FOX_SMU_Jia's Blog

I had to reload my youtube videos because they were acting up. I am going to reload the Thompson videos. Here is Edwards

Today is our last full day in Iowa. We haven’t been getting a lot of sleep. We’ve tried to cover as many events as possible. Unfortunately a lot of the places the candidates have been going are hours away from Des Moines or were happening at the same time. We have tried to do what we could with the the resources we have available to us. Between blogging and loading video in the car and barely being able to spell our names due to lack of sleep we have had quite an adventure. Everyone we have met in Iowa has been nothing short of gracious. If our experience has been hectic, I can only imagine the type of chaos all of the reporters for major networks have been working in. Although I have enjoyed my time here, there really is no place like I home

Tonight we went to McCain's and Obama's rallies. My McCain's was in a small venue but there were lots of people there.We were all packed in tight like sardines. At the rally was on organization who promoted global warming iniciatives and an organization focused on education. McCain's crowed contained alot of older people but and people with children, but there were young adults and teens there too. Before McCain arrived. Tucker Carlson and Tim Russert rushed right passed us. We had to wait a while on McCain he arrived late. The people who were there to see him were very enthusiastic and giddy. Senator McCain did not answer any press question but he did shake hands and pleasantly greeted everyone. There was more press in the bigger room where he spoke

Next we went to Obama's rally which was held in a huge school gym. There was a ton of press there from national to student. The energy in the gym was amazing. Everyone was rooting and shouting for Obama. There we a lot of young people too. Obama's crowd was by far the most diverse of all of them. His wife Michelle spoke first introducing him and then Obama came up on the stage behind him was stand of young supporters. We ran into George Stephanopoulous and spoke with him briefly. Stephanopolous spoke at SMU in September. He said the entire thing was chaos and didn't really have any advice for us except to have fun.

I wonder if McCain's rally was held in a larger venue if there would have been even more energy and excitement in the room. Overall I have to say I really enjoyed my time at both rallies.

Last night Rachael, Fallon, Ben, Rachael and I headed to Creson, Iowa, a hour and a half drive, to see John Edwards who spoke at a residents house at 2AM. After loading in our car to head back to Des Moines from Creston, Fallon, Rachael, Ben and myself had a conversation about Mr. Edwards. Let's just say it was not a good one.

I want to address two comments that i haven't had time to address. We have been on the go! This first comment was posted on my Fred Thompson post. I found it very interesting:

F0x6Fan
Jan 2, 2008 | 10:09 AM
2008 will definitely go down in history as one of the most exciting for politics. ...most importantly, have fun. I have 2 questions for you Jia...

How important is it for a nominee to have celebrity support?
I miss the catchy political music jingles of days gone by...commercials as a medium can make or break a candidate true, but a catchy theme song or slogan can spice up a rather dull campaign...what's your take?---thanks and peace

I think celebrities help a candidiate to a certain extent. Financially having a celebrity endorse a candidate helps. In terms of winning the vote, personally i don't think so. If candidates don't have strong platforms and don't stand steadfast in what they believe. I personally don't think they have a snowballs chance.

Having a celebrity friend gets the buzz out and makes others take notice. Obama has the Mighty Media Queen Oprah backing him. Despite what anyone may feel about Oprah, no one can deny the amount of clout she has. If Oprah says something is great, people go out and buy it, read it, eat it, etc. Anyone remember James Frey and his book A Million Little Pieces??

With that said, I don't think a celebrity has the power to glavanize so much support for a candidate to the point they are garunteed an election. Voting for a politica simply because a celebrity backs them shows a sheep like mentality. Sadly, there are people like that.

Tippecanoe and Tyler too! A chicken in every pot. A car in every garage! Who can forget the Diasy girl ad ran by Lydon B. Johnson. I think catchy jingles, commericals, and slogans are missing. This campaign is rather boring! I feel someone needs to do something to spice things up in a fun way. Hopefully, as we get closer to the election someone will.


