A different vote: None of the above

When I talk about politics with my husband, he often laments that there are only two parties to choose from in the U.S. On the other hand, I, even before graduate school, have always been skeptical of third parties; perhaps I was traumatized by Ralph Nader’s role in the 2000 election. And graduate school has …

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Presidential election outcomes directly influence suicide rates, study finds

Presidential election outcomes directly influence suicide rates, study finds. I ran across this article and found it simply fascinating. And perhaps even more interesting – it is those states who supported the national loser where suicide rates decline the least. The authors of the study attribute this to social cohesion – but is this still …

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Reshaping 2012: Will the election really be different?

Everyone remembers the 2008 election. But although the election of President Barack Obama was undoubtedly a historic moment in U.S. history, the primary campaign may be just as memorable. For the first time in recent memory, the primary campaign, at least for the Democratic nomination, lasted nearly to the conventions. While I found the contest …

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Refudiating my previous post

In a previous post, I discuss the potential of social networking and its use by a host of Republican candidates. In it, I note that Sarah Palin has been widely praised for her use of these new resources to communicate with the public, from her Facebook page, which boasts nearly 2 million fans, to her …

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Social media campaigns: Successes and failures

As we head into the 2010 elections, a lot of candidates, especially Republicans, are attempting to build on Obama’s successes from 2008. And there were some important lessons to be learned: Obama’s campaign forced many of us to rethink how successful political campaigns can be run. In particular, Obama’s use of social networking and video-sharing …

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