State and Local Government Web Quest

Introduction

You and others in your community are tired of the same old politicians running for office time and time again. Citizens in your community are ready for change, so they approach you to run for a political office. What should you do? What are your opinions on the important issues of the community and state? Do you have what it takes to run for a political office? Well, it's time to find out! Rise up to the civic challenge and develop a winning campaign!

The Task

You will examine the issues important to your state and/or locality and then develop a campaign for you to run as either a town council, mayorial, or state legislative candidate. What issues affect your community and state? What characteristics make for a good candidate for an elected state or local government position? What will it take to run a successful campaign? What special interest support can you count on? How can you energize voters to get out to the polls on election day? These are some of the questions that you need to address for this campaign.

(Group Activity Option) You will develop a campaign staff consisting of the following people:

Campaign Manager: Will supervise the work of the group, gain the support of special interests, and help prepare a PowerPoint presentation that chronicles the various aspects of the campaign.

Candidate: Will research the issues that are important or relevant and then develop a campaign platform and stump speech.

Press Secretary and/or Strategist: Design a campaign slogan, a short commercial and help prepare the PowerPoint presentation.

The group will present their campaign at a fundraiser to benefit the candidate.

Resources

These are the Web sites that will guide the research for the state and local campaign. You should be familiar with these sites as we have used them for other class assignments this semester.

State and Local Government on the Net: http://www.statelocalgov.net/index.cfm

Website with links and information about the states and Capitals: http://www.50states.com/

Politics1 is published as a non-partisan public service to promote fully informed decision-making by the American electorate: http://www.politics1.com/

Comprehensive Listing of State and local newspapers: http://www.newspapers.com/npcom1.htm

For additional information, use: http://www.google.com or http://www.yahoo.com (Don't forget to brainstorm a list of search terms before you begin!)

The Process

Read through each of the steps below and use the Web pages that are provided to develop your campaign. The steps listed below will be documented in a multi-media presentation.

Choose a state and/or locality to research (This may be assigned by your teacher).

Select a political office in the state and/or locality.

Divide responsibilities among group members (if the WebQuest is assigned as a group activity).

Search for current state and local issues that interest you and become informed.

Select a political party or choose to run as an independent.

Develop a platform that will drive your campaign.

Create a campaign stump speech that addresses the issues you researched.

Create a campaign slogan to be used on posters, bumperstickers, and in local commercials.

Create a 30 second commercial spot for your campaign.

List those organizations that will endorse your views on the issues you selected for the campaign.

Develop a game plan for getting your supporters registered and out to vote on election day.

Organize your campaign in a multi-media presentation to be presented at a campaign fundraiser!

Evaluation

For this activity to be successful you must take your time, utilize available resources, thoroughly research your state and/or locality, and follow all steps of the campaign process. You will find a wealth of information about state and local politics. Explore, read, become an active learner, and collect information that you find interesting and relevant to achieve your task. You will be graded based on the evaluation criteria listed below.

	Exemplary 4	Accomplished 3	Developing 2	Beginning 1
Quality, Accuracy, and Relevancy of Information	All issues cited are accurate and the information is relevant to the campaign.	Most issues cited are accurate and the information is relevant to the campaign.	Some issues cited are accurate and there is little relevancy to the campaign.	Few issues cited are accurate and the information is not relevant to the campaign.
Team Collaboration (Not applicable if assigned as an individual activity)	The campaign team shows respect for one another, gets along especially well and works together on all aspects of the campaign.	The campaign team gets along well most of the time and shares equally in most responsibilities.	The campaign team has trouble solving most disagreements and one partner does most of the work.	The campaign team argues and does not share responsibilities.
Process Requirements	All campaign requirements listed in the "Process" are met and exceeded.	All campaign requirements listed in the "Process" are met.	One campaign requirement listed in the "Process" was not completely met.	More than one campaign requirement listed in the "Process" was not completely met.
Mechanics (Grammar and Spelling)	No misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Three or fewer misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Four misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	More than 4 errors in spelling or grammar.
Presentation of Campaign	Interesting, well-planned, and well-rehearsed PowerPoint presentation with smooth delivery that holds audience attention and wins campaign support.	Relatively interesting, planned, and rehearsed PowerPoint presentation with a fairly smooth delivery that usually holds audience attention and can win some campaign support.	PowerPoint presentation is not well-planned and the delivery is not smooth, but able to hold audience attention most of the time. It will be hard to find campaign support!	PowerPoint presentation is hard to follow, the delivery not smooth and audience attention is lost. Time to find a new candidate or campaign manager!

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed learning about state and local issues and the process of developing a campaign. Running for political office is not an easy task, but it is a necessary part of our democratic system. Just remember, there are many ways to get involved in our political system besides running for a political office. It is your responsibility as a citizen to participate in the political process by staying informed and involved. Don't hesitate to participate in a campaign, support local issues that are important to you, or go out and VOTE!!