Coverage insidePage 2 College counties votingPage 3 N.C. Republican platformsPage 4-5 Presidential platformsPage 6 N.C. Democratic platformsPage 8 ASU faculty voters

The Battle for the White House

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The upcoming elections have caused students to get more involved in the election pro-cess, with organizations such as College Democrats and Re-publicans. This has made the campaign atmosphere excit-ing, said President of College Democrats Lia Poteet.

Students across campus in organizations have also gotten involved in the campaign pro-cess.

“[W]e have registered well over 5,000 people to vote on campus,”  Poteet said. “The ex-citement level is very high.

We are really looking for-ward to getting students out to vote and seeing the results

Students get involved in campus preparations for upcoming elections

from all our hard work.” Chairperson for the Col-

lege Republicans Kelsey Crum said College Republicans have never been “more excited” for a Presidential candidate.

“The members of our club are mobilized and ready to vol-unteer,” Crum said.

“From painting the tunnels before games to making phone calls, we have a very motivated group.” 

Chancellor Kenneth Pea-cock said he noticed that stu-dents are more interested in knowing what the candidates will do for the county, state and country.

“I’ve been watching the de-bates closely,” Peacock said. “I don’t like it when people say who won after the debates. I

like to decide for myself.”Carrie Bush is a political sci-

ence professor specializing in economic development and lo-cal government.

“[S]tudents here at Appa-lachian are quite interested in learning about the issues, candidates and processes sur-rounding the current elections,” Bush said. ”In fact, part of their feedback has been that they want more class content fo-cused around the elections.  In government and justice studies many activities lend themselves to direct application and learn-ing about our democratic insti-tutions and government.”

“Every general election year is equivalent to the Super Bowl for political scientists,” Ruth Strickland, a political science

How College Counties Voted in 2008

Wake County Democratic

Watauga County Democratic

Orange County Democratic

Pitt County Democratic

New Hanover County Republican

Jackson County Democratic

professor, said. Strickland said she had re-

ceived questions regarding the elections in her classes, too.

“Because I teach a State and Local Government class, my emphasis has been on how President Obama and Gov. Romney view federal-state re-lationships,” Strickland said.

Strickland said she has never seen such an emphasis on job creation from both candidates.

“It’s fascinating to see this emerge as a primary issue be-cause presidents really have very little control over job cre-ation and fiscal policy,” she said.

Students don’t have to wait until they are older to get in-volved, Bush said.

“Students can engage right now, and many do,” Bush said.

c o m p i l e d b y C h e l s e y F i s h e r, N e w s E d i t o r

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running forN.C. House of

Representatives – District 93

• Wants to exempt North Carolina from the Affordable Care Act by pass-ing the Healthcare Freedom Protection Act

• Provide funding for education in the classroom

• Advocate for protecting children from neglect and abuse

• Reduce regulation on businesses

JONATHANJORDAN

running forN.C. Governor

• Wants to reform education to pro-vide two different types of diplomas: one that would certify students ready for a career or community college, and one that would prepare students for four-year colleges

• Supports removing the cap on char-ter schools

• In favor of offering a wide range of online courses, adding access and flex-ibility to school systems

• In favor of performance-based pay for teachers

• Plans to support economic growth by developing a comprehensive trans-portation and infrastructure plan

• Wants to change the tax code by reducing income taxes and eliminating the death tax

PATMcCRORYrunning for

N.C. Lieutenant Governor

• Believes public education decisions should be made at the local level

• Wants to opt out of the Affordable Healthcare plan

• Supports small government and lower taxes for businesses

• Wants to abolish excessive regula-tions placed on businesses

DANFOREST

running forN.C. Superintendent of Public

Instruction

• Wants to eliminate wasteful spend-ing

• Supports teaching children critical thinking skills and accountability rather than teaching to test

• Supports performance-based pay for teachers

• Give education authorities more control

JOHNTEDESCO

running forN.C. Commissioner of Agriculture

• Wants to focus on food safety• Plans to promote North Carolina

agricultural products• Hopes to add more jobs to agribusi-

ness • Wants to expand the agricultural

economy

STEVETROXLER

running forN.C. Auditor

• Plans to crack down on corruption and eliminate fraud, abuse and waste

• Will exhibit leadership and fiscal responsibility

• Wants to save taxpayer’s money by prioritizing audits

DEBRAGOLDMAN

running forN.C. Commissioner of Insurance

• Plans to make the department more responsive to the needs of North Caro-linians

• Plans to allow more options for health care for residents

• Will fight to protect the benefits and retirement plans of emergency person-nel

