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Presidential Debate Live Online Tonight

The 2009 student body president election is growing near, and four Mason students have risen to the challenge and are actively campaigning. The official debate will take place tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Johnson Center. Can’t make it? We’ll be broadcasting the debates live on C2M in coordination with MasonVotes, as well as hosting a live chat. We hope you will stop by and join us in discussing the election.

Meet the candidates:

To read the rules and predetermined questions being used for the debate, click here.

Debate Protocol and Outline

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Academic Work

Fun fact: If each team spends three minutes answering all of the available questions, the debate would last 5.4 hours.

If you could ask the candidates any question, what would it be? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Special Election Tomorrow

Image via Wikipedia

Tomorrow a special election will be held for the position of the Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, in order to fill the position left empty by the departure of Gerry Connolly. Polling stations will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. throughout Feb 3.

All registered voters in Fairfax County are eligible to vote and can do so at their regular polling places. You can find out where to vote using the Where do I Vote site provided by Fairfax County.

The candidates on the ballot are:

Sharon S. Bulova
Democrat

Patrick Herrity
Republican

Carey C. Campbell
Independent Green

Christopher F. DeCarlo
Independent

Among the major issues is the county budget, the education system, transportation—including an expansion of the train system—and the environment.

Over 1 million residents will be affected by the election, though officials are predicting a low turnout to the event. Rokey Suleman, Fairfax County’s general registrar, cites fatigue from the presidential election and predicted bad weather as why voter numbers will be low.

Inauguration Day Events at Mason

If you are on campus for Inauguration Day, George Mason University will have plenty to do. Among the events planned for January 20, you’ll be able to see the Inauguration in the JC Atrium and attend an Inaugural Ball right here on campus.

The ceremony will start at 11:30 a.m. and can all be seen on the big screen in the Johnson Center. There will be coverage both before and after the event, so plan to come early. If you can’t make it to the Atrium, Mason Votes will be hosting a live stream of the event.

At 4 p.m., GMU-TV will be hosting a panel of experts who will be giving a Mason perspective on the Inauguration. You can watch the show live at GMU-TV’s studio in Innovation Hall, 4th floor. Interactive on-camera participation in the event can also be found in Innovation Hall room 103.

Seating for both locations begins at 3:30 p.m. If you can’t find a seat, you can watch the on-campus cable channel 48 or see what channel GMU-TV broadcasts on near you at their website. The event is also available online via live streaming video.

Everyone is invited to send questions to the panel in real-time via Yammer, a social micro-blogging service accessible to anyone with an active gmu.edu e-mail address. By signing in to the service at www.yammer.com instant messaging to the panel will be available.

There will be a dialogue about the inauguration facilitated by Mason’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. The event will be in the Johnson Center’s Dewberry Hall at 5:30 p.m. and is an opportunity for small-group discussions of the issues in the earlier GMU-TV panel.

In the evening Mason is holding its own inaugural ball. (See the Facebook group.) From 9 p.m. to midnight, the SUB II ballroom is the place to celebrate the Inauguration of the 44th president. During the night there will be food, live music, dancing, a balloon drop, mocktails, and video coverage of all the after inauguration events. Students are invited to wear anything from formal to party clothes and dressing up in red, white or blue is recommended. There will be live performances by The Monster Band and DJ Rush Hour.

Beyond the themed activities, the campus will be have a number of other options open for students who expected classes.

The Johnson Center will be showing movies all day.
The new fitness center will be open from 9 a.m. to midnight.
The SUB I game room will be open until midnight.
Corner Pocket will be open for play from 2 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Any members of the Mason community are invited to e-mail their photos to Mason Votes’ Flickr account, where they will be posted live into the photo stream. You can send photos from your computer, cell phone or other internet-enabled device to [email protected]. Be aware that any photos sent to this address will fall under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Obama Speaks at Mason on Economic Crisis

President-elect Barack Obama gave an brief speech at George Mason University yesterday, urging Congress to act quickly in order to save the economy from a deeper plunge.

Obama said that both parties need to work together on an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will “jump-start” jobs and create “long-term growth” by making energy, education, and healthcare the government’s top priorities.

