1. Good Morning Citizens! Today: 1.Media – Finish Merchants of Cool 1.Discussion 2.Citizens United 3.Campaign ads vs. debates

2. Citizens United Citizens United was a Supreme Court Decision which declared that Corporations had the same rights to free speech as individuals. And that Money = Speech Thus – Corporations can, through Super Pacs, spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns. Now, there are campaign finance laws and limits that you can spend giving to political campaigns. BUT Because of Citizens United, Unions, Corporations and Wealthy Individuals can form Super Pacs to create campaign ads on the their own, allegedly separate from the official political campaign. They DO NOT have to reveal where their money comes from.

3. + vs. - Campaign Ads What works best? Cost of the 2012 election: ?

4. Debates vs Commercials First – Highlights from the second presidential debate http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada- 19973295 65.6 million viewers How are debates commissioned? How might debates be improved? Criticisms of debates? Debates vs. commercials?

5. Happy Tuesday Friends Today: 1.Voting 2.Electoral College 3.Maps of the Electorate HW: Research Paper Due Block Day. Please email me or see me if you need help finding resources to use in your paper.

6. Voting in the U.S. Age – 18 – U.S. Citizen Registered to Vote Vote Early – Absentee Ballot 58.2% of eligible voters voted in 2012 dropping from 61.6% of those eligible to vote in 2008 Minnesota led the states with a turnout rate of 75.7%. Hawaii laggard, with a turnout rate of 44.2% What factors contribute to voter turn-out? How might we increase voter turnout?

7. The Electoral College In the United States we do not elect our leaders by popular vote. Instead, we have a winner take all electoral college system. Presidential Candidate V.P. Candidate Political Party Popular Vote Electoral Vote Barack H. Obama Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Democratic 65,917,2 58 51.0 1% 332 61.7 % Willard Mitt Romney Paul RyanRepublican 60,932,2 35 47.1 5% 206 38.3 % Gary JohnsonJames P. GrayLibertarian 1,275,89 3 0.99 % 0 0.0 % Jill SteinCheri HonkalaGreen469,016 0.36 % 0 0.0 %

8. Winner Take All and District by District Voting

9. 2012 Election Results What conclusions can we draw from looking at these maps? What might the map look like moving forward?

10. Only White Men

11. White Men and Women

12. Results with everyone under 24 removed

13. Actual Election Results

14. Youth Vote Youth Voting has been on the rise since 1996. What factors contribute to youth voting? What types of ads do you find effective in encouraging young people to get out and vote?

15. 2008 Election Results If Only Youth Voted

16. Restrictive Voting Laws U.S. Supreme Court Declared Part of the Voting Rights Act Unconstitutional because it singles out states that have a history of suppressing minority and female votes. As soon as they made that decisions, states like Texas began passing restrictive voting laws – aimed at preventing women and the poor from voting. Voter Fraud?

17. TGIF! Does it really work right before finals? I’m not sure. At least you can sleep in right? Today: 1.News 2.Campaign Ads 3.Debates 4.Discussion – Commercials vs. Debates what do they each provide? If you turned in your paper to me by today I will get it back to you by Monday so you can make revisions – if you want, by Friday.

18. News Classroom News National/International News Senate Rules Changes Updates on Syria – Refugees Affordable Care Act Updates Monday: Central Question Returning or Locke and Hobbes – Are people mostly good or mostly evil? What are our politicians motives? What are our business leaders motives? What are our own motives? Final Open Floor Discussion