• Will make much-needed changes to the automobile insurance system

MIKECAUSEY

running forN.C. Treasurer

• Wants to protect the pension funds with an independent audit

• Opposes “big money” because of its influence on politics

• Wants the Treasurer’s office to be transparent

STEVEROYAL

running forN.C. Secretary of State

• Wants to reduce wasteful spending• Opposes increase in taxes• Allowing companies to grow by less

government regulation and taxes• Believes competition in health care

will lower costs

EDGOODWIN

running forN.C. State Senate – District 45

• Plans to reduce taxes• Indexing spending increases to in-

flation and population growth will de-crease spending

DANSOUCEK

running forN.C. Commissioner of Labor

• Employee safety is Berry’s top pri-ority

• Injury and illness rates have lowered since she’s been in office

CHERIEBERRY

running forU.S. Representative

• Continue to support higher educa-tion

• Help find better ways to achieve en-ergy independence without destroying economy or killing jobs

• Help repeal Affordable Care Act• Supports better control of our bor-

ders• Supports comprehensive social se-

curity reform• Believes in protecting life at all stag-

es and encourages strong family values• Supports bill that would allow vet-

eran retirees to have a tax-free retire-ment

VIRGINIAFOXX

Republican Platformsc o m p i l e d b y J u l i e a n n e P i k e , I n t e r n N e w s R e p o r t e r

Source: Respective candidates’ official websites, vote-nc.org

Support states in pursuing Right-to-Work laws

Amend NLRA to guarantee the se-cret ballot in every union certification election

Fix NLRA to guarantee all pre-election campaigns last at least one month

Empower states to control onshore energy development Open offshore areas

for energy development

Pursue a North American Energy Partnership

Ensure accurate assessment of en-ergy resources

Restore transparency and fair-ness to permitting and regulation

Encourage private-sector-led development of new en-ergy technologies

Eliminate redundancy in federal retraining programs by combing programs and fund-ing streams, centering as much activity as possible in a single agency

Give states authority to manage retraining pro-grams by block granting federal funds

Facilitate the creation of Personal Reemploy-ment Accounts

Encourage greater pri-vate sector involvement in retraining programs

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM

TA

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D I

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Energy•Initiate permanent, across-the-board 20 percent

cut in marginal rates•Maintain current tax rates on interest, dividends and

capital gains•Eliminate taxes for taxpayers with AGI below $200,000

on interest, dividends and capital gains•Remove the Death Tax•Repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)

Labor•Repeal Affordable Care

Act which will result in savings of $95 Billion. Romney believes the act is unfair toward the feder-al government, and states can regulate health care. Romney said he plans to work to repeal act starting on his first day in office.

•Reduce Foreign Aid and save $100 million.Romney wants to stop borrowing money from countries that disagree with Amer-ica’s interests, and offer foreign aid instead.

•Eliminate Title X Fam-ily Planning Funding and save $3 million.

•Reduce subsidies for

The National Endowments For The Arts And Humani-ties, The Corporation For Public Broadcasting, and The Legal Services Corpo-ration which would save $600 Million.

•By privatizing Amtrak. Romney estimates $1.6 Billion dollars would be saved. Amtrack current-ly recieves $1.6 billion in taxpayer funds every year. In 2008, 41 percent of Amtrack’s 44 routes lost money Forty-one of Amtrak’s 44 routes lost money in 2008 with losses ranging from $5 to $462 per passenger.

Human Capital

Libertarian Party

Gary Johnson:

Believes federal spending needs to be signifi-cantly cutPut educational funding into the classroomAbolish the IRS and enact the Fair TaxBelieves in reducing federal involvement in the economyOpposes the Affordable Care Act

Constitutional Party

Virgil Goode:

Following the Constitution would result in less government spendingOpposes amnesty to illegal immigrants and stresses the importance of ending illegal immigrationBelieves that the United States needs to be free of foreign fossil fuels and utilize offshore drillingWants to reform the tax code by eliminating Death Tax and Income Tax and establishing a more simple tax systemOpposes the Affordable Care Act

4 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE PLATFORMS

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Jobs/the economy

• Eliminate tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs overseas

• Provide incentives for companies that create jobs in America

• Make middle class tax cuts perma-nent

• Bring businesses and researchinsti-tutions together to ensure futures jobs will be in America

• Extend tax credits that support clean energy

Energy•Reduce oil imports in half my 2020•Support safe development of

America’s 100-year supply of natural gas

•Invest in wind and solar power•Get 80 percent of electricity from

clean sources by 2035

Health Care • Expand reform tax credit to cover

50 percent of small businesses’ health care costs by 2014

• 3.1 million young Americans now have health insurance

• Found $716 billion in savings in Medicare and added 8 years to Medi-care Trust Fund

