Polling Locations Map

Facebook has put together a nice page for voters looking to find polling locations, and other voting information. In fact, they are even keeping statistics of how many Facebook users say they have voted today.

At the time this article was written, over 1.8 million people on Facebook have clicked “I Voted” to let the world know they took the time to let their voices be heard on Election Day 2010.

Facebook, in cooperation with Google, also has a polling location map set up at: http://www.facebook.com/uspolitics?v=app_146081198769400.

Voters can simply search for a polling location by zip code and/or address. There are also many other voting resources available on the dedicated Vote 2010 Facebook page.

Voting Locations

It’s nice because most cities, towns, and communities make it as easy as possible to vote. This means the poor do not need to find transportation, and the busy don’t have to go out of their ways. A lot of times candidates call homes in their communities to let them know where the closest place to vote is. However, if you did not get a call, and still need to find the closest voting location, Google makes it really simple. They have created a very useful gadget that allows anyone to find out where the nearest voting locations are.

Feel free to use the application below, to find out where you can vote:

Baker & Patrick

The 54-year-old Patrick assumed office in January of 2007, and he looks to fend off Republican Charlie Baker in what will surely be a race that comes down to the wire.

Baker, who has a good amount of political experience, does not have the impressive resume in politics that Patrick does. However he does have experience in business, something that may help him in this year’s election. Baker, a Harvard Graduate was the CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care for 10 years, which was a non-profit health benefits company.

The latest Rasmussen Reports political poll shows Deval Patrick maintaining a slight lead over Charlie Baker. Patrick has the support of 46% of expected voters, while Baker has the support of 44%. These numbers are inching closer. In the October 18 poll, also by Rasmussen Reports, Patrick had a 5 percentage point lead. That has since been reduced a a mere 2 percentage points.

Will Baker’s campaign be able to inch a little closer to Patrick’s? If it can, this years election for Massachusetts Governor will be one that comes down to the final votes.

Christine O'Donnell

People wonder why a website like Gawker would post such a report about Christine O’Donnell, so close to the Delaware Elections. The reason is quite simple. They want to to get a few extra Halloween treats this year.

Gawker currently is ranked #764 overall by Alexa.com. That means it is the 764th most popular website on the internet. Gawker has to pay their writers, and they probably have to pay for anonymous articles like this recent O’Donnell one. The company is out to make a profit, and in order to do so, they rely on as much web traffic as they possible can get.

This Halloween, with the “more than likely” bogus “Christine O’Donnell article, Gawker will see a nice Halloween treat in the form of Advertising dollars. Advertisers such as AMC pay top dollar to have their ads shown on a website as popular as Gawker.

People love gossip, no matter what it’s about. Whether it is gossip about politicians or anyone else, people want to read it, and that is what brings the advertising dollars in. That is why Gawker is ranked 764 on the internet.

When should the line be drawn though? Isn’t this latest attack on Republican Christine O’Donnell a little too much?

2010 Election

Senate Races in California, Florida, Alaska, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin could really go either way, when looking at the recent polls.

With many problems in past elections, where recounts showed inaccurate initial counts, this year could see a large number of candidates second guessing the results. We could see several elections decided by fewer than 1000 votes, and if that’s the case, expect to see some recounts taking place.

Candidates throughout the nation are getting prepared now for possible post election issues. Many of them have their lawyers standing by in case they feel a recount is needed.

How many recounts will we see after the 2010 election results come in? It could be more than most people believe.

Charlie Crist

If Crist could become a Senator running as an independent, whats next? Could we finally see a President of the United States run an an independent and actually have a fighting chance? Sorry Ross Perot.

More importantly Charlie Crist could help influence other big name political candidates to run as an independent. Could this become a new thing for politicians to do? When it comes down to it, a large amount of political candidates can not honestly say they are 100% conservative, or 100% liberal. Why affiliate yourself with a party at all, if you have some liberal beliefs that are mixed with conservative beliefs?

Most voters are not far left wing or far right wing when it comes to their political ideals. Can they really be classified as a Democrat or Republican, if they have mixed beliefs? Party affiliation gets in the way of many things for a politician. Perhaps Charlie Crist will show America that it is alright to be “independent”.

Obama & Stewart

Obama seemed very relaxed, and answered Jon Stewart’s questions in a slow, well thought out, but timely manner. While Barack Obama did get a few laughs from the audience, it didn’t appear as though he was trying to be too humorous. He answered questions in a rather serious way, and tried to explain aspects of his presidency to Stewart and the rest of the nation.

