It's Election Season!

It is now just  three weeks until the November election and thus, as responsible members of American society, it is encumbent upon us to become engaged and informed on the election process.  Today, we will first remind ourselves about important aspects of the political that you will be hearing a LOT about over the coming weeks, the electoral college and polling.  Next, we will begin to familiarize ourselves with the candidates themselves and the issues involved in this campaign.
Here are your instructions:

With your partner(s) create a google document.  Title the document Election Information.  This is where you and your partner will discuss and create your responses to the issues and questions posed.

Go to the Upfront Magazine

Read the article on the Electoral College

Then with your partner, click on Games and Quizzes tab, select the “Electoral Challenge” game and then go ahead and play.

Have a quick discussin with your partner. Who won? Why? What was the strategy used for victory?

Next, read pages 12-13 in the magazine on polling.

Then, go to the Web Links tab which will take you to Gallup, Real Clear Politics, and NYTimes swing state polls.

Have a brief discussion with your partner. What polls did you look at? What do these latest polls show? What pieces of data are most interesting and why? Do you think this data will have an impact on the election? Why?

Go to http://upfront.scholastic.com/issues/09_03_12/book

Read the full article on pages 6-9. 

Next, revisit page 7 of the article. Choose TWO issues that interest you and your partner. Then, you will spend time finding information about your candidate’s position using multiple sources. You will use alphabetical order to determine who is researching the Obama and Romney campaigns.

Create two charts in your google document that look like this:

Source used	President Obama’s Stance/Suggestions on _______(Issue #___)	Governor Romney’s Stance/Suggestions on __________ (Issue #___)

Sources that you can use to gather information include Barack Obama and Mitt Romney's websites,
Procon, CNN's Election Center, and NYTimes Election Agenda, or Ontheissues

When you are finished creating your charts for two issues, discuss and answer:
What seems to be the biggest difference between the candidates on this issue?
Are there any points of similarity?
Why is this an important issue for the country right now? Why is it a difficult issue for the country?