The Belmont University bookstore is selling items relevant to the election and the Belmont presidential debate, which took place in Belmont's Curb Event Center on October 7.  Available items include Belmont Debate '08 T-shirts, shoulder bags, bumper stickers and notecards, as well as Barack Obama's and John McCain's books, The Audacity of Hope and Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them.

By Vyomika Jairam

"Hi, my name is Tobin and I'm calling to talk to you about Barack Obama, do you have a moment?" Tobin Van Ostern, national co-director of Students for Barack Obama, asks a Virginia voter on the phone.

Van Ostern will also talk to the voter about Mark Warner, a candidate for senate. Five minutes later, he's on the phone with a voter in North Carolina.

"Hi, my name is Tobin and I'm calling to talk to you about Barack Obama, do you have a moment?"

This time, he'll talk about Kay Hagan, who is running for senate. A few minutes after that, it's a voter in Wisconsin, and on and on, all afternoon.

With just a few weeks to go until the Presidential election, Van Ostern is doing all he can to help Sen. Barack Obama win. Taking advantage of free weekend minutes on his cell phone, Van Ostern spent last weekend making calls to voters in swing states.
 
But Van Ostern wasn't the only one. Van Ostern, a junior at the George Washington University, helped organize and lead a national phone campaign by students from over 800 university chapters across the country to voters in swing states. The campaign was made possible by a technology called Virtual Phonebank--a system in which users log onto their mybarackobama.com accounts and are provided with contact information for targeted voters.
 
Tentatively named "Last Calls for Change," the campaign is a targeted effort to drive out voters and will be conducted over the coming weekend until Election Day. This is the second national phone campaign that Students for Barack Obama has conducted.

In the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses in January, SFBO ran a similar phone campaign that specifically targeted student voters. It was the first time that the Obama campaign had used then new Virtual Phonebank technology.

The student-to-student campaign lead to a high turnout of young voters, and for the first time ever, more people under the age of 35 voted than over the age of 65. Obama won the state by nine points more than his Democratic opponents. SFBO decided in September to again conduct a phone campaign, this time targeting voters in swing states, hoping to affect the vote as they did in Iowa.

Rock the Vote put on a free show at Monroe Park yesterday, just off VCU's campus.  The Beastie Boys and Santogold performed. Sheryl Crow sang a short set; she was followed by Jack Johnson. 

About 1,000 people attended, most of whom were VCU students.  All of the artists went on to perform a concert at the Richmond Coliseum Tuesday night as part of the Rock the Vote campaign.

The race for the congressional seat in New York's 25th district has been affected by a number of different factors, experts at Syracuse University said.

 "The presidential race is affecting the congressional race enormously, as presidential politics did in 2006, when Maffei came close," said Grant Reeher, political scientist at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Dan Maffei, the democratic candidate, almost beat Rep. James Walsh, R-N.Y., in 2006 during a year when a large number of Republican congressmen lost their seats to Democratic rivals. Walsh was able to retain his seat by defeating Maffei with fewer than 4,000 votes.

This year, Maffei faces Dale Sweetland, the republican candidate, a returning figure to local politics. He served in the Onondaga County legislature for seven terms.

Maffei has a monetary advantage over Sweetland, largely due to a successful fundraising campaign and help from the Democratic National Committee.

According to CQpolitics.com, Maffei has a 4-1 monetary advantage over Sweetland, as of September.

The presidential election is just one of many factors that will shape the outcome of this race. Growing dissatisfaction with the Republican Party, name recognition and campaign funding will also determine the election results, said experts at SU.

A Kiley & Company poll released on October 9 showed Dan Maffei ahead of his opponent Dale Sweetland by 18 points. The poll, paid for and released by the Maffei campaign, showed 49 percent of voters support Maffei compared to 31 percent for Sweetland.

Students gathered in Belmont's Neely Dining Hall today to hear the former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus give her speech entitled "How would Jesus vote?"

According to the new data, Arizona Senator John McCain's home state has slipped into a statistical dead heat. The latest numbers, which show Sen. McCain with a 46-44 lead, come from Arizona State University along with PBS affiliate, KAET.

