Senator McCain’s running mate in the race for Presidency, Sarah Palin is certainly a very wise choice. While some women say that the reason they voted for Hillary Clinton was not just because she was a woman but because she was a Democrat, there are many women considering voting for McCain.

 While this was a very wise choice on his part as far as politics goes, I still cannot get out of my mind that she is a mother of five, and her youngest is 4 months old. She has children to raise and she is leaving them for the Vice Presidency. While I’m sure she will still love and take care of them as much as she can, she still cannot be as close to them as before.

    Sarah Louise Heath Palin was born February 11, 1964 to Charles R. Heath and Sarah Heath.  She was raised Roman Catholic, but switched with her parents to Assembly of God, which is a Pentecostal Church.  She now describes herself as a non-denominational Christian.

    Mrs. Polin also has a rich political background since 1992.  She has served two terms on Wasilla, Alaska’s city council from 92’ through 96’.  Then she won two terms as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska from 96’ through 02’.  She moved on to chair the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 03’ through 04’, while also serving as Ethics supervisor of this commission.  And she has been the Governor of Alaska since 06’.  She is the first woman and the youngest person to ever hold this office.

    Besides being a politician, Palin is described as a “hockey mom”.  She is married to Todd Palin and has five children.  She also hunts, goes ice fishing, eats moose burgers, rides snowmobiles, has run marathons, and owns and pilots a float boat.

    Republican Nominee, John McCain has now asked Mrs. Palin to be his Vice President and she has accepted.  She is the second woman ever to run for VP on a major-party ticket and is the first Republican to ever do so.

I’m sure you all know that John McCain has chosen Sarah Palin to be his vice president.  I was shocked when I heard the news.  It makes me wonder if he chose her to win votes from people that aren’t sure who to vote for.  I think that Sarah Palin will probably help McCain get votes from people that are so focused on the women’s right issue.  I think it’s a big deal to have a women as a candidate’s vice president.  

 I was also very disappointed that Sarah Palin would choose to take this office with a baby boy that was born in April.  She has a commitment to be a mom to her five kids, yet she would choose to accept John McCain’s offer.  Although; I have heard that she has more experience than Obama.   I think it’s very helpful that she is governor of Alaska and that people really do know who she is.  This has changed a lot of things, and weather it helps John McCain remains to be seen.  I can’t wait to learn more about Sarah Palin and even hear John McCain talk about her. 

 Brooke Barker

I’ve been thinking lately on whether or not how much money McCain or Obama raises will make a difference in the overall election.  Obama has clearly raised more money than McCain, but will that make a difference on him beating McCain in the Presidential election?  Obama has raised approximately $340 million while John McCain has raised approximately $150 million.   Obama has spent about $270 million, while McCain has spent about $100 million.It appears as though Obama would have a significant advantage over McCain, but is this the case?

The recent polls out show that Obama and McCain are running neck and neck.  So as of right now it appears that Obama’s $190 million advantage hasn’t paid off quite yet, but will it.  I think that Obama might be able to advertise more but I don’t believe that it will give him a significant lead.  Yes it might get him a few more votes than if he hadn’t raised that money, but it won’t overpower McCain.

     Most of you have probably heard about both Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s recent incidents.  John McCain was recently asked how many houses he owned.  His response was “I think — I’ll have my staff get to you.  It’s condominiums where — I’ll have them get to you.”  Of course Obama immediately jumped at this opportunity and put out an ad on McCain not knowing how many houses he has and therefore is not in touch with the economy.

Obama’s recent incident involves his half brother.  The following is an ad running in Texas. “Barack Obama has viciously attacked John McCain and his family for being successful and living the American dream,” the narrator says, as the ad then flashes up pictures of Obama body surfing and golfing. “Obama claims he is looking out for our families in an economic downturn, but ask yourself this: If Obama cares so much about your family, why doesn’t he take care of his own family first?” The ad then shows a picture of Obama’s stately Chicago home, and one of Onyango’s shack. “Barack Obama lives in this house … while his own brother lives in this one,” the narrator says.

Both of these incidents have the possibilites of hurting both of these Presidential Candidates.   The question is, who will it hurt more?

Tonight for the first time both of the presidential candidates stood on the same stage for a brief moment. Standing between the two was the pastor of Saddleback Church, Rick Warren. Pastor Warren asked each, separately the same questions. The questions ranged from abortion to war to personal faith issues. Once again tonight Barack Obama gave vague long answers and John McCain gave the straight forward answers. McCain at times even was answering the questions before Warren finished.

From the forum tonight I am certain of what John McCain believes, he was extremely straight forward. As McCain was talking he said that “Homeschooling works” and that life comes at the “moment at conception “. On the other hand Obama was not very clear, when asked about stem cell research he was very vague.

If you did not see the forum tonight I would encourage you to see it, because it was very good and informational.

Since we aren’t having class this month, I just figured that I would post a little something on what I thought about Clarence Thomas’ book that we had to read for homework. I would also like some feedback on what some of ya’ll thought about the book.

I really enjoyed this book. At first I liked Trent Lott’s book better, but once I got into this book I ended up liking it better. I thought that it was very interesting and amazing that Clarence was able to go from being a nobody in Pinpoint, Georgia to being a Supreme Court Justice in Washington D.C. He went through some drastic changes throughout his lifetime.

I liked his statements at the end of the book about how what he went through to become a Supreme Court Justice is not what should happen in America. I also like how he said that he didn’t care if he became a Supreme Court Justice; he just wanted to bring honor to his family and friends. He tried to do what was right no matter what.

In one of my first posts I talked about the issue of Senator Obama being criticized for what his pastor said.  I have thought further about this issue and I believe it depends on a lot of things weather or not Seantor Obama should be criticized for what his pastor said. 

Even though Senator Obama chose to be around his pastor, Senator Obama clearly said that he did not believe what his pastor said. 

John F. Kennedy says “I believe in a president, whose views on religion are his own private affair, neither imposed upon him by the nation nor imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.” 

Even though Senator Obama never said what his pastor said, he still chose to interact and go to that church, and how he is having to deal with the consequences of that decision even though he doesn’t support the words of his pastor. 

Brooke Barker

Lately, I’ve been wondering if Obama will be able to win this election because of his race. In a recent CNN podcast, it said that 3 out of 10 people polled said that they were prejudice. Another poll showed this, 84 percent of Americans say a candidate being black would not effect their vote one way or the other. But, the dirty little secret, what some experts call the 15 percent lie, the 15 percent of white voters who tell pollsters they’d be willing to vote for a black candidate, but in the privacy of the polling place, never, ever actually would. This will really hurt Obama in the Presidential election.

Due to so many people being prejudice, I believe that Obama’s chances of winning this Presidential election are very slim. Especially since this is not the only thing affecting his campaign for President. I would like to know what some of ya’ll think about how race affecting Obama’s Presidential election.

Madam President! Madam President! Everyone was screaming at a rally for Hillary Clinton. That made me almost scream something not quite as nice.

 Mrs. Clinton is supposed to be hope for the women, breaking the barrier, the divide, between men and women, but I cannot stand that.

 As a female I am supposed to be exited that there could be a woman as the next President, but men and women are made differently, for different things, And personally I think Mrs. Clinton becoming President is unconstitutional.

The Constitution clearly refers to the President as “He”  not “they”.  “He shall hold his office for the term of four years” ” He shall from time to time…” So if she wants to be President, she would have to change what the Constitution says.

Clara Nelson