Learning Activity

Aired August 19, 2003

In the California recall election, the candidate with the most votes wins if voters choose to recall Gov. Davis. Arnold Schwarzenegger hopes his image will help him get more votes than the other possible 200 candidates on the list. Explore the issues facing voters and analyze how political outsiders like Schwarzenegger position themselves on those issues.

Organize students into groups and have them research the political histories and philosophies of each one of the four "indie dudes" mentioned in the story: Ross Perot, Jesse Ventura, John McCain and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Have students record their findings on a chart with the following labels: Personality, Self-Made Man, and Taking on the Establishment.

Then, refer student groups to PublicAgenda.org (http://www.publicagenda.org) and assign one issue such as education, crime or the economy to each group. (Public Agenda is a nonpartisan, nonprofit public opinion research and citizen education organization based in New York City.) Students should read the "Overview" and the "Framing the Debate" sections on the Public Agenda Web site to learn more about the issue from multiple perspectives. Once they are familiar with the various perspectives on the issue, based on their understanding of the philosophies of the "indie dudes", challenge students to propose where they think these political figures might stand on the issue. Instruct each group to present its issue to the class, first from multiple perspectives, and then from what they think could be the perspective of an extreme independent.

After group presentations, have students select issues and have them write campaign slogans for those issues that they think might be said by one of the "indie dudes".

Follow up the activity with a discussion of the history of political parties throughout American history, the demographic groups they have attracted and the role of third parties in American politics. Ask students: Do you think that this "new wave" of politicians and voters could shake the foundations of the traditional two-party system? Why or why not?

Standards

This learning activity is correlated to the following national standards:

National Standards for Civics and Government

II. The Foundations of the American Political System:

C. American Political Culture

2. Character of American political conflict. Students should be able to describe the character of American political conflict and explain factors that usually tend to prevent it or lower its intensity.

The National Standards for Civics and Government (http://www.civiced.org/912erica.htm) are published by the Center for Civic Education (http://www.civiced.org/index.html)

National History Standards

Era 10: Contemporary United States History

Standard 1:

Recent developments in foreign policy and domestic politics.

Standard 1B:

The student understands domestic politics in contemporary society.

The National Standards for History (http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/nchs/standards/) are published by the National Center for History in the Schools (http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/nchs/).

Related Links

CNN.com: Rival asks where Schwarzenegger stands on issues (http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/08/17/california.recall/index.html)

CNN.com: ACLU seeks California recall vote postponement (http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/08/18/california.recall/index.html)

Holt, Rinehart and Winston: Third Parties in the 20th Century (http://go.hrw.com/hrw.nd/arbiter/pRedirect?project=hrwonline&siteId=475&pageId=3232)

Holt, Rinehart and Winston: American Government - Political Parties (http://go.hrw.com/hrw.nd/arbiter/pRedirect?project=hrwonline&siteId=475&pageId=3229)

The Reform Party (http://www.reformparty.org/)

The Libertarian Party (http://www.lp.org/)

The Democratic National Committee (http://www.democrats.org/)

The Republican National Committee (http://www.rnc.org/)

Keywords

Ross Perot, Jesse Ventura, John McCain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, establishment, mantra, libertarian, religious right, conservative, liberal, moderate