• 100 million Americans lifetime caps were lifted

• Expanded access to preventative services for 54 million Americans

Education• Set goal to cut tuition growth in

half over next decade

• Launched “Race to the Top,” caus-ing 46 states to raise standards for col-lege and career readiness

• Plans to recruit 100,000 science and math teachers over the next de-cade

• Capped payments of federal stu-dent loans at 10 percent of income

• Doubled funding for Pell Grants so more Americans can afford college

• Invested $2 billion in community colleges

Foreign Policy• Plans to end war in Afghanistan

by 2014

• Worked to gain support of Russia and China to pass international sanc-tions for the Iranian government

• Filed twice as many trade com-plaints with China than last admin-istration

• Worked with Israel by making it clear that all options are on the table to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran

• Ordered raid on Osama bin Lad-en’s compound

Women’s Health• Fought against defunding of

Planned Parenthood• Ended women being charged

higher for health care than men• Made sure health insurance com-

panies cover birth control, mammo-grams and other cancer screenings

Seniors• Fought against attempts to cut Social Security benefits• Extended the life of Medicare Trust Fund by 8 years and got rid of $716 bil-

lion in fraud, waste and abuse

Immigration• Supports DREAM Act• Wants to pass comprehensive immigration reform• Announced policy to end deportation of young immigrants who were

brought to America as children• Proposed rule to allow certain undocumented spouses and children of U.S.

citizens to apply for legal status inside the United States

Human Capital

GreenParty

Jill Stein:

Provide millions of green jobs through the Full Employment ProgramChange the tax code to create higher taxes for the upper class and tax cuts for the lower and middle classReduce the military budget Provide a tuition-free educationOpposes privatization of public school systemsAgainst teaching to test and performance-based pay for teachers

JusticeParty

Rocky Anderson:

Supports free college education or comparable job trainingWants to make the financial sector more transparentPlans to take aggressive action on environmental issues

5PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE PLATFORMS

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running forN.C. House of

Representatives – District 93

•Has three-part job creation plan in-volving priority to local companies at N.C. contracts, rewards for hiring N.C. residents and creating a closer relation-ship between businesses and community colleges

• Opposes cuts to funding for educa-tion

• More support for teachers, profes-sors and staff

CULLIETARLETON

running forN.C. Governor

• Wants to restore education funding• Plans to increase investment in

community colleges and technical edu-cation

• For each long-term unemployed worker a business hires, Dalton will provide a $2,000 tax credit

• Wants to pilot a Train-to-Hire pro-gram to encourage employers to hire unemployed workers

• Will partner with law enforcement to protect children from predators

WALTERDALTONrunning for

N.C. Lieutenant Governor

• Will work to restore education funding

• Opposes efforts to privatize the public education system

• Wants to offer investments and in-centives to attract biotech and clean en-ergy industry to N.C.

• Plans to work toward an energy in-dependent state

• Wants to harness regional strengths to create opportunity for North Caro-linians

LINDACOLEMAN

running forN.C. Superintendent of Public

Instruction

• Plans to improve achievement in children

• Wants to prepare every child for the future

• Supports paying teachers well• Will work to prepare children for a

global economy

JUNEATKINSON

running forN.C. Commissioner of Agriculture

• Wants to improve production meth-ods through technology and innovation

• Wants to diversify farms • Supports sustainable farming prac-

tices• Plans to market North Carolina ag-

ricultural products

WALTERSMITH

running forN.C. Auditor

• Plans to uncover poor accounting practices and wasteful spending

• Work to improve the efficiency of audits

• Wants to develop better contract-ing practices that could save the state money

BETHWOOD

running forN.C. Commissioner of Insurance

• Plans to expand the Seniors Health Insurance Information Program to pro-vide more guidance to senior citizens

• Understands the necessity of a com-petitive insurance market and low in-surance rates

• Wants to represent all emergency service workers and first responders in state government

WAYNEGOODWIN

running forN.C. Treasurer

• Will work to protect pensions for teachers, firefighters and public em-ployees

• Emphasizes financial literacy in education

• Will fight to maintain the state’s AAA bond rating

• Supports conservative debt man-agement

JANETCOWELL

running forN.C. Secretary of State

• Supports raising the salary for teachers

• Wants to reduce the focus on stan-dardized testing

• Supports health care reform with a public option

ELAINEMARSHALL

running forN.C. State Senate – District 45

• Committed to education funding and restoring pay and insurance ben-efits for teachers

• Wants to end job loss in education• Supports economic growth by

bringing more jobs to the district

ROYCARTER

running forN.C. Commissioner of Labor

• Wants to create a training facility to educate vocational education teachers

• Will prioritize lawmaking and eval-uating and revising existing labor laws

• Suggests adding educational and enforcement components to the Oc-cupational Safety and Health Admin-istration program to reduce workplace injuries

