There are 44 million young Americans eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election, according to RocktheVote.com, a student voting advocacy group. There are approximately 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students at SCAD Atlanta that will be eligible. SCAD is preparing students for the future, and voting can be an integral part of that process.
There are 11 candidates that have formally declared their candidacy and numerous others that have expressed interest in running for president in 2012. Of the 11 declared candidates, 10 are Republican and only one, incumbent President Barack Obama, is a Democrat.
The Republican nomination has yet to be decided amongst the wide assortment of potential candidates, according to an ABC report. However, the front runners are said to be Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and the undeclared Sarah Palin.
Newt Gingrich, a former University of West Georgia history professor, started his political career as the Georgia sixth district Congressman, and was re-elected six times in the same district. He was a favorite with conservatives and ran a grassroots campaign, which eventually lead him to a position as Speaker of the House in 1994. He was a possible favorite among Republicans for the presidential nomination until choice words on “Meet the Press.”
“I don’t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering,” Gingrich said on “Meet the Press” last Sunday. “I don’t think that imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate.”
This statement came as a shock to conservatives, especially Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin who created the 2012 Republican Medicare proposal and the 2012 “Path to Prosperity” budget resolution, according to a New York Times report. Gingrich’s remarks were controversial because his words suggest that Ryan’s budget cut resolution is a part of a socialist agenda. The report outlines a radical change in the next 10 years that will cut the American deficit through scheduled budgeting.
“Here you’ve got Representative Ryan trying to bring some common sense to this world of insanity, and Newt absolutely cut him off at the knees,” South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said in a CNN interview.
Gingrich has been a conservative advocate for change but his remarks have forced him and his supporters to run damage control, according to the New York Times.
“One of the most painful lessons I’ve had to learn, and I haven’t fully learned it, obviously, is that if you seek to be the president of the United States, you are never an analyst, and you are never a college teacher, because those folks can say what they want to say,” said Gingrich.
Gingrich publicly apologized for his remarks. He said that he supports the budget cut proposal and is regretful for using the terms “right-wing social engineering,” according to a FOX news press release.
Although Gingrich’s biggest opponent is currently himself, former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin believes that she can not only beat out Gingrich for the nomination, but also President Barack Obama in the upcoming election, if she decides to run, according to an ABC report.
Palin has not officially declared herself as a candidate for the upcoming election but has alluded to a “fire in the belly,” for running in the next election, according to a New York Times report.
“It’s a matter for me of some kind of practical, pragmatic decisions that have to made,” said Palin regarding her possible candidacy. She says that with a large family and the responsibilities of a campaign it will be a tough decision. With Gingrich’s current political woes, her likelihood of winning the nomination has increased substantially, according to the New York Times.
In contrast, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who has declared his candidacy on the Republican ballot, also has a clear head-start in the organization and fundraising element of his campaign, according to a Washington Post report.
“He has been around the track,” said GOP consultant Scott Reed in a Washington Post report. “He knows from a difficult experience how not to waste time and how not to try to be all things to all people. It’s his [election] to lose.”
Editor’s Note:
Deciding who one should support in a presidential election is a personal choice, not an obligation. Nonetheless, voting is an important statement of one’s opinion, belief and support of America’s future. No matter where a student is from, researching and understanding a candidate’s platform before making the choice to vote is crucial.
Election day is Nov. 6, 2012. You can register to vote here.