(A video from the ASU/KAET poll )

These results, along with data from a number of other state polls, indicate a marked decrease in Sen. McCain's lead, which was at one point estimated at as much as 21 points.

Poll director and long-time political consultant, Dr. Bruce Merrill said that in addition to the closing numbers, he sees a number of intriguing trends in the new data.

Merrill points the the narrow slice of the electorate that might still be swayed during the last days of the campaign as one of the most interesting trends from his poll.

"[Voters] are firmly committed and won't change their mind before Election Day," Merrill said.

94 percent of Obama's supporters, and 93 percent of McCain's supporters say they will not change their mind before the election.

According to Merrill, Obama's broader strategy for winning the traditional swing voter has proven successful in Arizona, and that McCain's nationally secured base is reflected in his home state.

"Obama has been closing the gap by attracting independents and women to his campaign," Merrill said. "McCain does well among conservative Democrats and evangelicals."

The College Democrats at Syracuse University consider the state of New York won for Barack Obama. Instead of campaigning for Obama, the College Democrats are spending more time and resources on the local congressional election. 

By Angélique Primault

The George Washington University hosted a youth vote forum Monday to assess the potential impact of young voters in this year's election. Co-hosted by CBS News, Youth Vote '08 presented the results of a poll in which college students preferred Sen. Barack Obama to Sen. John McCain, two to one.

CBS national correspondent Dan Raviv moderated the discussion, which focused on young voters' opinions and the impact they might have on the upcoming presidential election.

The forum featured speakers from the Chronicle of Higher Education, Rock the Vote, and GWU's School of Media and Public Affairs. Participants epitomized the enthusiasm of young people for the election and specifically--for Obama.

Heather Smith, Rock the Vote's executive director,  discussed the desire of students for candidate attention to their concerns. Survey results revealed that students felt that Obama cared more about them than McCain.

The intensity of enthusiasm for candidates is as important in politics as the issues, said Steve Roberts, a GWU professor. Sixty-eight percent of the Democrats are very enthusiastic about their candidate, compared to only 38% of Republicans

CBS News, the Chronicle for Higher Education and UWire, a university news wire service, and surveyed nearly 25,000 students at universities in North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado. The survey showed that a majority of Democrat students "really liked" or "kinda liked" Sen. Joe Biden, while a majority of Republican students did not approve of Gov. Sarah Palin.

Sarah Hebel, who works at the Chronicle of Higher Education, commented on the difference in age between the two candidates (Obama, 47, McCain, 72) as an explanation for the massive difference in youth support.

Roberts said McCain was from the generation of young voters' grandparents.

Zach Braff, star of TV's "Scrubs" and the film "Garden State," came to campus  Saturday to rally the early vote for Barack Obama with about 100 students.

Xinhua/Reuters

Source: CCTV

Text messages seem to be cheaper and almost as effective as more traditional means aimed at getting voters out on election day.  Read the whole article here from ASU's WebDevil.

Editor's note: This, to me, is the most important issue of the current election and of our time.

"It's said that there are only two things money can't buy," Bernard Obie said Saturday at a farming workshop in Durham, NC. He offered a Lady Godiva pumpkin to the person who could correctly identify the two intangibles:

"True love and home-grown tomatoes."

The answer encompassed two sides of agriculture that make up Obie's farming philosophy: the spirituality of growing relationships as well as the physicality of feeding yourself.  

"It's my personal belief that we have a responsibility for our food," Obie said, "We have to begin to stick our hands back in the soil."

Bernard Obie started his own farm last year: Abanitu Organics. He is also the farmer director of the Durham Inner-city Gardeners (DIG), a program that teaches organic gardening, business and healthy food choices to young adults.

What you eat should make you impervious to the vicissitudes and hardships in life, but what your food doesn't have, it can't give, Obie said, referring to the depletion of nutrients in soil (and as a result: plants) attributed to the use of chemical fertilizers.

"We can't live in a poisoned planet," he said, "we need to stop the myth that we'd be able to live in a polluted environment without polluting ourselves."  

