Activities and Resources

Activities

2008 Presidential Race

• The presidential candidates were all over the early nominating states, shaking hands, giving speeches and urging everyone to vote for them. Have students read what the candidates and their supporters were saying in the days leading up to the first vote—the Iowa caucuses, held on January 3. Then discuss which campaign tactics might have influenced the outcome. Here are two good news articles to start with, one from The Associated Press and the other from The Washington Post.

• It’s hard to escape political campaign ads these days. Positive, negative, funny and serious, the ads are all over television, radio and the Internet. But what are they really saying? Have students analyze some of the current candidates’ ads. Here are some video resources: Start with these two videos, which show examples of common phrases and techniques that have appeared in political ads over the years. You can find past presidential campaign ads, some dating back to the Nixon and Kennedy campaigns, here and here. C-Span compiled ads from the 2004 presidential campaign. Current political ads can be found at this Stanford University site and on most of the candidates’ campaign Web sites. This YouTube video also lines up a series of short ads from the current candidates. (NOTE: The YouTube video is strictly campaign ads, but there is some questionable language in the written comments.)