August 25th - First Full Day

"We don't have a national election [for President]. We have 50 state elections"  There's a way to start off the morning at a Presidential Convention. That quote, by former Congressman Mickey Edwards, came towards the middle of our welcome to Augsburg College by it's President, Dr. Paul Pribbenow, and ensuing political discussion led by Mickey Edwards and Meena Bose, our Scholar-in-Residence. Although the quote is somewhat of common sense when looking at the Presidential election from an Electoral College point of view, never did I stop and think of it in those terms. There is the guise of a national election because we count up the electoral votes from each state to make up the "big picture", but that exactly expresses the point of 50 state elections, we had up the votes from each state. After all the polls are closed in Ohio, the election is over for Ohio, but it isn't over for California or Nevada. That just does not seem right... does it?  Anyway, after our welcome and political discussion, lunch followed, and then the individual group meetings and an ice cream social. During the group meetings we were handed a paper asking us for our learning objectives and individual goals for the seminar. We were told to make them the dream situation for ourselves, while keeping it somewhat reasonable. So, here it goes: Working with the Ohio Republican Party, my dream scenario would be to stand with the Ohio Delegation on the floor while listening to John McCain's acceptance speech. I would like to learn more about lobbying/special interest groups and what their role is in politics. I would also like to meet as many important people from around the United States as possible. I plan on going to the hotels for some delegations and shaking hands of people and swapping business cards. Sorry for the rushed delay, I had some computer issues that I needed to resolve. However, now to finish up my blog for tonight. We find out our specific fieldwork placements on Wednesday, (a time we all are looking forward to), and from then on we will be as busy as beavers in the middle of the summer, except we will be building careers and networking while they are building lodges, dams, and networks of tunnels. I know, probably not that funny, but I thought it was. And this is my blog. Probably the most interesting speaker today was the panel of Mickey Edwards and Meena Bose because of their way of looking at the electoral process and their "half-predictions" about McCain's VP and Obama's viability as a candidate. The introduction of the faculty was also very interesting though because they all had to answer two quesitons; 1. Was Biden a good pick for Obama (and why)? and 2. Who will/should McCain pick as his VP? The takes on this were also very interesting with answers ranging from Hilary Clinton to Joe Lieberman to Mitt Romney to other more conservative members of legislatures and Governors. It will be interesting to see who McCain does pick, and what state that person comes out of. *fingers crossed* I heard and saw some new vocabulary today too, including "POTUS," which stands for "President of the United States," and "collateral messages" which means messages relayed outside of the direct message being sent out. It was somewhat confusing, but it is the newest way of using the word "collateral" in politics, or so I'm told.  Anyway, I'm going to finish up watching the DNC and fall asleep.. two things that may or may not be related. You choose.

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