The $150 million Man
In 2000, W. Bush smashed Clinton's records by raising $100 million during the primary season and then in 2004 Kerry and Bush both brought in around $200 million, but Obama has now raised about $605 million. Remember he is the first presidential candidate not to accept federal funds during the general campaign (now up to $85 million). In August he raised $67 million which was the old record before September when he raised $150 million. To see his spending in the swing states last week, go here. To see campaign spending reports, go here.

Can A President Tame an Economy?
This is a great graphic where you can roll over each item and see the changes from Truman through W. Bush. As the article says Today, Americans save less and earn a lower minimum wage — in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms — than at nearly any other time since 1950. Can voters reasonably expect these and other indicators to change significantly after a new president takes office in January? Click here for the article.

The Bradley Effect!
In 1982, LA Mayor Tom Bradley (D) lost the race for the CA governor's mansion even thought he was 10 points up in the polls just prior to election day. The thought is that people will tell a pollster in a race with a white and a non-white canididate that they are voting for the non-white person only to do the opposite on election day. In VA, it is also known as the "Wilder effect" after he won the governor's race by seven points less than on election day. At any rate there have been several articles on this recently and the question is will it have an impact on this year's presidential race. Here is one analysis from Pollster.com and another one from the Washington Post. The other side is the "reverse Bradley effect" found here. Above is a recent clip on the effect from SNL.

CSPAN For the Classroom
This site has a lot of relevant video for you to share with the students. For example, here is a clip discussing McCain and Obama's views on the current membership of the Supreme Court. Here is a 3 minute clip of Sec. Paulson discussing the federal government's takeover of "Fannie and Freddie" and here is Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, talking before the Senate Banking Committee about the bailout. Also go here for the politics link where there are the latest polls, all the presidential/vice presidential debates, campaign speeches and political rallies, campaign ads, and an interactive electoral college map. We also have a thing called Debate Hub which allows you to watch the upcoming debate in its absolute entirety - from the moment they turn the cameras on. It's neat because you get to see all the "pregame" action, if you will, of the moderator explaining the rules and, reporters doing their standups and at times, the candidates preparing for the debate. There's also a blog and Twitter roundup. And we typically have a live camera at some venue where people are watching the debate. You get to hear and see immediate reaction from the crowd.

Electoral College Map Over Time

Karl Rove has a great tool on his site that shows the Electoral Vote Map over time, starting last March.

Great video resource

Bookmark www.foratv.org. This is a free streaming video site which contains a variety of videos related to US Government. The videos are broken down by chapter, so you don't have to sit through the entire video if you don't wish.

Watch All the Debates from 1960 - 2000
This is a great site as it has all of the presidential debates for the last forty years. It also has transcipts, analysis, etc. Click here.

Deliberating in the Classroom
First off what is deliberation? This site explains the technique and gives you plenty of lessons that work in the classroom. Go here to see the site.

Presidential Debate Highlights
The video above is 10 minutes of the highlights of the debate. Also click here to see CNN highlights from the second presidential debate.

Polls and the Electoral College

Here's the latest Electoral College map based on recent state by state polls compiled by www.pollster.com

Obama Outspending McCain Nearly 3 to 1 on Television

For the month of September, Brack Obama spent $20 million on ads versus John McCain's $7.5 million. Check it out in the Washington Post. Oh, why is Obama spending money in Montana? Virginia Spending is at left.

Bill of Rights Institute

The Bill of Rights Institute offers a variety of educational resources free of charge. Weekly eLessons offer 20-minute discussion guides for middle and high school history and government teachers. Each eLesson includes a lively background reading, discussion questions and extension options. Also, be sure to check out one of the Educating the Next Generation blog, to find out how we're applying knowledge in the classroom. Browse their Constitution Day, Bill of Rights Day, and Primary Source Activities sections to access these resources which include interactive Flash presentations, lesson plans, readings, and activities.

The Latest Ads
McCain on top and then Obama.

Biden-Palin Debate
The vice-presidental debate in 10 minutes as put together by TPN. Click on the embedded video above to see the highlights of the debate.

Do We Really Care About the National Popular Vote?
Political scientists' models have been predicting an overwhelming victory by Obama since the summer. Their models are largely based on the perception of the economy's strength and the popularity of the sitting president - both dismal. But that's for the popular vote and what matters is the electoral college. Above Nate Silver of the site fivethirtyeight.com explains his site which relies on complex math computing based on a number of polls to decide the electoral count. If you want it very simply, go to Electoral Vote or a similar page with CNN and you will be able to click on any state and see vote totals pop up.