K-12 Government/Election Teaching Materials

The animated map depicts the changes over time in the state-by-state Intrade contract prices for the 2008 presidential election. There is a brief pause before the animation starts again.

Have students review the origin, purpose and function of the Electoral College. Ask students: What is the "winner take all" system? Are there any states that do not follow this system? If so, how do they determine their electoral vote allocation? How many electoral votes are needed to win the presidency? Next, divide students into small groups and assign each group a current swing state in the 2008 presidential race. Consult the CNN Electoral Map Calculator for a list of swing states. Then, refer groups to online resources, including CNN's Election Center 2008 on the CNN Politics site, to identify the following for their assigned swing state: * the number of electoral votes that are up for grabs * the state's key political issues * the U.S. presidential candidates' stances on these key issues * the state's demographic composition * the state's voting record in past presidential elections

Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future is an online writing and publishing project for students, ages 13 - 18, co-sponsored by Google and the National Writing Project. We invited young people to write about the issues and concerns that they feel are central to their future, issues they would hope our next president would act on. Topics were chosen by the students themselves to reflect their specific personal, regional, and age-related interests. Teachers and mentors guided students through the process of writing a persuasive letter or essay to the presidential candidates using Google Docs.

The plans of presidential candidates are never set in stone, if only because circumstances and the makeup of Congress change after the election. The uncertainty is even deeper in this election because Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain laid out most of their agenda before the government committed up to $700 billion to address the financial crisis. Obama acknowledges what is true for both: "The next president will have to scale back his agenda and some of his proposals." Yet neither candidate has spelled out what promises might have to be postponed or changed. With that caution, here's a look at where McCain and Obama stand on a selection of issues.

referenced by Eric Zorn