Tuesday, January 3, 2012 307 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Presidents Schedule

President Obama and his family said aloha to Hawaii last night,

and are now home.

At 3:30 PM, he will meet with Vice President Biden and Defense

Secretary Leon Panetta.

Iowa 101

Hi! Im Gabe Fleisher, and unlike many of my journalist

colleagues, I am NOT reporting from Iowa.

Although the MSNBC show with whom I share the name The

Daily Rundown is airing live only 6 hours away from my house,

my parents said no to a trip to the Hawkeye State.

But, yes, the long-awaited GOP Iowa caucuses will start at 7 PM!

I dont think I have any Rundowners in Iowa, but if there are some:

VOTE!!!!

Just to recap, this is the contest:

vs vs. vs.

vs. vs. vs.

Minnesota Rep.

Michele Bachman

Frmr. House Speaker

Newt Gingrich

Texas Rep.

Ron Paul

Texas Gov.

Rick Perry

Frmr.

Massachusetts Gov.

Mitt Romney

Frmr.

Pennsylvania Sen.

Rick Santorum

Looking At The Democratic Side

Yes, there are Democratic caucuses today. They just wont be

aserspirited as their Republican counterparts.

But, in each of Iowas 1,784 precincts, voters will emerge to

caucus.

They can either vote for President Obama, or pro-life activist

Randall Terrell. Most people will vote the President, and it is more

of an event to rev up energy than anything.

And lastly, the President actually has another thing on his

schedule: a live video conference with caucus-goers all over the

state. He will talk to and answer questions from a lot of different

people at different caucuses.

Iowa 101 (cont.)

Iowa is the beginning.

All over the state, Iowans will be taking advantage of their unique

place in the electorate tonight. Heres how:

First, when you go to your school, or church, or meetinghouse, you

will be given a blank ballot. You will write on it the name of any

candidate. While you are doing this, people from all of the major

campaigns (which are more than who I have above) will speak

about their candidate in an attempt to sway voters minds.

The Republican Party of Iowa will figure out who won. From

there, its just as confusing as the Electoral College. Its actually

pretty similar. So Im lost. But thats the caucuses really.

The Daily Rundown Editorial Page

As we sit here on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, the official

beginnings of 2012s voting period, Gabe Fleisher examines who

can and cant vote and why. Specifically him and his friends. Here

is The Kid Vote

The Kid Vote By Gabe Fleisher

Editor, Writer, and Everything Else Imaginable

The Daily Rundown

Politicians try to attract the women vote. And the black vote. And the

Jewish vote. In this next election, the Hispanic vote will be a big factor.

But why do you never hear about the kid vote? Oh yeah, IT DOESNT

EXSIST!!!!! But why not?

Most of you may think that extending the right to vote to kids is radical,

even absurd. Well, it is radical, but just hear me out. After all, those of

you who have seen a The Daily Rundown Editorial (theyre kind of rare),

know Ive always been pretty fair-minded, just, and reasonable (to a

degree.) Before we get started, lets me say one thing: any good editorial

is prejudiced. And by that standard, seeing as Im ten years old, this will

be a GREAT editorial .

A good Editorial also always goes over the arguments against the issue.

So, what arguments do we have? First of all, my favorite one- the

argument of a close-minded adult: Kids arent responsible enough to

vote! Theyll just choose a random candidate! Well, I could say the

same about a LOT of adults. And is that true about kids? Did you know

that in Boise, Idaho anyone fifteen and older can be on governing

committees? How about that in California, Ohio, Rhode Island,

Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin eighteen-year-olds can be

governor. In Massachusetts, some sixteen-year-olds are given $135 to

skip school and work at the polls. The governor signed that bill a couple

years ago. And would all of these officials do this if they didnt think

kids were responsible?

But every issue also has a good argument against it. Pretend you are a

parent and you absolutely LOVE this candidate. I trust all of my

subscribers not to do this, but wouldnt a lot of parents attempt to

convince their children to vote for that candidate? But thinking about it,

thats fine. America is chock full of people that try to convince other

people to vote one way or another. Thats good, it means that those

people are concerned about their communities and are trying to be active

in the worlds best democracy. But would if parents made it bad. Would

if they punished or harassed their kids to vote a way. Thats not fine, and

its a risk wed have to make if we want to lower the voting age.

Ive actually always wanted to make this editorial. As some of you

know, my family is currently watching The West Wing, a show from the

90s about a fictional presidential administration. I had hidden away

drafts of this Editorial for a while, but after Friday nights episode

included the White House Communications Director (Toby Ziegler)

talking with the middle-school group Future Leaders of Democracy .

Naturally, they wanted a constitutional amendment to lower the voting

age. Toby, all though originally planning to avoid them, talks to them

and eventually invites them to stay longer than planned, bringing one to

a presidential press conference.

While that group is talking to Toby, they give some good reasons. They

say that adults will hand so much off to kids, its better to let kids vote,

because its there future anyways. Which is a good argument. But

What age should the vote be given to? 5? 7? 10? 12? 15? There are so

many options some people think toddlers should be allowed to vote:

have no barrier at all!

I think it should be lowered to maybe the age of 12 (giving me two years

of waiting.) But alas, I dont know.

Maybe if YOU email me at gabrahamlincoln5000@gmail.com

with your opinions I will be better informed. Please do it!

mailto:gabrahamlincoln5000@gmail.com