Obie taught people about season extension, stretching the growth of fall and warm weather plants into the winter, in a workshop presented by Bountiful Backyards, a fiercely organic landscaping company in Durham, NC.

We've been able to get people collards for their New Year's Eve lucky meal, he said, referring to the southern tradition of eating collards and black beans on Jan. 1. Season extension can also mean earlier plants in the spring. One can begin to plant even with snow on the ground.

Several considerations for growing in the winter include site selection, mulching, plant varieties and warmth, he said. ATTRA has more information about growing sustainably in the winter.

B.J. Lawson, the Republican congressional candidate for North Carolina's 4th district, attended the event.

Lawson said that he mostly has herbs, but that he was moving to a more rural area and in the process of growing bigger.

Local sustainability is a large part of his campaign. The two biggest things are government responsibility and local empowerment, he said.

Teaching people to grow their own food is central to that goal.

"We can't rely on Washington to help us -- we need to take back our community," he said.

DU College Republicans and Students for Barack Obama used the homecoming parade Saturday to promote their campaign messages.

"David Brooks said at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts that this election will mark a "sea change in American politics" and that the Democratic reign could last as long as 10 to 15 years. 'Obama by nine,' the Times columnist predicted. 'I have a wager with an Obama pollster, who says he'll win by seven.'"

Read on at Romenesko

By Simone Perez

Party lines were strictly divided Tuesday night as The George Washington University's  College Republicans and College Democrats debated on the issues and platforms of their respective presidential candidates.
      
Brand Kroeger, College Republicans chairman and Cory Struble, College Democrats president answered questions in defense of Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama while nearly 250 GWU students rallied behind them.
   
Kroeger and Struble were asked questions regarding economics, energy policies, the war on terror, health care and several others. 

On questions relating to the war, Struble argued that McCain sees no end in sight and has publicly said the U.S. might still be overseas for the next 100 years.

Obama wants to focus in on areas that are in need of the troops, such as Afghanistan so that the work can more quickly get done, Struble said. 

Kroeger said that Obama's lack of experience working abroad will endanger the U.S.

"Obama has never dealt with a foreign country," Kroeger said.

By Ariele Pratt

Throughout October thousands watched the four presidential debates that were broadcast live on all major news networks. The presidential and vice presidential debates, however, weren't the only political programming anticipated eagerly by viewers each week.  

Saturday Night Live made national headlines for former castmate, Tina Fey's, impersonation of Gov. Sarah Palin. Fey's resemblance to the Governor of Alaska made her parody even stronger.

The Fey-Palin skits thoroughly affected students at GWU. After the sketches aired, students constantly made references to the sketch and professors discussed the implications of the satirical skits with their classes .

 "The Fey-Palin skits grew in popularity on GW's campus both among friends and was discussed in the classroom," senior Francisco Pardo said.

Students from both parties praised the SNL skits. Some, however, criticized the media for being to ruthless when covering the Republican vice-presidential nominee.

"I think that the skits are hilarious, but the reason I think its hilarious is because it is an overly dramatized portrayal. However, I wish [SNL] would make fun of Joe Biden equally and that the media would cover that as well," said Veronica Brown, a first-year College Republican member.

Belmont students gathered in the Beaman Student Life Center tonight to watch Swing Vote, a movie starring Kevin Costner as the man whose single vote will determine the outcome of a presidential election.

By Chelsea Mears

Robin Williams headlined Colonials weekend at The George Washington University with shows last Friday and Saturday night. Tickets for this show went on sale July 8 and sold out quickly. Williams, who is known for tailoring his act to the location, took advantage of D.C.'s political atmosphere.

Williams joked quite a bit about politics and the election, saying that he thinks Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen through "Project Running Mate." He also poked fun at McCain but neglected to criticize Obama.

"After eight years under W, I was starting to think that electoral politics was like the Special Olympics," Williams said.

It was apparent to many students that Williams would vote for Obama.

"It was certainly obvious to everyone that Williams favored Obama. His political jabs at the Bush administration reflected poorly on the whole Republican party, which could influence voters so close to the election," freshman Erika Bach said.

