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The other black political figure is facing 8 counts of perjury but why, how did it get this f

Hello world!

I'm Elisabeth, or Lis, the squeaky new intern here at YP4! I'm an ovo-lacto vegetarian writing major from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY who loves to write fiction, especially historical fiction, but not poetry, since my poetry makes people cry for all the wrong reasons.

In the aftermath of the Republican and Democrat nominations, new poll figures indicate that the race for America's heads, hearts, and votes is widening slightly; Obama is edging out

I was having dinner at a Japanese restaurant with one of my friends last night who suggested we order an Alaska roll in honor of the GOP's VP candidate, Governor Palin. I expressed my disappointment and frustration with Palin's dismissal of the responsibilities that come with being a community organizer.

One of the amazing and historic things about this presidential campaign is that it's made us blasé about how amazing and historic it's been.

No one's really talking anymore about the fact that the Democratic Party just nominated its first African-American candidate for president. Or that a female candidate got closer than any woman's gotten before to securing the nomination.

Reflecting on their first retreat, which concluded August 7, Leadership Academy fellows were asked to use one word to describe their experience. The carefully selected words told us a story of a retreat that was incredibly rewarding while also being challenging and intense.

August was a wild month for me. I went from an incredible trip to Beijing to watch my son David compete in the Olympics as a member of the U.S. Rowing Team and then almost immediately to Denver, where People For the American Way hosted a forum on the Supreme Court and the 2008 elections.  Here’s a picture from the forum, which was really quite successful.

At 72, John McCain is the oldest presidential candidate in American history.

Focus groups all across the country have repeatedly (and voluntarily) indicated their anxiety about McCain's age.

Criticism of Palin's inexperience tends to unwittingly fit into this unconscious narrative, since it generally focuses on her being only a "heartbeat away" from the presidency. In other words, McCain is so feeble and unhinged that it is a very real possibility that a McCain administration would become a Palin administration in the course of the same term.

Of course, there is an equally damning attitude brewing in the electorate. And it comes from an even more unorthodox place: Palin's excitement factor.

Sarah Palin simply excites the Right. The facts notwithstanding, the Conservatives and their complicit allies in the traditional media have built a master narrative of Palin as a "maverick", and a tough and ethical reformer. Old guard Conservatives like Newt Gingrich describe Palin as a "breath of fresh air" for the Party, a source of inspiration for the next generation of Republican leadership...

...which can only serve to contrast with McCain's senior age. Just as some critics saw Obama's pick of Biden as a transparent attempt to deflect attacks of his alleged inexperience, the excitement generated by Sarah Palin's youth may serve to subconsciously add to voters' already-severe anxieties about John McCain's age.

With Palin's critics and fans feeding into the same discomfort that voters feel about him, McCain may be in for a rougher race than he expected.

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This has been a memorable week for both the major parties in the country, and for myself. I was a witness to history as Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Presidential nomination in front of over 80,000 people at Invesco Field in Denver, Colorado. To be one of those people in the audience is a lifelong memory.