It should be interesting to see if this become a regular thing for the President of the United States to do. Will the next President also appear on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”? What if the next president is a Republican? No one can say for sure, but most would be led to believe that Stewart himself is a Democrat. Would he have been as fair and non confrontational if he were interviewing a Republican? From watching Stewart in the past, most people believe he would.

In 2 days, the “Rally to Restore Sanity” will be taking place at the National Mall in Washington D.C. It is not meant as a political rally, and it isn’t targeting a certain political party. However, there will be a ton of people in attendance, and it should be interesting to hear Jon Stewart address them all.

“The Rally to Restore Sanity” has already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities such as the “Trust for the National Mall” and other educational related charities through DonorsChoose.org. If a success, could we see an annual rally put forth by Jon Stewart in the future as well? It is very possible.

Jon Stewart is known as a comedian, but it appears as though he is becoming more and more of a figure people actually respect for more than comedy. These recent events may be the beginning of something huge for Stewart.

Check out the highlights of Barack Obama on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” last night.

Christine O'Donnell

During the debate, Chris Coons said something about how private schools are permitted to teach creationism, but public schools are not.

Christine O’Donnell proceeded to ask, “Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?”

Coons then told O’Donnell that the first amendment prevents congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion. That is when O’Donnell countered saying, “You’re telling me that’s in the First Amendment?”

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. Originally it only applied to congress, but since Gitlow Vs. New York in 1925, the amendment also applies to each state and all local governments.

The First Amendment states the following:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

So, yes it does appear as though Christine O’Donnell goofed up. However, she is correct, as the First Amendment does not specifically, that there shall be a “separation of church and state”.

That statement actually comes from a letter in 1802 written by Thomas Jefferson.

Republicans are known for using the constitution in making policies, and to back up their campaigns. O’Donnell did goof up when asking if the phrase “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” was in the constitution.

More than likely most politicians do not know the entire constitution and each amendment word-for-word. What do you think? Does this “goof up” make O’Donnell less of a candidate to be Senator of Delaware?

Christine O’Donnell is running in Delaware’s 2010 Senate special election for the Republican Party. She has previously worked as a consultant and commentator on Fox News, and CNN. She finished third in the 2006 Republican primary for Senate in Delaware, and lost to Joe Biden in 2008.

The Krystal Ball Racy Photo

Young people today seem to be rather careless as to what kinds of photos and pictures they post on their profiles. Democratic nominee for the 1st congressional district in Virginia, Krystal Ball happens to be one of these people. Now, 28-years-old, Ball made a mistake of posting one of her racy photos on Facebook from when she was still in college. That photo has come back to bite her in the rear end.

Krystal Ball didn’t expect the racy photo to bring her so much attention. However, in the technology age that we live in today, it’s something people in every profession must now consider. Employers, and Colleges now have been known to screen potential employees and students by searching for their names on the internet. A Google search for most people will bring up a results for their Facebook profile, close to the top of the results.

Some people believe that the added attention that Krystal Ball has received will help when election time rolls around. Others think that the racy photograph will prevent many potential followers from voting for her, and instead favor her competitor Rob Wittman. Either way, it certainly helps remind us that stuff we post on the internet may just come back and haunt us in the future.

Clinton believes democrats should act to counter 'Pledge to America'

“The Republicans have now given us their plan. And they’ve been pretty straightforward all along. I’ll give it to them. They’ve said, if you vote for us, we want o repeal healthcare, we want to repeal financial reform oversight, we want to repeal the student loan reform, we want to begin to privatize Social Security and Medicare. And whatever other things they’ve said.

I think that the Democrats ought to put on one card no more than five and no fewer than three things that will be their priorities. We’ve still got a chance here. We’ve got 30 days to have an honest debate. We ought to do it. So far this election has been about stuff that’s not going to affect people’s lives now, at least not directly.

Secondly, I know how easy it is to lose control of the debate. It happened to me in ’93 and ’94. But remember the gift Newt Gingrich gave America, political science gift. Newt Gingrich proved with that “Contract For America” that you could nationalize midterm elections. So, I think that the president and the Democrats, even at this late date, should view this as an opportunity and an obligation to say, ‘All right, they’ve organized their national plan. Here’s what ours is. If you hire us for 2 more years, here’s what we’re going to do.’”

The Pledge to America campaign is one that the republicans hope will give them a stepping stone for the 2012 presidential election as well as the smaller elections taking place this November for Senate seats and Governor seats. Whether it works, we don’t know, but a lot of democrats seem to realize that the republicans are on to something with this latest pledge. Clinton happens to be one of them.

Will the democrats counter punch the pledge made by the GOP or will they simply sit back and hope that the republicans make some mistakes?