See the full article and video of the speech at Connect2Mason.

Rights of Conscience Live Blog – TODAY!

UPI’s Voice of Young Voters will be hosting a Live Blog, December 30, on the controversial “rights of conscience” ruling. This rule, recently issued by the Bush administration, enhances the abilities of health care providers to refuse services, such as abortion, based on their personal religious and moral beliefs.

The ruling has spurred contentious debate, with 13 state attorney generals joining Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal in opposing the rule. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt defended the ruling, saying that “doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience.”

Join the Voice of Young Voters featured bloggers, for a rousing live discussion of the rights of conscience. The Live Blog will begin at 6 pm EST on Tuesday, December 30.

Click here to Join the Live Blog!

Is Obama Ready to go Against His Supporters on an Auto Bailout?

According to a poll earlier this month, 61 percent of Americans oppose an auto bailout, 70 percent believe that a bailout would be unfair to taxpayers and another majority of those surveyed did not believe that the bailout would help the economy. Only 15 percent believe that bankruptcy in the auto industry would immediately affect them. Considering the wide majority by which President-Elect Obama won the popular vote, a significant number of those polled had to have voted for him.

That means that if Obama were to put the full force of his administration behind an auto bailout in January, he would be going against a significant number of his supporters, not to mention the 52-35 Senate vote. The bailout in the Senate may have failed because of the Republicans, but the American people seem to be against the Democrats on this issue.

If Obama were to enact economic policies that he considers necessary against the inclination of many who voted for him he may face backlash in the early days of his presidency. I know that among the young voters I know, most of whom voted for Obama, I’ve yet to meet one who supports giving money to the automakers.

Why should they? As the government digs itself deeper and deeper into debt, it’s the young voters who will have to cough up the dough. It’s no wonder everyone is hesitant about handing out billions more dollars, in the short time since the first $350 billion in rescue funds were allocated in October, the Treasury has spent $335 billion, leaving a mere $15 billion left. The proposed auto bailout was $14 billion. The amount is barely enough for Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. to pay up, should Bush follow through with his apparent change of heart on using Troubled Assets Relief Program to help the auto industry.

Paulson is likely wary of using the funds for automakers, It doesn’t look like the other half of the money will be coming down the pike any time soon. Already, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and a number of his fellow congressmen have said that they would likely oppose signing off on the second $350 billion, leaving most to speculate that the Treasury won’t see a dollar more until Obama has been sworn in.

President-elect Obama needs to take a step back and consider what’s going to happen to his man of the people image when he goes against his own voters and members of his party. Detroit is not worth the trouble.

The Big Three (GM, Chrysler and Ford) don’t innovate, can’t do good business, and work against their customers. In fact, they sometimes work against innovation and their customers.

GM alone is losing 4.4 billion each month and the rest of the automakers are not far behind. Throwing money on the fire isn’t going to help them. Either they are going to shrink down, restructure, and come out as completely different companies or they are going to fail. To innovate their business they need incentive, and if they go down, they shouldn’t take the taxpayers with them. Giving them more money would just allow them to prolong the pain.

Most commentators seem to be looking at this issue in black and white, as if a failure to pour taxpayer cash into Detroit would mean every auto worker would loose their job and end up on the public dole forever. Talk about fear-mongering… Do we really expect that 2,201,955 people would just throw their arms in the air and give up?

Yes, if we don’t bailout auto industry now it will be hard on the economy, but it would only be worse later on. On the other hand, if The Big Three go down in flames, as they claim they will without public subsidization, it creates precisely the type of environment in which competition and innovation thrives.

If a big hole were to open up in a field that has been locked in by a small number of large companies for years, some of those out-of-job workers will start thinking about going into business for themselves. These businesses will be smaller, with less fat, more agile, and better able to innovate. As a result we will end up with a competitive field that is friendly to exactly the type of green technology Obama supports and better for consumers.

To quote Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): “We simply cannot ask the American taxpayer to subsidize failure.”

Originally posted on UPI’s The Voice of Young Voters Presidential Transition Forum.

