Hagel Video

Hi all:

It's great to finally use this blog. Pretty fun stuff. Professor Winfield mentioned Chuck Hagel in class on Wednesday and I was looking around for anything about the announcement that really wasn't an announcement and washingtonpost.com has the video. In my opinion, it's a great advertisement for him to the public that he is thinking about jumping into the pool, yet he's still testing the waters. I do agree, very frustrating stuff for journalists. Enjoy the weekend.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/03/12/VI2007031200482.html

Mike S.

U.S. Voter Turnout Debate

For those interested in learning more about the voter turnout debate we discussed last night, I recommend this article:

McDonald, M. P. & Popkin, S. L. (2001). The myth of the vanishing voter. The American Political Science Review, 95(4), 963-974.

In outlining their argument about the necessity of examining the voting-eligible population (VEP), instead of the voting-age population (VAP), McDonald and Popkin argue that "the ineligible population is growing faster than the eligible population, which gives rise to the perception that voter participation is decreasing" (p. 963). They also show that the 26th Amendment, which in 1971 lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, had a significant -- and negative -- effect on turnout in the United States.

Enjoy,

Sam

That’s the time to discover who you really are )))

As I said in the class tonight, some sociologists consider gender to be not a biological categorical (Male vs. Female) but rather continuous variable. Gender somewhat 'varies' on the scale from Male to Female depending on social behavior of an individual. You can be more masculine or feminine. Or even androgynous or undifferentiated.

It’s funny; however, it can help better understand personalities of women in politics, men in kitchens, etc.

A short version of the test: http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=9417365772332679709
The original version: http://www.neiu.edu/~tschuepf/bsri.html

Have fun!

Ted Sorensen Weighs In

We've mentioned him a few times in class, so I thought folks might be interested to see that former JFK adviser Ted Sorensen has endorsed Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic nomination. Here's a link to The Politico's coverage:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0307/Sorensen_Endorses_Obama_Conjures_Kennedy_Jabs_Clinton.html

See you Wednesday,

Sam