Obama, Giuliani in; Greens, Libertarians up next

By Mark Butzow

Democrat Barack Obama easily won enough delegates Tuesday night to earn that party's presidential nomination, but the Republicans needed a second ballot to give Rudy Giuliani enough delegates to claim the GOP presidential nomination.

The selections were made during the third night of Western's Mock Presidential Election and were mimicking the major party's nominating conventions.

This Thursday night, two alternative parties -- the Libertarians and the Greens -- will get their 90 minutes of fame, nominating candidates for president to battle against Giuliani and Obama in the mock election's simulated Election Day next Monday in Western Hall.

The News-meister independent news servive will provide real-time observations and commentary from the convention floor at our Real-Time Blog at http://www.newsmeisterrealtime.blogspot.com.

Student-written pieces on Thursday's events will be posted here Friday and published in a printed newspaper that will be available Monday morning in Morgan Hall, Simpkins Hall and the Union. Copies will be distributed Monday evening at Western Hall.

What follows is coverage of Tuesday's major party conventions.

Butzow is an assistant professor in WIU's journalism program and one of four coaches overseeing News-meister coverage.

Giuliani earns GOP nod on second ballot

By Mark Butzow

You would have to go back decades to find the last time a major party had multiple candidates still fighting for enough delegates to secure the nomination when the National Convention arrives.

Tuesday in Western Illinois University’s Mock Presidential Election, both “national conventions” began with the outcome still unknown. That was by design, associate director John Hemingway said after “Super Tuesday” last week. Had last week’s simulation awarded both pledged delegates and so-called Super Delegates, there wouldn’t be any drama for the culminating night of the conventions.

And it certainly made for some drama in the Republican half of the night. No candidate got enough delegates on the first ballot to win the nomination outright, something that doesn’t happen in American presidential politics very often.

After a period of jockeying and negotiating, delegates shifted support enough that Rudy Giuliani surpassed the threshold needed to earn the nomination. Second-place finisher Mitt Romney then got left out when Giuliani’s running mate was selected. John McCain got the job.

Also noteworthy: Student participants awarded U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas 425 delegates in the first round of voting, reflecting the newfound attention he’s received recently in the actual campaign. Paul was the Libertarians’ presidential candidate in 1988, finishing third behind George H.W. Bush and Democrat Michael Dukakis.

Before the voting, campaign managers for the Republican candidates tried to find more votes, but most delegates seemed to have their minds made up..

So, after counting up all the votes, no one reached the 1,259 votes needed to claim a majority and win the nomination. Giuliani had 905, Romney attracted 762, and Paul earned 425. Word got out that Giuliani wanted John McCain to be his vice presidential candidate, and that was enough to persuade some states to switch their votes from McCain to Giuliani.

On the second ballot, Arizona delegates who initially voted for McCain gave all 259 votes to Giuliani. Texas delegates gave Romney’s 762 votes to Giuliani as well.
Giuliani received 1,489 votes, earning him the Republican presidential nomination. Then, keeping its promise, the Giuliani campaign nominated McCain for vice president. He was elected by acclimation.

The Giuliani-McCain ticket, and the Democrats’ Obama-Edwards campaign, will campaign for votes during the next several days, leading up to a simulated Election Day on Monday, Nov. 5, the culminating event of Western’s ambitious civic engagement exercise.

In the meantime, two more political parties – the Green Party and Libertarian Party – will choose nominees in 90-minute conventions Thursday evening in the Union’s LaMoine Room.

Journalism student Aundrea Noblet contributed to this story.

Obama wins nomination in mock balloting

By Tyler Vogler

Barack Obama won the Democratic presidential nomination in Western’s Mock Presidential Election on Tuesday, with over 60 percent of the delegates. It was no surprise to Obama supporters, who were confident about an Obama victory.

Among a stage of signs and cheering supporters, Terri VanMeenen delivered the Obama campaign’s nomination speech, explaining America is at a “crossroads.” The speech, actually a letter from Obama to his Mock Election campaign, called for a “new kind of politics” where elected officials represent who they were elected to serve. The speech cited the need for a change in politics that is “national in scope, but local in origin.”

Obama went on to grab 2,692 delegates and completely carried seven states including Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico and West Virginia. Obama received votes in every state except Vermont.

In an interesting turn of events, Obama received more votes in New York than its U.S. senator, fellow nominee Hillary Clinton, leading many attendees to question the validity of the Mock Election results.

“It’s a pretty biased crowd,” said Katie Anderson, a campaign manager for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Even the Obama campaign acknowledged the discrepancies in votes.

“It’s unrealistic in terms of a real election,” said Jessie Kallman, an Obama campaign manager, “but it’s important because students are getting excited about the process.”

Optimism was steady through the night, even after the Kucinich campaign called for its followers to throw their votes in favor of Clinton’s campaign.

“It’s important we support other candidates. We’re all the same team,” Kallman said in the campaign’s nomination acceptance speech. Obama’s VanMeenen agreed: “it’s good to support other Democrats.”

Closing the acceptance speech, Kallman called on Democrats to support John Edwards as a vice presidential candidate. The Obama camp was actively campaigning for a joint Obama/Edwards ticket from the beginning of the night, even before Obama won his party’s nomination for president.

