1. USA Presidential Elections
IB Assignment 1
Module 2

2. Presidential Elections
6th November 2012
Two political parties (no coalition like in the Netherlands)
Republican Party
Candidate: Mitt Romney
Democratic Party
Candidate: Barack Obama

3. Three branches of government

4. The vote
When voters go to the polls on election day people think they are voting for a presidential candidate. They are not. In reality each person votes in their state for a college of electors who pledge to vote for the candidate who wins the most votes.

5. Electoral College There are a total of 538 electoral votes
435 Representatives
100 Senators
270 votes
needed to win

6. How’s it looking?
Obama
46%
Romney
45%

7. How’s it looking?

8. Useful articles …
BBC US election special website BBC article “Five things you need to know about the US election” CNN US election special website Washington Post US election special website

9. Over to you!

10. Assignment
On 5th November, we are going to have an election debate in class.
How: Class divided into two groups (Democrat & Republican) of 15, one person will be the Speaker.
When: Lessons on Mondays (plus other lessons where possible) will be used to prepare, from 22nd October, plus homework. Debate on 6th November.
Each group needs:
1x Presidential candidate: to research Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, Labo(u)r
4 x Ministerial candidates: Secretary of State - Secretary of Education Secretary of Defense - Secretary of Health
10 x Research Team: concretely each minister/president will work with two researchers
The Speaker will prepare debating questions on the following Cabinet areas: Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, Labo(u)r and will be given two questions on State/Education/Defense/Health by the different teams.

11. Assignment (cont.)
Each group of 3 needs to research the Party’s views on your particular department’s area of expertise. You need to hand-in: - an overview of your minister’s policies: - Top 5 in bullet points, ordered from most to least important - elaboration of three points (minimum 150 words each) - maximum 2 A4 pages - an overview of remaining policies (presidential candidate team only) - a full bibliography - a copy of the keyword card your minister/president can take into the debate (maximum 10 words) - two questions your minister would like to ask their counterpart (also give these to the speaker!)

12. Assignment (cont.) Your mark will be based on:
5 marks: Policy overview (quality of research, sources used, language use)
3 marks: Debate performance of the minister / presidential candidate
1 mark: Work in class (team work as well as individual effort)
1 mark: One remaining mark to be divided among team (yourselves).

13. Assignment (cont.)
Speaker, your mark will be based on: 6 marks: Questions asked for debate (quality of research, sources used, language used in justification) 2 marks: Debate performance 2 marks: Work in class

14. Questions?