Political Campaigning (Thursday, February 2, 4th period)

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh was still a little distracted by the continuing coverage of the State of the Union and kept glancing at his copy of the speech transcript and frowning.

"Okay. Tuesday night's speech pretty much gives you a blueprint of the issues that the Republicans will be running on this year: Iraq, terrorism, education, health care, permanent tax cuts, and, apparently, banning human-animal hybrids." Josh rolled his eyes. "Maybe that's a huge issue in Montana or something."

He smacked the top of his desk. "Except for not. Today we talk about local issues."

He pointed at the stack of newspapers on his desk. "Some of the big things in Montana right now: the Abramhoff scandal--bad news for the Burns people--Iraq, farming issues, snow mobiles--learn to care about that--, wolves potentially coming off the endangered list, unemployment rates on the reservations."

He waved his hands at the class. "Discuss among yourselves. Which national issues will you take from the Republican platform, if you're working for Burns, or work to counter, if you're Morrison and Tester? Learn about wolves." He gave an evil smile. "Extra credit will be given to anyone who asks CJ Cregg about Plumie." He sat back down. "Divide into your usual groups." He snapped his fingers. "Oh, um, Donna--" he pointed at Jake--"how many days until the election?"

Comments

Re: Group discussion: Callisto, Parker, Jake

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker booted up her laptop and grimaced at the wolf issue. "Fabulous. Our voting base wants wolves to become listed as a 'predator species', hoping they'll be taken off the endangered species list-- but legally one has nothing to do with the other. It's a hot-button issue. Oy. Keep that out of the limelight."

Re: Group discussion: Callisto, Parker, Jake

[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

"Wolves," Callisto rubbed her forehead. "I appreciate that they're farmers, but classifying wolves is their major concern?"

Re: Group discussion: Callisto, Parker, Jake

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"One of them. It's cheaper to kill wolves than spend money on shepherds or electronic systems to keep them away. Snow mobiles-- well, interesting." She frowned. "It looks like their use is now taking a downturn. A lot of people signing petitions to get them banned in Yellowstone. That might be an easy thing to pick up on, no matter what his record." She cocked an eyebrow at Callisto. "Iraq is still the biggest thing, though. More your field than mine."

Re: Group discussion: Callisto, Parker, Jake

[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

"Parker, I fight wars, I don't spin them."

Re: Group discussion: Callisto, Parker, Jake

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, well, I don't like the spin on this one, I don't think they've got a good exit strategy, and yet, we're stuck with the party in power being the same as our guy." Parker made a face. "We should check Montana's polls, see if they're for or against it-- nationally, everyone's sick of it, but maybe we don't have to waste spin on this."