When I went to the Republican Presidential Candidate debate held at Morgan State University a few weeks ago, I was able to get alot of really good pictures of the candidates and supporters. I plan to post them on my website as a part of my slide show presentation. I also have interviews and clips for my first podcast. I interviewed two young students of Morgan and they gave me their view on the issue of some of the Republican candidates not showing up.
Also, I am excited about the Iraq War Week of Action being held here on campus by the Towson University College Democrats. It will be a whole week, starting Monday, October 22nd, of anti-war activities and demonstrations. I could not have asked for a more perfect opportunity for pictures, podcast interviews, and quotes for my articles. Well, actually, I did ask. I made sure already with the president of the organization that I got all of those things for my project. This is also very perfect because my topic is specifically dealing with politics and college students. So what better way to get my research done than to get it from college students.
If you would like any information about the Towson University College Democrats and the Iraq War Week of Action, please visit this link or email them here.

I find that the transcripts of the Presidential Debates are very useful tools for my website. They help me get an idea of what each candidate stands for on specific issues. I also try to watch the debates as well so that I can see their facial expressions and mannerisms. I believe that they play a big part in how the audience should receive the candidate's messages.
I have also found a few good feature story examples written about my topic. I have one written by author Rick Cohen, one written about Mike Huckabee, etc.
I hope to learn from these stories and work on my feature writing skills for the articles on my website.

This past Thursday I went to Morgan State University to witness the Republican Presidential Debate moderated by Tavis Smiley. The whole thing was very interesting. I knew that this was going to be a perfect opportunity for me to get some valuable information about what each candidate stood for. Because I am a Democrat myself, I thought that it was very important for me to attend this forum so that I can better understand the "other side."
When I went in, it was packed. The tickets had sold out within 30 minutes. The stage was pretty big with a huge sign in the back that read ALL-AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL FORUMS on PBS MODERATED by TAVIS SMILEY. The podiums were spread out in the middle of the stage.
There were some things that I agreed with the candidates on, such as, when Ron Paul said that there were no weapons of Mass Destuction and there never was and how we need to get the troops out. But there were also things that I did not agree with, such as, on the issue of health care, Tancredo said that we should be our own health care system, by taking care of ourselves in a way that we would'nt even need health care. And I say, what about the poor people who can't afford to buy healthy fruits and veggies? What about the people who are born with certain illnesses beyond their control...etc.
All in all, I had a good experience while I was there and I came out of there knowing more about their positions than ever.
If you missed the debate, here is a transcript of the whole forum, and if you do not want to read it, then there is a video and a podcast of it on this site as well.

There was a lot of controversy that came out of the issue of the candidates not showing up at Morgan State University for the debate last Thursday. The candidates that did show up, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, Rep. Tom Tancredo of Ohio, Rep. Duncan Hunter of California and Alan L. Keyes, all had negative things to say about the candidates that chose to not show up, ( Mitt Romney, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, and Fred Thompson), because of campaign conflicts. The candidates that did show up apologized to the audience in the building and those watching at home.
It is reported that some of the Republican candidates that declined to show up said that the crowd would be "hostile and unreceptive."
In a discussion on Meet the Press, Tavis Smiley, the moderator of the Republican debate held at Morgan, said that he was pleased that he did not have to say too much on the subject of the candidates not being there because people in their own party were speaking out about how embarrassed they are about the candidates behavior. People like Newt Gingrich, Jack Kemp, J.C. Watts, Michael Steele, and the president himself in his press conference at the White House, have all spoken out about the issue.
I believe that it is not smart on the candidates part to choose to not show up to every Black and Hispanic invitation to speak that they are given. The candidates that show up to those events show the minority public that they care about them.
When I interviewed some of the Morgan students that attended the debate about the subject, I mostly got negative feedback on the matter. The overall feel was that they felt disrespected and not cared about.
In my opinion, those candidates who keep having "scheduling conflicts" during every invitation to speak at minority events need to wake up and consider if they are causing more harm than good for their race for the presidency.