8th grade classwork

Global Studies Mini-Project: Due Tomorrow

Color the map red, blue, and purple for the swing states. See page two to figure out which state is a swing state (it will say on the chart on the left side).

Then go to the following website:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/19/politics/main4107550.shtml

Scroll down to State Profiles:

Pick Three States that you are interested in (I recommend picking the states that have the most electoral votes to give away, like Ohio, Florida, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Colorado).

Read the information that it has posted for the state.
You have to answer the following questions about each of the four states that you pick:

1. How many electoral votes can be gained from this state?

2. Who are the voters that each candidate needs to appeal to? Why is it such a close call here?

3. Who is more likely to win this state and why?

Sometimes you will have to click on some of the articles under all of the information in order to find the answers – you may have to dig and search a bit.

You should write this information in a neat and creative way under the map or around the map. You can write it on index cards. This project is worth 20 points, 5 points per state, and 5 points for neatly and accurately completing the map. This is one of the last projects you will get for this marking period – please do an excellent job on it – it will affect your grade.





Here is an example of what one of your explanation should look like:

North Carolina:
North Carolina is not a very important state to win, but it does help Obama if he wins this state. He wont have to worry as much about losing another state, since he will get 15 electoral votes from this one. This state usually votes republican because it shares similar cultural and social values with republicans (it is a fairly religious state with traditional families and way of life). However, according to the first article I read, North Carolina has a large African American population, and several universities and college (young people are more likely to vote for Obama). There are also more moderates and people who are interested in improving the economy, who think that Obama would be a stronger candidate. It will take Obama more campaigning and registering voters to make sure he wins. McCain will have to spend more time and money there, trying to inspire all the republicans who usually vote there, to support him.