It’s been a while since a turned 18 and became legal, but I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I have never cast a vote — not for a local, state, or national election. My first opportunity to vote was the midterm elections in 2006, and I just wasn’t informed enough about the House and Senate to make a smart decision. So I didn’t.

The other thing that paralyzed me, and that made me think it wouldn’t matter if I voted even in the presidential election, was the electoral college. I’m from good old Massachusetts — you know, the first state to legalize gay marriage, the so-blue-we-don’t-even- see-the-color-red state, the most liberal state in the union. There is never a contest about who wins our state’s votes. In fact, the politicians don’t even try; in the last election, I didn’t see a single presidential campaign ad.

So why bother voting? My vote amounts to a spit in the wind, and as long as we’re not talking about national popular vote as an option, things are going to stay that way. Still, though, I felt a renewed urge to cast my vote this year, because more than ever it seems like a year when a tremendous amount is at stake. Like hundreds of millions of others, I’ve seen my country slowly going down the tubes in the past eight years. It’s gotten a lot harder to be proud of my country, and I see the ideals it stands for increasingly obscured by smoke.

That’s when I found out that several states — including my college’s state of New Jersey — have voted to pledge their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular election. Hot damn, my vote counts for one vote again! It’s a very exciting and rebellious move on the part of several states who are tired of only Ohio and Pennsylvania getting all the love.

So I registered! Read More »

Say it ain’t so! It looks like Stephen Colbert’s faux presidential campaign is already off to a rough start as some are saying his campaign is illegal!

Because he has a sponsor (Doritos) and his own TV show (The Colbert Report) election officials are saying he is in breach of laws that prohibit any corporation from donating money or backing any one candidate.

“How serious can you get about running as a joke?” said Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks campaign finances. “The Federal Election Commission doesn’t have a great sense of humor.” Read More »

Hillary Clinton’s new campaign ad mocking the finale of one of television’s most popular dramas has been causing a stir in the pre-election candidate market. In this clever spoof, Hillary and Bill take on the roles of Tony and Carmela by sitting at a table in mock New Jersey diner, while Chelsea is seen through the front window attempting to parallel park her car Meadow-style. Hillary’s campaign song comes on the jukebox and the screen fades to black. How clever.

While this culturally savvy spoof shows Hillary’s aptitude to interpret American culture, does it showcase any of her abilities to be the president of The United States? The references made to Smash Mouth, her horrific campaign song by Celine Dion, and the overlying theme of the Sopranos make the ad mirror some type of commercial advertisement for American media. Amy recently explored the concept of candidates creating MySpaces to reach out to the youth of America in their own territory. While I appreciate the fact that Hillary is attempting to reach out to young voters who will often ignore politics in favor of entertainment, another part of me wonders whether or not I feel disrespected by having a presidential candidate marketed to me as a celebrity-like figure. Read More »