Throughout this election, the media has focused on celebrity endorsements. Some students said that they don't mind celebrity endorsements, but others argued that it could do damage.

"Who are they to tell us who they think we should vote for?," junior Katy McCoy said. "Most of them are not college educated anyway."

Several students said that the first amendment allows celebrities to criticize the president or whomever they want just like anyone else, but some said that as a country, we need to look more united.

When students were asked to pair up the politician with the celebrity that endorsed them they got all of the pairs right.      

On the whole, students at GWU blamed the Bush administration for some of the problems the country faces today, but they are growing tried of listening to celebrities "bash" the administration and wonder if they have a better solution.

"I found Robin Williams to be hilarious, but even though the Bush administration has made mistakes, I feel like it's old news," junior Emily Davila said. "And it's not like celebrities have any brilliant ideas, or at least I've yet to hear them."

UNC-Chapel Hill Young Democrats rallied students in the Pit, the heart of Carolina's campus, to march to the Morehead Building to vote early on Wednesday.

The students, chanting in support of Obama, marched through one of the central campus quads and past a large display questioning the morality of abortion.

Belmont students and faculty gathered in the Beaman Student Life Center today for a convocation event titled "Faith-Informed Political Science," in which a panel of three political science professors discussed what role their Christian beliefs play in their ideas about politics.

Bob Barr, Libertarian presidential candidate, spoke to students and answered questions Friday at the University of Denver's Lindsey Auditorium. The event, sponsored by the independent newspaper on campus, [dis]claimer, drew about 50 students.

Students and community members filed inside Morehead Building at UNC-Chapel Hill to vote early and to receive tickets to an Obama rally Monday night.

Rep. David Price, D-N.C., who is running for reelection, made an appearance, but the event centered around a performance by James Taylor.

Around 6,000 people filled the bleachers and track in Fetzer Field, said Paul Cox, the North Carolina press secretary for the Obama campaign.

During the rally, Taylor encouraged people to vote early and endorsed Obama. He had the crowd join with him as he sang "go Obama go."

Taylor also sang his classics "You've Got a Friend" and "Carolina in My Mind." He added some new lyrics, including "you've got a friend in Obama tonight." His wife, Kim Smedvig, joined him onstage for his final songs.

"This is a historical moment especially for the Tar Heel state on the cusp of going blue for Obama," Taylor said.

    

UNC-Chapel Hill junior Jimmy Waters decided to early vote because he had an hour of free time Monday and thought the lines would be shorter.

He said it was easier to vote at the on-campus early voting site than his voting day location. His freshman year he waited to vote until Election Day and had to walk two miles in the pouring rain to cast his ballot, he said with a laugh.

"From that moment on I have early voted."

Have you voted early? Why or why not?

Columbia University hosted two different debates Monday night, according to the campus newspaper, The Spectator.

"With the election two weeks away, the economy is the number one issue on the minds of Americans," University President Lee Bollinger said in his opening remarks before the senior economic advisers to the two presidential candidates outlined how their candidates would salvage the financial system.

In another debate at the school's medical center, two experts debated how Republican and Democratic politics in this election would affect future health care policy.

Presidential candidate Ralph Nader spoke to a crowd of about 200 people Friday afternoon at the Westcott Theater, a couple of blocks away from Syracuse University's main campus.

By Madeleine O'Connor

Students who live in GWU's Thurston Hall are passionate about politics. The dormitory houses over 1200 first-years, many of whom post everything from campaign stickers to candidates' quotations on their doors.

One sign on a door called Joe the Plumber, "the only candidate who can relate to the issues we care about."

Another read "Ron Paul for President."

With the election approaching, energy is high at the Princeton Review's second most politically active university.

Three Democratic students share Thurston's most outrageous decorations. The first-years posted a vampiric picture of John McCain captioned, "I am a bloodthirsty war mongrel," and a photo of his running mate posing with a dead elk captioned, "Sarah Palin Kills" on their door.

