I though it would be fun to post some links where you can find out more about each candidate’s position, whose views align more with yours.
Select a Candidate from MPR Radio – Here you can take a short survey answering questions on various issues. You can choose not to answer any of the questions and even rate whether an issue is important to you or not.
Candidate Positions again from MPR Radio – read what each candidates positions are are the major issues like Iraq, Healthcare, Gun Control, Abortion, etc.
PresidentialElection.com – a nonpartisan site “Our promise is to create a more educated voter and a more responsible government by providing accurate information that is available anywhere in the world.”
For homeschoolers:
Presidential Election Lapbook from Notebook Learning. A great study that covers everything from the electoral college to party mascots.
Election Lapbook from Homeschooleshare – You need to download each booklet for the lapbook separately.
Presidential Election Internet Based Unit Study from The Teaching Home – scroll about a third of the way down the page to get to the begging of the unit study.
Elections Unit Study Resources from Eclectic Homeschool Online – A great list of activity ideas and links to a TON of informational websites about all aspects of the election process.
Too bad Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party) isn’t included. I know he is the one who most closely represents me.
Thank you for sharing these links. As the election gets closer, I’ve been feeling like I really need to take a better look at the candidates but I haven’t known where to start.
This is a great collection. I’ve seen a few of these before but some are new sources of candidate information for me. Can’t wait to check them out later tonight.
I also like factcheck.org.
It is a very interesting election! Who will be the lucky one who gets to inherit the mess we’re in?
Interesting info. Thank you for posting it.
Thank you for the great info! I’ve been looking for places to get information about the facts!
Thank you for sharing the link to my lapbook – it always feels good to have one’s work appreciated! 🙂
The major shortcoming of the current system of electing the President is that presidential candidates concentrate their attention on a handful of closely divided “battleground” states. In 2004 two-thirds of the visits and money were focused in just six states; 88% on 9 states, and 99% of the money went to just 16 states. Two-thirds of the states and people were merely spectators to the presidential election. Candidates have no reason to poll, visit, advertise, organize, campaign, or worry about the voter concerns in states where they are safely ahead or hopelessly behind. The reason for this is the winner-take-all rule under which all of a state’s electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who gets the most votes in each separate state.
Another shortcoming of the current system is that a candidate can win the Presidency without winning the most popular votes nationwide. This has occurred in one of every 14 presidential elections.
In the past six decades, there have been six presidential elections in which a shift of a relatively small number of votes in one or two states would have elected (and, of course, in 2000, did elect) a presidential candidate who lost the popular vote nationwide.
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
Every vote would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections.
The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes—that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
The National Popular Vote bill has passed 21 state legislative chambers, including one house in Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, North Carolina, and Washington, and both houses in California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The bill has been enacted by Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland. These four states possess 50 electoral votes — 19% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.
See http://www.NationalPopularVote.com
susan