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Show Illustration by Aaron Anderson/ UVU Review THE FINAL ROUND | JACK WATERS Editor-in-Chief The final round in the presidential election is wrapping up, and political punches continue to be thrown in the waning moments before tomorrow's election. The heaviest punches thrown in politics are usually pure propaganda. These punches are then turned into sound-bites, packaged together, and posted on YouTube. only to be e-mailed en-masse to usually annoyed recipients. Finally, this election, the most significant one in recent history, is winding down after a whirlwind of events enveloping ever)' media outlet, water-cooler talk and Facebook group. Grueling primaries tried the candidates in a host of ways, essentially stripping each down to their bare selves. Past voting records, former friendships, calculated mistakes, misinterpreted sound-bites, religious affiliations - nothing was held back in the election dissection. The gloves have been off for quite some time for Sen. John McCain. The all-out assault on the character of Sen. Obama seemed to be fueled by an extreme desperation by the McCain campaign to sway the undecided voters to his side. The Obama-favorable poll numbers — which likely triggered the attacks in the first place - continued to slide in Obama's favor after the attacks. McCain and his campaign called him — with a negative connotation — a socialist. They stressed his assumed link to former criminal William Ayers in debate and in campaign commercials. They also tried to hammer in the supposed and wildly-misinterpreted socialism that they insist Obama subscribes to when McCain went on a string of silly name-calling, pegging Obama as a "redistributionist in chief1 as opposed to a commander in chief. The economic turmoil turned the tides in Obama's favor. And it isn't the fact that the financial crisis independently knocked the GOP in the poll numbers, but rather McCain's campaign and its managing of the crisis was their own stick-inthe-spokes for them. Obama's campaign presented a plan that more Americans trusted, as numerous polls have shown, and that has given a near-comfortable lead heading into the final days. When the votes are tallied, it looks like the McCain campaign and the GOP will be down and out for the count, but they have shown they refuse to give up. UVU ranks highest in Utah for voter registration, top ten in nation LjBRITNEE NGUYEN News editor Trent Bates/ UVU Review UVUSA registered 3,488 students in just three weeks. - • * - - - • - - - » - - — * • - • • ' a • « . , UVU has set the standard high when it* comes to getting students registered to vote. The Utah Valley University Justice Committee of the UVU Student Association (UVUSA) collaborated with various groups on campus to register 3,488 UVU voters in the past month. The campaign, called UVOTE, made a mark on both the state and national level and placed UVU as the school with the most registered voters in Utah and in the top ten in the nation. "We are definitely one of the most civically engaged campuses in the nation," said Trevor Tooke, executive vice president of UVUSA. "We have a powerhouse school with powerhouse students who are making a difference in society. We are proud to go to UVU and have a great level of involvement on our campus," On the national level, the Ultimate College Bowl contest on MySpace has been tracking which campuses have the most voter registrations across the country. Tooke said UVUSA unfortunately did not find out about the contest until after it had already turned in all of the school's voter registration sheets to the Utah County Clerk. However, if UVU had participated in the contest, it would be in it would currently be in sixth place. UVU was at one point in second place ahead of University of California-Berkeley. Most of UVU's 3,488 registrations came during the three weeks tables were set up around campus with lifesize cutouts of the presidential candidates displayed, encouraging students to register to vote and in turn receive a political button if they did. Other tactics to get students registered included dorm storming, handing out UVOTE T-shirts and bringing a live "Vote Goat" on campus. The registra- tion push was a combined campus effort of the UVU Democrats Club, UVU Republicans Club, VOX Club and UVUSA. "I think the biggest reason that UVU wants people to be politically involved is because politicians are not going to care about the issues that we care about until they see that we are voting," said Miss UVU, Christina Lowe, who was part of this year's campaign to increase student voter registration. In celebration of Election Day, UVU will also hold a Rock the Vote event featuring Recycled Percussion on Nov. 4 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the McKay Event Center. Those who received a UVOTE button for registering can get into the concert free. After the concert, Rock the Vote attendees can view the announcement of the new U.S. President as it is broadcast live in the Sorensen Student Center Grande Ballroom. |