RNC blog roundup

Annenberg students got the opportunity to report and blog about the Republican National Convention from St. Paul, Minnesota last week and posted their observations and commentary on USC's Election 2008 website.

One blogger, Trisha Romano was lucky enough to attend the RNC and like many media outlets praised McCain and Palin's delivery of their respective acceptance speeches. Romano observed that the near cancellation of the opening parade at the RNC was highly contrasted by the Republican ticket's zealous acceptance speeches. The candidates chose to ignore their opposition which was effective in my mind in more than one way. Not only did it disassociate the party with negative campaign slurs, but it placed all of the emphasis of their speeches on the ticket at hand and the issues McCain/Palin stand for which says a lot about the character of the Republican campaign. In their attempts to deliver themselves wholeheartedly to the public, McCain and Palin painted a clear picture that they are urging their voters to vote FOR them, rather than against Obama.

Although many republicans are adamantly opposed to gay marriage, Romano found out that gays hold a small percentage of the republican stronghold and represent a decent number of the demographic. Romano ran into a few gay republicans who were members of the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of openly gay conservatives. Not even the least bit out of place, these gay republicans agree with the candidates on most issues, obviously other than the obvious: gay marriage.

Romano also tackled the subject of the youth vote in particular and stressed that although Obama appears to have the youth vote "in the bag" so to speak, the Young Republicans say otherwise. In a chance encounter Romano met the chairman of the Young Republicans, Jessica Colón, who briefed her with all the ins and outs of the RNC and her position with the Young Republicans. She highlighted her belief that the addition of Palin to the ticket will further unify the party and entice the younger voters at the polls more than the Obama-Biden ticket will. Although the original blogger disagreed with Colón, I think there's something to be said for McCain's unseen presence among young voters. It may not be as predominant out here in Los Angeles, but down south and in the midwest the Young Republicans may have a heavier stronghold than many here at USC realize which could affect the presidential decision of many virgin voters this year.

All three of my blog roundups were taken from USC's Election 2008 website and can be found in their entirety at: Election 2008