Frank LoBiondo: The Man for South Jersey

For the past 17 years, Frank LoBiondo has been the congressman for New Jersey's 2nd District^[1], covering most of southern New Jersey.  Although he is a Republican in a predominantly Democratic state, he still has sound victories over his opponents, winning every year with over 20% more votes than his opponents.^[1]  His home-style feel and relate-ability in conjunction with his fairly moderate stances make him the perfect candidate for the people in his district. 

One only needs to look at the demographics to understand why LoBiondo does so well.  Being Catholic and Italian in a district filled with a large amount of Catholic Italians^[2] makes a huge difference in public perception.  The social divisions in society tend to have a large effect overall in the outcome of an election.^[6]  On this alone, LoBiondo has a leg up over the competition, and with trying to oust an incumbent being an uphill battle, its unlikely that will change in the next few years.  His name doesn't win elections by itself, however.  LoBiondo works hard to get his name out to the masses in a favorable light, and he does that quite well.  He often makes person visits to animal shelters, local farms or bogs, or even helping out with scholarship opportunity in high schools.^[3]  This was extremely effective, and I know from first hand experience.  When I was in elementary school, I won some state level award for high scores in school.  As a result, I was able to meet with LoBiondo, and even at age 9 I started to like the guy.  He was kind, and willing to take the time out of his schedule to shake hands and take a few pictures with a small boy.

This still doesn't make a lot of sense, though.  A republican being elected in a democratic district and state seems strange.  This is misleading, because the more rural southern part of New Jersey is slightly less liberal than the cities.  Also, LoBiondo is a fairly straightforward moderate.  Many of his economic stances on the environment or oil are more liberal than his Republican name might suggest.  Recently he voted in favor of the Cash for Clunkers organization, or giving federal workers paid leave for parental leave, as well as enforcing limits on CO₂ emissions, all typically democratic views.^[4] This moderation on issues like education, energy, environment and health care as well as his conservative stance on family issues, gay rights, or gun control give him the support he needs among the unique rural democrats that gives him the edge over his opponents. 

Being an incumbent, his advantage over his opponents does support his chances at winning, however he still actively meets with those in his district.  He has attended meetings with veterans, environmental clean-ups, or even small scholarship opportunities for the local children in high school.  He attended the local Super Bowl Breakfast party, and enjoys taking his two dogs out to the park in Ocean City.^[5]

Connecting with those he represents is critical to LoBiondo, and he does an excellent job.  Sometimes his conservative views do hurt his public opinion, such as his vote against embryonic stem cell research or his vote against reforming bankrupcy rules to prevent more foreclosures or his vote against monitoring TARP funds to ensure they're used properly.^[4]  These stances do hurt his public opinion, but with such a strong base of support built up from the rest of his career, he is still well liked among his constituents. 

In his last election he gained over double the votes of his opponent, and there does not appear to be any strong contender to face him in the upcoming election.  It would seem as though despite being conservative on certain issues, his more moderate stance is more appealing than someone who will always vote for their party.  Because he stands more liberal on those issues important to those in South Jersey, he shouldn't have a problem getting re-elected.  That's why Frank LoBiondo isn't just some political figure above the population, but one of the masses supporting the common man, perfect for South Jersey.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_LoBiondo#Electoral_history
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey#Demographics
[3] http://lobiondoforcongress.com/
[4] http://www.issues2000.org/NJ/Frank_LoBiondo.htm
[5] http://www.house.gov/lobiondo/
[6] Dr. Monson Class Lecture, March 1-17, 2011, W111 BNSN Brigham Young University, class lecture
[7] http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/L000554/votes/page2/ (second source for voting records)

Sarah Palin: The Real Two-Face?

Ever since Sarah Palin hit the spotlight during the 2008 Presidential election she has been a magnet of attention in the media.  Her eccentric personality and her very unique views on many issues, she is both loved and hated among the American population.  Media organizations often portray her quite differently reflecting the political bias of their respective editorial staff.  Fox News and CNN portray Sarah Palin in drastically different ways to build up support for their network; Fox portrays her has an American hero while CNN portrays her as an uneducated and ignorant politician.


With Libya dominating recent news, and the President having discussed the national position in this new humanitarian aid "war."  It would only make sense that Sarah Palin would have spoken out on the situation.^[1] 



She spoke on Fox News and explained her disgust for Obama and how he has no reasons to get into this war.  Despite the fact that she agrees with Obama in the fact that she strongly dislikes Gaddafi and encourages the spread of democracy and freedom across the globe, she still could not find anything positive in the Presidents statement.^[2]  Fox, being a strong source of conservative media, openly discussed the hate for Obama that Palin obviously feels, and even Greta Van Susteren began interjecting her own opinions on the speech, saying it was "flat" and implied that it was a weak speech because it failed in both its main purposes, or at least those she felt it should serve.^[1]  Also, they also fail to mention her blatant lie that the no-fly-zone costs $600,000,000 a day, when in fact costs $600 million in the first week, with prices to be dropped dramatically as the weeks progress.^[3][4] Rather than being informative and substantive in their news broadcasting, they express bias opinions in order to gain more support for their cause, and supporting Sarah Palin as a politician.  This bias in the media tends to lionize Palin,bolstering up their views while trying to appeal to their vast conservative audience.