Opinion Blogging With UPI

Arlington Campus a Polling Location at Center of Vote

From Broadside:

Northern Virginia was at the center of the nation’s electoral process this Tuesday, and Mason’s Arlington campus was right there with it. Mason Arlington’s Original Building was the official polling location of those living in Virginia Square, Arlington’s Precinct #040, and many Arlington residents were exercising their right to vote on Mason’s grounds.

“We had a very strong turnout this morning,” noted Cheryl, the Assistant Election Officer at Precinct #040, who requested that her last name not be printed. “Over 1,100 people had voted in this precinct alone by about lunchtime. We were very excited by the turnout.”

Outside the polling place, the atmosphere was upbeat on both sides, despite the rainy weather. Large numbers of volunteers for both the Obama-Biden and McCain-Palin tickets were busily handing out sample ballots and making last-minute pitches for their candidates. The Democratic Party’s volunteers looked cheerful and confident as they encouraged those passing by to vote for Barack Obama. Those advocating for the Republican candidates handed out “Joe” stickers, a reference to John McCain supporter Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher, also known as “Joe the Plumber,” McCain’s symbolic representation of an aspiring middle-class American.

As with polling locations throughout the region and the country, election officials in Arlington expected a large turnout. “We were expecting the turnout to be substantial, and we think we handled it well,” said Kaye Anne Helmich, the Chief Election Officer for the precinct, and a 1980 graduate of Mason. “We expected the biggest rush to be in the morning, before work, and we were right. We moved them along quickly though, and processed the lines by 10:00.”

Asked about the increased number of younger voters in this election, she said it was a byproduct of the increasing population in the county. “Well, younger people have been getting more interested in politics over the past four years, I’d say, since more high-rises have been built in Arlington,” Helmich said. “The more people that move here, the more young people that seem to become interested in politics.”

Second-year Mason Law School student George Parker was more intrigued by the national media’s coverage of an election in Virginia. “I voted in the 2004 election as well,” he stated, “But this is just so much different. There were two massive news crews reporting from the polling place when I voted. It’s unreal, to see an election possibly decided by Virginia.”

As Helmich summed it up: “I worked the polls in 2004 as well. This election… you can’t compare this election to 2004. They’re just too different.”

Barack Obama Elected President of the United States

Barack Obama, senator from Illinois, has been elected to the Office President of the United States. Moments after Virginia’s Electoral College votes were called for Obama and the polls closed on the west coast, all major media organizations called the election in his favor.

In his concession speech, Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain said, “the American people have spoken and they have spoke clearly.” Boos erupted when Obama’s name was mentioned but McCain responded by holding up his hands in protest of their reaction. “His success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance,” said McCain of Obama.

After Obama was announced as the next president of the United States, an estimated 400 students gathered in an impromptu celebration rally outside Chesapeake. The rally moved across campus and gathered participants on it route to Presidents’ Park, Patriot Circle, and ending in the Johnson Center to hear Obama’s acceptance speech.

Students, many of whom were overcome with emotion, were screaming with excitement and chanting phrases such as “yes we can,” “Obama,” and “no more Bush.”

Live Video | Live Blog | Vote Vans | Student Reactions

Woodson High School Voting Lines Run Smoothly

by Kevin Loker
Mason Votes Correspondent

On a rainy day after a marathon two-year campaign race for the White House, George Mason University students registered on the Fairfax campus finally boarded vans to cast their vote.
“We’ve been running vans to and from W.T. Woodson since the polls opened,” said senior Student Government member Andrew Roth, who volunteered to drive one of the MasonVotes three shuttle vans, “and so has Students for Barack Obama.”
Though their name may sound partial, Students for Barack Obama did take non-Barack Obama supporters to the polling place. “We all have the same goal,” said Roth. “We just want to make it easier for Mason students to vote.”
During midday, many students said their long-awaited poll experience at W.T. Woodson High School ran rather smoothly.
“I didn’t have to wait very long at all,” said first-time voter and Mason student Brittany Higgs, “and they had some great little arrows to point you to the right place.”
Other students using the vans have responded similarly.
“Most of the students I have asked have gotten in out within around ten and fifteen minutes,” said Roth.
“I actually waited longer for the van than to actually vote,” said Higgs