Wade Mollison, one of the students who posted the signs, said, "I personally disagree with McCain and Palin's views."

Arizona State College Republicans get together every Thursday to talk about current issues. This past week, they talked about the presidential campaign.

Belmont University is a student-centered Christian community according to the school's mission statement. 

There are more than a dozen active Christian ministry organizations on campus including Campus Crusade for Christ, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Orthodox Christian Fellowship. 

At Belmont, a predominantly Christian school, many students are outspoken about their religious beliefs.  But these beliefs don't necessarily determine student opinion on the presidential candidates.

DU's Sidelines Pub once again drew 100 students to watch the presidential debate on Wednesday night.

Many students said they felt the final discourse between Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama was far from satisfying.

The difficulties universities face to host a presidential debate were discussed yesterday in a story at ASU's The State Press.

Click here to read it online.

By Michelle Bradbury

Obama won by a landslide at The George Washington University's mock election. Online ballots were open between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The results were released before a debate-watch party that was coordinated by the Program Board in conjunction with the College Democrats and College Republicans.

The results were presented visually, on a map similar to the election maps available on news site. 

CNN.com's election map was posted first to show where candidates stood nationally. GWU voters' electoral map showed that Obama won overwhelmingly. McCain won only Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Texas and Wyoming, while Obama took the rest.

Campus reminders were set up throughout campus, and the election was conducted online. An informational booth was set up on GW's Mount Vernon Quad in front of the Vern Express stop.

Interactive stands were set up at GW's University Yard. The College Democrats, the College Republicans, Program Board, Class Council and Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Education set up booths. The Program Board also arranged Gladiator Political Jousting and Equalizer, an obstacle-course race. CADE gave out mocktails, including Barack-on-the-Rocks and McCain Martinis.

The booths promoted voter awareness for the national election and for the mock election.

Click here to read the posts at the NYTimes

The three candidates vying for the congressional seat in New York's 25^th district participated in a forum Wednesday night at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Dan Maffei (D),  Dale Sweetland, (R), and Howie Hawkins, (Green) were given 30 minutes to answer a number of questions from moderators Donna Adamo of WSYR News Channel 5 and Robert McClure, the Chapel Family Professor of Citizenship and Democracy at SU.

About 75 students, professors and central New York citizens filled Maxwell auditorium for the event, which was broadcast live on the local CBS affiliate WSYR Channel 5.

The forum aimed to allow conversation with the candidates and to provide an opportunity for them to discuss their plans and policy positions in detail.

The names of the three candidates were placed in a hat and drawn at random to determine the order in which they would speak. Dan Maffei went first, then Dale Sweetland and Howie Hawkins went last.

The three candidates discussed the War in Iraq, the economic crisis, education and job creation in Central New York among other topics.

About half of the audience had left by the time it Hawkins began to answer the moderators' questions.

Alexander Ufen, a political science student at SU who stayed through the entire event, said that based on the performance of the three candidates, he would support Maffei.

"I liked the format," Ufen said. "Having a forum like that was much more effective than a debate. You don't get into the laundry lists, you actually get specifics."

Read more about the event and the issues each candidate discussed.

By Chelsea Radler

The George Washington University repeatedly ranks among the most politically active colleges in the country.

Availability of government internships and proximity to political hubs like Capitol Hill contribute to GWU's political reputation, according to annual surveys by The Princeton Review, EduChoices.org and others.

The College Republicans has over 300 registered members. The College Democrats exceeds 1,300 in membership, and the e-mail lists of the groups combined have nearly 5,000 addresses on a campus of 10,000 undergraduates. So it would seem that GWU's reputation is warranted.

Both groups have held debate-night watch parties and social gatherings, from the Democrats' "Oproma" soiree to the Republicans' "NoBama" barbeque. The groups have also hosted high profile speakers like CNN strategist Donna Brazile and former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. Moreover, the political organizations have worked together with other student groups to ensure that absentee ballots are readily available to the campus.

Energetic students plaster signs endorsing candidates on doors, in windows and on apartments' garden fences, but does this enthusiasm really effect change beyond GWU's campus?