What Americans Really Vote For

This cartoonist is attemtping to depict the attitude of most Americans towards the presidential election. The woman could obviously care less about voting; the only voting she will be doing is for American Idol. I think this is a very good portrayal of how the importance of media has surpassed the importance of our government. The cartoonist strategically places the cell phone in the woman's hand to support the point that he's trying to make. That is, people care more about their TV shows than who will be running this country. The cartoonist is making a very bold statement, but in my opinion, a rather accurate one as well. The contrast in the characters' facial expressions also reflects where their values in life are. The man looks all giddy and excited because he gets a chance to make a difference in who will be elected. The woman, on the other hand, has an almost annoyed look to her. It seems that she would rather be talking to her friend on the phone about the latest episode of "The Desperate Housewives" than conversing with this young man about who who will become president.

Potential Presidents?

This is the link to my column: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080116/COL33/801160439/1203

This columnist is going over the results of the Michigan primary that took place on Tuesday. Henderson addresses both Romney's and Hillary's struggles that they still have to overcome if they want a chance in winning the election. Even though Hillary won the democratic vote, Henderson believes that most democrats would rather vote for a republican than to elect Hillary as President. On the other hand, he thinks Mitt Romney faces problems of his own. He says that Mitt needs to work on his credibility and gain more republicans' votes if he wants to win. I agree with this column. Although I have no desire for Hillary to become our President, I'm not sure how i feel about Mitt. I also agree with the fact that if both candidates want to win presidency, they have a lot of work to do.

This column was intended for readers of 18 years and older, with an good education and high interest in politics. If it was designed for a kindergarten class to read, I would make a great deal of changes. I would definately have to start the column with a more "catching" introduction. Five-year olds don't usually have that great of an attention span. The topic in and of itself would be hard to convey to little kids, but there would need to be less statistics and such. I would display the information in the simplest way possible. Kids of that age don't really understand percentages and fractions, so using them would lose their interest. Also, the vocabulary used would need to be toned down a bit. Kindergartners wouldn't be able to comprehend much of the language used in this column. There would have to be more backround about the candidates given, as young children usually don't follow or have any interest in politics.