November 6th; the elections are 3 short months away to date. It’s wild to think we are already in August of 2012. Hopefully the Mayans are not accurate in their prediction or that leaves us with 4 months and and 6 days to exist. But just incase they aren’t and the future president actually has 4 years to affect our nation, NPR has posted an informative article about 7 things to watch before election day. It is important to be especially aware of the things that take place around the presidential race in the coming months no matter which of the two candidates you support. Campaigning and voter outreach are going to intensify and be very deliberate. Here is the list as provided by NPR.org:
1) A GOP Running Mate: Sometime in the next three weeks, Republican Mitt Romney will announce a vice presidential candidate. His campaign has all but promised that it will not wait for a traditional eve-of-the-convention choice.
2) Swing State Swings: Both campaigns will continue to spend an inordinate amount of time and ad money in the battleground states. Romney is planning a bus tour beginning late this week with expected stops in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida. You’ll also see a lot of the campaigns in Ohio, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Michigan and Wisconsin.
3) The Conventions: The four-day Republican National Convention begins Aug. 27 in Tampa, Fla., and culminates with Romney going from presumptive to actual Republican nominee. The three-day Democratic National Convention starts on Sept. 4 in Charlotte, N.C.
4) Debates: President Obama and Mitt Romney will face off three times: Oct. 3 in Denver; Oct. 16 in Hempstead, N.Y.; and Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla. Vice President Biden and the Republican vice presidential candidate will debate once, on Oct. 11 in Danville, Ky.
5) Voter ID Decisions: Several new voter ID laws face Justice Department review or legal challenge. The outcomes will determine if new laws restricting who can vote will be in place on Nov. 6 in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas.
6) Ads: The unprecedented money in this presidential race means the already huge number of ads on TV and online will only intensify, especially for those watching broadcast television in battleground states.
7) Taxes: Even if he maintains his refusal to release tax returns from before 2010, Romney has agreed to make public his 2011 tax returns sometime before Election Day.
The presidential race is just that- a race- and both candidates are in it to win and the tactics used will reflect this. As we can infer from this list, it is not very likely that anything that takes place in terms of campaigning between now and election day will be accidental so it’s important for us as citizens to be aware of this because to win they need OUR vote.
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