Category: Top Stories

Seven-term Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan will make his national debate debut tonight as he steps on the same stage as the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden.

Ryan and Biden will only have this one encounter on a debate stage this election cycle.  Four years ago, Biden went toe-to-toe with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.  Biden is a Washington veteran of over four decades and has run for president twice.  Thus, he is also a veteran of these debates.

Although Biden is widely known as gaffe prone, these incidents normally occur in smaller venues, not in well publicized, high profile events.  Biden has done his duty on the campaign trail as the attack dog in 2008 as well as this year.  So, Ryan can expect a similar aggressive style from Biden tonight.

Paul Ryan has made quite a name for himself in his 14 years in the House.  He became the chairman of the House Budget Committee in 2011 and has been a leader and advocate of a large-scale reform of America’s entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security).  While his House plan is not the same as Romney’s plan, you can be sure that Biden will attempt to tie his controversial proposal to the ticket as a whole.

There have been very few “moments” in VP debates.  One of most memorable was in 1988 when Sen. Lloyd Benson told Sen. Dan Quayle “You’re no Jack Kennedy.”  However, It was the Bush/Quayle ticket that eventually prevailed that year.  VP debates may sometimes garner a large audience, but their impact on the election as a whole is quite small.  Unless either man makes a giant mistake, the dynamic of the race will not change significantly.

Cover Photo Taken by: Jasmine Young (last debate watch)

The Second Debate Watch party will take place tomorrow in the J.C Atrium. There was a huge turnout at the first debate watch party last week.  Tomorrow’s debate will be between Vice- President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan. The topics for this debate are foreign and domestic policy. Moderating the debate is Martha Raddatz ABC news Chief Foreign Correspondent.

The debate will be divided into nine segments of approx. 10 minutes each which differs from the Presidential debate of six segments of 15 minutes each. Mason Votes hopes to see you tomorrow night. Pizza will be provided and for those interested in registering to vote forms will be available. The debate begins at 9:00 p.m. E.T.

The cover photo is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

Abigail Fisher is a native of Sugar Land, Texas and was denied admissions as an undergrad applicant to the University of Texas at Austin. She accuses the University of Texas of illegally discriminating against her.  Fisher accuses them because she was a part of a pool of applicants who were evaluated using criteria that gave extra consideration to black and also Hispanic criteria.This case was brought before the Supreme Court and raised the question of whether and how race may be used in college- admissions decisions.

This case is similar to a case from 2003 about the University of Michigan law school and how the Supreme Court held that colleges were seeking to promote diversity must give “serious, good faith consideration” to race-neutral alternative to affirmative preferences. The difference between now and 2003 is that it has become more conservative and more hostile to racial preferences. This case affects the 2012 Presidential Campaign because candidates are likely to be faced with questions on affirmative action.

Full story: http://chronicle.com/article/What-You-Need-to-Know-About/134912/

October 5, 2012 marked the first Friday of the month meaning the release of another jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor. The report showed the economy added 114,000 jobs in the month of September and the unemployment rate falling to 7.8%.

Mitt Romney and his campaign have been critical of the unemployment rate sighting it being above 8% for 42 straight months. The new unemployment number comes at a time when President Obama is trying to regain his momentum after a poor debate performance earlier in the week. However, it must be noted that no incumbent president has won re-election with the unemployment rate above 7.2% since World War II. Ronald Reagan won re-election in 1984 with an unemployment rate of 7.2%.

Speaking to a crowd at George Mason University, President Obama referenced the encouraging numbers saying, “More Americans entered the workforce, more people are getting jobs. Today’s news is certainly not an excuse to try to talk down the economy to score a few political points.”

Even with the positive report Mitt Romney didn’t back down from criticizing the president’s handling of the economy. He has argued that the unemployment rate has gone down due to people leaving the workforce. While that has been part of the reason over the past few months the report for September showed participation in the labor force increased.