JOHNBROOKS

running forU.S. Representative

• Is in support of cleaner, alternative energy and less of a reliance on fossil fu-els for the benefit of the planet

• Believes in women’s right to choose the best reproductive health options for themselves as well as access to contra-ception

• Is in support of marriage for all to ensure the stability of the family

• She will protect Medicare in Wash-ington for senior citizens who have worked hard their entire lives and de-serve health care

• Has emphasis on a strong middle class to help ensure a stable economy

ELISABETHMOTSINGER

c o m p i l e d b y J u l i e a n n e P i k e , I n t e r n N e w s R e p o r t e r

Source: Respective candidates’ official websites, thepoliticalguide.com

Democratic Platforms

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News Reporter

While International Appalachian, an organi-zation that works with students studying abroad, hasn’t seen an issue with students out of the coun-try voting while abroad, some students have still missed the opportunity.

Senior biology major Brian Bonville is study-ing abroad in Brazil, but will not be voting in this year’s election.

Bonville said he would have voted, but he missed his ballot sending op-portunity because he was without internet for sever-al weeks, therefore miss-ing his chance to send an absentee ballot.

“I have watched the

debates via the internet when I have the chance, and of course have seen videos that people have sent to me of important sections of the debate for discussing,” Bonville said.

Studying abroad defi-nitely hindered his par-ticipation in this election, Bonville said.

InTapp seeks to in-crease international un-derstanding and direct involvement with other cultures and countries by providing a leadership outlet for internationally focused students, accord-ing to intapp.appstate.edu.

They promote studying abroad and work directly with students who do, as well.

“I personally haven’t

Students abroad face voting challenges in 2012 election

heard anything about [voting while abroad] being an issue,” Kelsey Wayne, secretary for In-Tapp and senior global studies major, said.

Rohan Jyothinagaram, a senior psychology and sociology major, is study-ing abroad in the United Kingdom and will be vot-ing in this year’s election.

Jyothinagaram had his absentee ballot mailed to him.

He does not have a tele-vision, so he has not been able to watch the debates.

He has been paying at-tention to the campaigns mostly through the inter-net.

“I believe it’s important to know what’s going on,” Jyothinagaram said. “You can’t complain if you don’t vote.”

JANETCOWELL

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by ANDREW CLAUSENNews Reporter

Faculty and staff are registered most-ly as democrats, according to ncsbe.org. Of all faculty and staff registered in Watauga County, 35.62 percent were found to be reg-istered democrats.

Second was unaffiliated voters with 20.35 percent, third was republicans with 8.76 per-cent, and only two faculty members were third party.

However, 497 faculty and staff were not registered in Watauga County. Kelsey Crum, chairperson of College Repub-licans, didn’t find these numbers surprising.

“Universities, by nature, are liberal bodies,” Crum said. “The reasons for this are varied, but in general, universities are focused on the theoretical.”

President of College Democrats Lia Poteet said, although she was biased, she thought teachers and professors support the party that is “best for their students.”

“Faculty and staff at Appalachian are likely to lean democratic for the same reason most teachers in primary, secondary and higher ed-ucation do,” Poteet said. “Democratic policies are far better for education.”

Co-Director of the government and justice studies department Adam Newmark said that while people may think that faculty are one-sided, “it may or may not be the case.”

“I don’t think this matters in a vast major-ity of classes, or at least it shouldn’t matter in most classes,” Newmark said. “There is a tendency to inflate party-ship with ideol-ogy. If you’re registered democrat, you must be liberal, and if you are republican, you are conservative. I would say most of the faculty is very moderate.”

Crum said she believed that professors teach “about the theoretical,” which doesn’t have an “application in the real world.”

“This scenario has perpetuated itself for de-cades,” Crum said. “It has given birth to the liberal campus environment [that] students have to navigate their way through while on campus.”

Newmark believes that just because you are democratic or republican “doesn’t mean you can’t do your job.”

“We’re trained to do our job inde-pendent from politics,” Newmark said. Newmark pointed out that the studies that find universities to be mainly liberal single out certain universities and ignore others.

“They also ignore business and engineer-ing schools and just focus on social sciences,” Newmark said. “They are just concerned with making their point.”

Majority of faculty, staff registered as democrats, trained to work ‘independent’ from political beliefs

College of Fine and Applied

Arts

University College

College of Health Sciences

School of Music

College of Arts and Sciences

College of Business

College of Education

DemocratRepublicanUnaffiliatedNot Registered in Watauga CountyThird Party