by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
While Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was headed north in her motorcade Tuesday after a rally at the Jacksonville Landing, members of the Rotary Club of South Jacksonville were headed south to hear a local authority weigh in on the current state of politics in America.
The River City Brewing Company hosted the club’s monthly meeting and its guest speaker, Dr. Matthew Corrigan, chair of the University of North Florida’s Department of Political Science and Public Administration. Corrigan’s research interests include electoral politics in the South and presidential public relations. He has also conducted public opinion studies on the effectiveness of the Ryan White Act, the Work and Gain Economic Self-Sufficiency (WAGES) program in Florida, annexation issues, religion and political participation and political attitudes of Southerners.
“Civic participation is critical during tough economic times for local governments,” said Corrigan to the members of the Rotary. “Your projects are needed more than ever when services are stretched thin.”
He then addressed the state of the current presidential campaigns.
“This particular election is fascinating and historic. I know we say that during each presidential election, but this one truly is,” said Corrigan. “On the Democrat side we had the first African-American and female candidates contending for the presidential nomination. On the Republican side, this is the first time in a while that there is not an incumbent president or incumbent vice president in the race.”
He acknowledged that U.S. Sen. John McCain may not have been his party’s favorite son, but he was the one they thought had the best chance to win the election.
“This is a terrible landscape for Republicans,” said Corrigan. “They are trying for a third straight term in the Oval Office and that hasn’t been done too often. They are also running during a very difficult economy and very difficult foreign policy.”
Corrigan also explained how the charisma and savvy of U.S. Sen. Barrack Obama has helped the Democratic Party.
“Obama has spent millions on early voter registration and has reached out to the young voters,” said Corrigan. “The party that gets the youth vote will win the election and his campaign has helped itself with the use of text messaging.”
Early in his campaign, Obama asked supporters to text-message him if they wanted to be alerted when he made his announcement naming his vice presidential running mate. Now Obama can use those numbers to urge people to make it to the voting booths on election day.
“I don’t think students aren’t interested in voting, they just don’t have the background to be interested,” said Corrigan. “I ask students in my classes, ‘when was the last time you had a civics or government class?’ Most say freshman year in high school. It’s not taught because it’s not part of the FCAT. That’s wrong because, I feel, kids should know about how their country is run.”
He also talked about the influences young voters may be paying more attention to than they are what the candidates stand for. Celebrity endorsements are a part of the campaign and those celebrities are known as “surrogates.”
“The thing about surrogates is they talk,” said Corrigan. “And sometimes they say some really stupid things.”
Members of the Rotary were also interested in Corrigan’s explanation of why it took so long for the Congress to approve the economic bail-out plan. “The argument was ‘We have to have a bail out plan,” said Corrigan. “Then people took the opportunity to start adding amendments, because we had to have it. It became a Christmas tree with everyone adding something to the branches.”
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