This is my third presidential election working in news. That doesn’t seem possible, but I worked the 2004 election in my hometown at my last job, I was here last time and, barring some extreme twist of fate, I will be at work this November, too.
I follow politics pretty closely and I always vote in every election (primary and general; presidential, senatorial—even mayoral). We all have the right to vote, but because women weren’t always allowed to, I also consider it a privilege. And I always try to make an informed decision.
Because I am pro-gay rights, pro-choice, pro-union and pro-people (as opposed to pro-corporation), it’s always a safe bet to just vote for anyone with a (D) by their name. But you never know, and so it’s always good to learn what each candidate stands for.
I especially enjoy watching the national conventions. The Republican one was last week, and I watched from 10-11 p.m. two of the three nights (I missed Thursday because I wasn’t working and I forgot to DVR it). The Democratic one kicks off tonight, and I plan to do the same.
My favorite part is that it’s usually a pretty good glimpse into who you can expect to see running in the NEXT presidential election. Last Tuesday, for example, I think we saw the first stump speech for Gov. Chris Christie, who I bet will be running in 2016. Same with Marco Rubio on Thursday night. (My friend, coworker and fellow political junkie Paul says that he likely opted out of a potential vice presidential nod because he didn’t want to be associated with what may well be—hopefully—Mitt Romney’s failed presidential bid this year.)
I have a PollTracker app on my phone (free and useful!) and I enjoy looking at this site, too. If you click on the “toss-up states,” it will take you to a page showing polls for that state. Obviously some polls are more accurate than others; Paul says the Quinnipiac poll is the most accurate. (If you look at the election results for 2008, they called the results pretty much dead-on in every state.) Best of all, they have Obama ahead of Romney in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin. It’s within the margin of error in all three states, but still.
It’s an interesting time and I do think this is a very important election. I’m very excited to see how this turns out.
Very nice blog. I enjoyed reading it. Here’s to the candidates with a (D) in front of their names.
Thanks! :) And yes, here’s to those with a (D)
My kid is voting for the first time and we filled out our primary ballots together (our area only votes by mail, no polls). We didn’t agree on all of the choices but we had fun talking about why we each made them.
I was so happy to vote in my first election. :)