductible insurance policy before opening an HSA.
-    Reform licensure requirements so that pharmacists and nurses can perform some basic functions to increase access to care and lower costs.
Facts from: http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/health-care/
Environment:
“I believe that a lack of respect for property rights has led to many [environmental] problems. “
From Dr. Paul’s point of view, the foundation of all rights is property rights. One who pollutes others’ properties such as land, air, or water will have to pay for what he did. Dr. Paul mentions that Individuals, businesses, localities, and states must be free to negotiate environmental standards. Those who depend on the land for their health and livelihood have the greatest incentive to be responsible stewards.
-    Voted NO on increasing AMTRAK funding by adding $214M to $900M.
-    Voted YES on barring website promoting Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump.
-    Voted NO on speeding up approval of forest thinning projects.
-    Rated 5% by the LCV, indicating anti-environment votes.
More information about Ron Paul on environment: http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Ron_Paul_Environment.htm
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/environment/

Sources:
http://www.ronpaul2008.com
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billsearch.xpd
http://www.ontheissues.org/2008

Hillary Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton is a frontrunner for the nomination of the Democratic Party in the 2008 presidential election. Her experience ranges from interpersonal levels to workings inside the Whitehouse itself. She is a representative of New York in the Senate, First Lady of the United States, and spent years as an attorney representing abused children. Her campaign platform seems to be very similar to her advocate Barack Obama. However, she is distinguishing herself from him in her level of experience.

Higher Education:

“One of the keys to a strong and confident America is a system of higher education that is acceptable to all who are motivated to seek it out . . . And yet as I travel across our country, I have confirmation every day about how much more difficult it is for many students to afford to start college”

-Hillary Clinton October 11, 2007

Some of her plans to make higher education more affordable and available for American citizens include:

• Lowering the cost of college through a $3,500 tuition tax credit, enough to cover more than 50% of the cost of tuition at the average public institution for
• Strengthen Community Colleges and make it easier for students to transfer to four year universities or obtain their degree.
• Create a more simple federal financial aid form
• Hold college costs down and hold colleges accountable for results.

Economy:

Hillary’s opinion on the recent economy slump is that the middle class has been hit hard by the housing market problems, health care premiums and rising college tuition. Some of her spans to help support the middle class include:

• Lower taxes for middle class families
• Investing in a new innovative job market. This includes creating more “green” jobs, providing health care for every American thus creating more jobs, and  “restoring integrity to a scientific policy.”
• Return to Fiscal Responsibility, downsizing the country’s debt

Health Care:

Mrs. Clinton has successfully established a plan that would succeed in providing all American’s with affordable health insurance. Click  here to read her full plan. Her main other objectives in improving America’s health include:

• Combat all forms of cancer by eliminating insurance discrimination and funding more research
• “Doubling the U.S. Contribution Towards Researching a Vaccine for HIV/AIDS and Increasing Commitments to Research” and to help the world by “providing at Least $50 billion for global HIV/AIDS by 2013”

Environment:

Hillary has also created another full plan to make the United States “green.” To read the full plan click here. The main objectives of her plan include:

• Cut foreign oil imports by 2/3 from projected levels by 2030
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050.
• These government efforts will in turn create at least 5 million jobs ensuring the United States is invested in global action to prevent global warming

Sources: http://www.hillaryclinton.com

Barack Obama

Whichever Democratic candidate wins their party’s nomination will be historic because it will either be the first woman or the first African-American nominee for President from a major political party. Barack is a United States senator from Illionois and the current delegate leader for the Democratic nomination. Obama Obama’s major campaign slogan has been for “Change” and that he is the candidate of such “Change.”

Environment:

“Well, I don’t believe that climate change is just an issue that’s
convenient to bring up during a campaign. I believe it’s one of the
greatest moral challenges of our generation.”

- Barack Obama (October 14, 2007)

• Reduce harmful carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 through a cap/trade system.
• Invest in clean energy ($150 billion over ten years), increase energy research budget, transition towards renewable energy, clean coal technology.
• Expand biofuel research and implementation and reduce oil dependence by increasing fuel economy standards.
• Improve engery efficiency by 50% by 2030 and restore the U.S. leadership on climate change.

Healthcare:

• Obama is a supporter of a nationalized healthcare system that makes it easy for any American to have healthcare regardless of current health.
• Reform the privatized healthcare system to make it more fair and balanced.
• Mandatory coverage of all children and expansion of Medicare.
• Lower costs of and modernize the current health system to increase productivity.
• Increase funding to biomedical research and all forms of medical research to fight AIDS, help improve the lives of the disabled, and other health issues.

Education:

• Implementation of a “Zero to Five” early-age education system through voluntary, universal pre-school system.
• Increase Math and Science focus in school, reform No Child Left Behind by funding the program, and recruit/teach/retain/reward teachers for their services.
• Simplify the financial aid process for higher education and cover up to $4,000 of college through a tax credit.

Economy:

• Provide middle-class Americans tax relief
• Fight for fair trade, reform NAFTA, and support job creation to invest in U.S. manufacturing.
• Invest in future forms of Internet and wireless communication.
• Protect the openness of the Internet with net neutrality.
• Encourage labor unions and fight for worker’s rights.
• Protect homeownership and create a universal mortgage credit.
• Reform bankruptcy laws and address predatory credit card practices.

Barack Obama has gathered the support of countless college students not only because of his appearance but because of his beliefs. Many feel he truly is a candidate that could change Washington forever, a message that has obviously been accepted nationally as he is the current delegate leader for the Democratic nomination, followed closely by Hillary Clinton. Many feel that because he is both a new and different candidate from the norm that he would make a good president. He is not only an excellent public speaker, but he has a charisma that no other candidates posses. While he definitely lacks in the area of experience in politics, Obama has an amazing following that could very well earn him the Democratic nomination and maybe even the office of the President of the United States of America.

Barack Obama – Total Delegates = 1,374

- Super Delegates =181

- Pledged Delegates = 1,193

Sources:

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/

This blog

Is part of a final paper in an English composition class at the University of Washington. The blog is an example genre piece that will focus on the current presidential campaign, specifically the major candidates and their platforms and will be written by the three members of our group.