Specter
Jan 2, 2008 | 4:11 PM
You'll be more dissapointed in him as a president!!

So far, you leftist goons are only talking about the Defeatistcrats, why is that??

Are any of you covering the Republicans???

Ahh leftist goons! I was waiting for someone to leave a post like this. Specter my friend reading is fundamental! Check out the other blogs from myself and my peers Rachael, Fallon, and Ben. If you read just a little further than the end of your nose, you could find out so much more. Today is not yet over and we have tomorrow to look forward to. We are doing the best we can but of course you can't please everyone

Last night we departed for the Knock house to arrrive to see John Edwards speak. Jan and Carl Knock were hosting him. We arrived early to a packed house. John Edwards arrived and spoke for under 10 minuets. His wife Elizaeth spoke first and her words were very moving. I will try to have a clip of what she said up later on today.

Now lets move on to her husband John EdwardsHer husband. If Zack Efron was a 54 year old politican he would be John Edwards. He was very perfect looking almost like a Ken doll. He was so well manicured.

At the Knock house, he gave a few quick one liners about taking the white house back for middle america. I for one was dissappointed in Edwards speech. I thought he would at least have gone into depth a little about his plans for giving the nation back to middle america. I did not feel any sincerity in his speech. As someone who went in liking Edwards and is still undecided in the race, Edwards did not give me any reason on a personal level to give him my support.

Myself, Fallon, Rachael and Ben will try to have a few clips up of our 2AM trip. Right now Rachael, Fallon, and I are getting ready to head to Coralville for an Obama event. It's a 2 hour drive Ugh!

Until Then

JT

Happy New Year eveyone! I hope your New Year is going well. We are in Des Moines right now. We left DFW at 11 AM and arrived in Iowa at 1 PM. After arriving we lugged all of our luggage to our rental cars. We checked into the hotel and drove around Des Moines a bit. I can tell you there is  not much here. I haven't even seen a Walmart or Target and they are usually everywhere. The fun part of our adventure began when we were returning from the mall heading to dinner. There isn't much to do right now, so we decided to scope out the area. On our way back from the mall, we ran into Fred Thompson's campaign bus. We decieded to hunt it down! We captured all the action on the camera component of my digital camera. Here is Part 1 of Tracking Down Fred Thompson!

 

Unfortunately, Fred Thompson wasn't on the bus. We did get a chance to talk to the bus driver. I think we might have scared him because all four of us got out of the car and apporoached him. Here is part 2 of Tracking Down Fred Thompson.

 

Next we are on a non stop media blitz. We are making plans head to Creston, Iowa to attend a John Edwards rally at 2:15 am! Then we are heading to Colo for Chris Dodd at 8AM, Coralvile at 1:30 pm for Obama, Davenport for McCain at 5:35 pm. Unfortunately we are not going to be able to make it to Ron Paul's event in Des Moines at 7 pm. It's a two hour drive from Davenport back to Des Moines.

We were hoping to fit in some more republican candidates, however, there are no events listed on Romney's site right now, Huckabee is not holding any events after 10:30 AM tomorrow,  and Giuliani is in Florida. On the democrat end, Hillary doesn't have her itinerary posted on her site. 

JT

Christmas break sure has gone by fast! Tomorrow we leave for Iowa. I have spent today running around preparing for the trip. I woke up at 8:30 AM,  left my house at 11:30 AM, and did not get back until 5 PM. Once I got home I had to pack, clean, and...... EAT! The only thing I had today was a large Jamba Juice, gum, and a free sample from the mall. Not very healthy at all! Luckily my mom cooked a fabulous dinner!  I am really excited about the caucus and not sure what to expect once I get there. This is an amazing opportunity and I am really glad to be apart of it.  I'm sitting in my bed right now as I write this, so I am going to keep this blog short for now because I am really tired and my pillow is calling me!

 

Until Tomorrow!

JT