The CNN reporting was along the same lines as Fox News.^[5]  Just as Fox had a strong conservative bias, CNN posed a quite liberal bias in their opinions on Sarah Palin.  Rather than take Sarah Palin's message as a whole, they took the worst and most uninformed bits and went about disproving them piece by piece to hurt her political career.  For example, she stated "We're going to hand over command and control to a steering committee. I don’t think that this has ever been a part of foreign policy, a military mission in the U.S. before."^[5]  Rather than focus on her main opinion that the United States should not be handing over control, they expose her ignorance in order to invalidate her opinion.  Instead of focusing on the politics, these media organizations express their own views about political candidates creating a bias reporting from both sides. 

The media, often referred to as the fourth branch of government^[6], was a main source of information for the majority of the public populous.^[7] As media has developed and become more accessible to the general public through blogs, online articles, cable TV, or talk radio, this changed.  It became more important to increase viewers because this was their source of income.  An example of this need to be viewed is the new "horse-race" approach to the media. They dramatize the daily changes in opinion to attack or support a specific candidate, drumming up support and making a general list of "front-runners."  This has been their main focus, and rather than educating people, media organizations now express bias opinions in order to support their own organization by attracting prospective viewers.

[1] http://video.foxnews.com/v/4612646/palin-on-obamas-war
[2] http://sarahpalininformation.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/sarah-palin/
[3] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/23/libya-no-fly-zone-could-cost-one-billion_n_839364.html
[4] http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/libya-us-intervention-fly-zone-gadhafi-cost-taxpayers/story?id=13242136
[5] http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/29/gop-contenders-say-foreigners-in-charge-of-american-forces-whats-true/?iref=allsearch
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_branch_of_government
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_bias_in_the_United_States

Newt Gingrich: Explore 2012

With 2012 elections heating up, it's coming down to decision time to see who will be running in the Republican primaries.  Not many candidates have stepped forward with bids to run, so Newt Gingrich's decision to form a fund-raising committee is about the most convincing call to arms yet.^[1] With years of experience and a solid Republican sponsors to his name, Gingrich is a strong contender to earn the nomination from the Republican party.  Republicans will be looking for a strong candidate to run against Obama, and the return of the former Speaker of the House would be the logical, though not perfect, fit for that nomination.

In his day, Gingrich--most famous for his strong opposition to President Clinton--was a prominent figurehead of the Republican Party.^[2]  His fierce standings will give him a decided advantage in this election, as many republicans have been looking for a strong leader to balance out the powerful personality of Obama.  Without a "big name" figure, the Republicans will not stand a chance at ousting the President with the established support he currently possesses.^[3] This gives him an edge over many other potential candidates; nameless figures like Rick Santorum, Tim Pawlenty, or Mitch Daniels have nowhere near the spotlight Gingrich has had in years in Congress.  Even the bigger names like Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney have shorter records as governors of their states than Gingrich had in the House.^[4][5][6] 

His main competitor, Mitt Romney, will be an interesting match up.  Romney's experience and degrees in business will become a major factor in his campaign as the economy becomes an increasingly more important issue to the 2012 campaigns.^[5]  However, he is still fighting an uphill battle against negative opinions about his religion and his health care policies among conservative republicans.  With a large percentage of people holding negative opinions towards LDS politicians (25% --- the second highest opposed religion after Islam), a large portion of the conservative ticket is slowly lost from Romney's support group.^[7]  Also, Romney's record as a moderate might look good for a national Presidential election, but state level primary elections are more difficult.^[8]  Passing health care reform with many similarities to "Obama-care" could prove to be fatal in the final days of the primaries.  This gives Gingrich the advantage of winning the nomination in the primary.  He is considered very conservative in his views, and is a favorite in the rising Tea Party Movement.  This momentum might give him the extra boost to start his campaign well to stomp out any competition early on.  In the primary, Gingrich's biggest challenge is to overcome the recently released extramarital affairs.  If he can persuade those conservatives turned off by that, he has a good shot at earning the nomination.

Gingrich's strong conservative credentials, however, will be one of his greatest weaknesses.  Although he will be very popular among conservative Republicans during the primaries, the general election will run quite differently.  Typically general elections tend to favor moderate candidates that are positioned only to the slight left or right of center.^[9]  Obama, a relatively moderate democrat, while Newt Gingrich, is perceived to be quite conservative.  His candidacy will do more to rally the Democratic base and scare away moderate Republicans.  This puts Gingrich at a decisive disadvantage to Obama, as it is difficult to remove an incumbent with a strong approval rating for a second term (similar to the situation George W. Bush had during his reelection).  The best idea to combat this anti-extreme is to run with a moderate Vice President with strong qualifications.  This might lead to the selection of a running mate like Mitt Romney; however, as they are both top contenders, a contentious primary season would make this ticket highly unlikely.  Without a strong running mate, it is unlikely that Newt Gingrich would win the 2012 Presidential election.

[1] http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/03/03/gingrich-dips-toe-in-2012-waterswith-a-website/
[2] http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/260535/revisiting-clinton-gingrich-showdown-ramesh-ponnuru
[3] http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/18/cnn-poll-obamas-job-approval-rating-on-the-rise/
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Huckabee
[7] http://pewresearch.org/pubs/648/romney-mormon
[8] http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/261407/re-mitt-romney-health-care-daniel-foster 
[9] Dr. Monson, February 2011,W111-BNSN-BYU, class lectures