John Edwards later won the vice presidential nomination in a voice vote, beating out Joe Biden and a failed nomination for Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert.

Obama and Edwards will represent the Democrats and square off against the Republican ticket of Rudy Giuliani and John McCain when the Presidential Mock Election concludes Monday night in Western Hall.

Two additional candidates will vye for votes next week. Libertarians and Green Party members will select their nominees in the Union's LaMoine Room on Thursday evening.

Edwards didn’t give up without a fight

By Nicole Reed

The John Edwards campaign fell short Tuesday night in its effort to win the Democratic nomination, but he won’t be folding his campaign tent yet. Delegates at Western Illinois’ mock presidential election chose Edwards as the vice presidential running mate for Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

But Edwards didn’t play second fiddle in Tuesday night’s activities without a fight, which is how the real John Edwards would have wanted it. Derek Jones put Edwards’ name in nomination for president.

“Edwards would make a good president because he wants to end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home and provide health care to many Americans.” After his speech, Jones said he liked Edwards because he felt he reached out to younger people. And then he turned and walked into the crowd trying to hustle delegate votes for his candidate.

But it didn’t work. Obama won the nomination and will face Rudy Giuliani and candidates from the Libertarians and Green Party in next Monday’s mock general election.

D’Angelo Taylor, an Edwards campaign worker, said making Edwards the vice president on the Democratic ticket was a practical matter.

“Why not put together the two strongest people in the Democratic Party to help shape America, by helping us to only get stronger.” Taylor said both candidates have similar ideas. “Edwards has already lived the American dream. He has come from nothing to something.”

There were only a few quiet ‘nays’ when the roll was called on putting Edwards in the VP slot. So the road to the White House isn’t over yet for the attorney from meager South Carolina roots.

Reed is a student in Dr. Lisa Barr's Reporting I class.

Students learn the give-and-take of giving in, playing roles, and politics, politics, politics. (Photo by Adam Sacasa)

Clinton volunteer disrupts GOP debate

By Harrison Jones

During the Mock Republican National Convention last Thursday, the president of WIU’s College Democrats caused a minor ruckus when he thought he was authorized to be speak.

Scott Smith, who’s also working with the Hillary Clinton campaign, says he asked to take part.

“I had permission from a grad student and a faculty member,” Smith says. “And I wasn’t pushing for a ‘Democratic’ agenda. I was speaking for myself, and it was a pretty moderate position.”

Associate professor of political science Keith Boeckelman, who chaired the platform debates, found himself in the middle of disruption at the microphone.

After much debate on other planks on the Republican platform, plank 12 -- a plank regarding the legalization of marijuana -- became a subject of much debate.

A motion was made to move the Republican stance from “oppose” to “don’t care.”
Numerous delegates spoke on the motion. Toward the end of the debate on plank 12, Smith made his way to the microphone to oppose liberalizing the stance.

“I actually have a moderate Republican position,” Smith said. “I think to be a great country, you have to be good.”

But before Smith had a chance to speak, Boeckelman questioned him about what delegation he was from. With his badge tucked away inside his sweatshirt, he ignored the question and continued to try to speak on the issue.

Boeckelman interjected, saying, “The speaker is not recognized!”

Smith tried to continue, but finally stepped away, still talking as he walked away: “What I was trying to say is….”

However, Boeckelman interrupted him.

“You are not recognized,” the chair said. “Please return to your seat.”

Smith did so.

Shortly afterward, the motion to move the Republican stance on plank 12 to “don’t care” was defeated. Challenges were made on the decision of the chair to rule against the motion. The chair brought about a second vote, and the motion failed again.

Kucinich camp fades, gives surprising nod to Clinton

By Sarah Zavala

Dennis Kucinich’s campaign packed it in early Tuesday night and threw its support toward candidate Hillary Clinton during Mock Presidential Election activities at WIU’s Union Ballroom.

It was a wasted effort.

Barack Obama got 2,692 votes of the 4,367 delegates in the Democratic Party. Kucinich campaign manager Ken Pederson, a political science and journalism alumnus of WIU, said this just wasn’t the year for a victory for Kucinich. Clinton, he said, was the best candidate for president. Pederson said that when it came to the platform issues, Kucinich and Clinton were more in agreement than were Kucinich and Obama.

“When you are voting on a president … you should fight for what you want and what you want to see happen to your country,” Pederson said.

He said he was glad that his support actually helped out Clinton, with delegate votes from North Carolina.

However, Clinton managers did not feel the Obama victory in this mock election was necessarily realistic.

“If the delegates did any research at all, they would have found out that most Democratic states support Clinton more than Obama,” Clinton campaign manager Katie Anderson said. “All campaigns work so hard, and their thoughts should be taken into consideration.”

Anderson suggested that because many students here are from Chicago, as is Obama, it resulted in an inaccurate election. Clinton is one of New York’s U.S. Senators, but Obama won more delegates from New York last Tuesday when the mock election simulated the primary season and this week also drew more votes than Clinton. Christopher Dodd got 14 New York delegates; Clinton won 116; and Obama took 150.

Will Western Illinois accurately predict our next president? Convention organizer Rick Hardy says it’s clear not all the delegates stayed “in character,” but adds, “Who knows? Anything can happen!”