Luke Hopping - Senior Project

C O M P L E T E D

At long last, my senior project is finally complete. I have concluded the writing portion of the project, and now I'm moving into the editing phase. OK, so maybe I'm not totally done then, but it still feels good to be finished with the original writing aspect. I completed the Age Gap essay a few days ago, and since then I've been reviewing and editing a bit. The Age Gap came out to be 14 pages total. The final length of all my essays combined (before editing): 80 pages. I did go back and scale down the 2012 essay though, and I imagine I'll do some more of that in the coming weeks. 

All and all I'm extremely pleased with my product thus far. Now that it's almost done, I can really stand back and appreciate what I've accomplished. I think I've created a series of strong analyzes on some of the most important political trends of our time. Electoral trends are often overlooked. People see elections decided simply by who gets more votes, but there is so much more to it that the casual observer cannot see. I hope I have shed some light on these trends that silently dictate party policy and national elections in this country. Once I have finished the tedious editing process, I imagine the reader will have an even clearer impression of the contemporary American political landscape. 

Senior Project Title: Unpledged Electorate

Finally came up with a name for my senior project, I've dubbed it "Unpledged Electorate." Its a play on the old term "unpledged elector" which is applied to a member of the electoral college who fails to pledge their support for any candidate. I chose "Unpledged Electorate" because I wanted to emphasis the fickle, unpredictable nature of the American people when they're alone in a voting booth. Politics used to be controlled by a small group of somewhat corrupt, old, aristocratic, white men. Politics today are far more democratized than they were at the birth of the American republic. I call my senior project "Unpledged Electorate" because the decision of who to elect is still, fundamentally, in the hands of the people. And, even given the hard evidence for the electoral trends I've been analyzing, anything is possible up until Election Day because the American people (regardless of what they tell pollsters) remain unpledged until they pull the lever, or bunch the ballot, or push the button in November. 

Approaching the Finish Line

With a little over a week until our next big break, I'm feeling pretty good about where my project is going. I'm still editing 2012 on the side, but my main focus remains the Age Gap essay. I have about eight pages completed for the Age Gap paper, in a few more days I can hope to have it completed. My estimate is that it will be somewhere between 10 and 14 pages, not unlike my Gender Gap essay. I am now fairly certain that I will complete three papers for my senior project. As I said last week, I'm going to discontinue writing new material starting over Winter Vacation and begin solely editing then. The combined length of my essays will probably be somewhere north of 80 pages come next week. This is a whole lot more than anything I was imagining last May. 

As for my catalog, I plan on completing that tomorrow, but it's almost done. I will post it on the blog when I finish it. The main stumbling block to completing it: still working on a name for my project! My mentor and I are brainstorming titles now. It will probably wind up being some dorky political pun.

My mentor and I met this week. We're not so much discussing resources and ideas like we usually do anymore. Now we're talking about grammar and in-text citations. This is a big shift. It means we're heading into the final phase: editing. In some ways, I'm ready to stop writing original thoughts all the time and begin robotically editing, but I'm also dreading proofreading 80+ pages of my own essays. 

Age Gap Actually Begun

Over Thanksgiving Break I accomplished a lot of important work. I haven't quite finished proof reading 2012 yet, but I decided it wasn't prudent to not write anything new while I was editing. In light of that, I have begun writing my long delayed Age Gap essay. The age gap is the difference in Obama's lackluster support from seniors and his mind blowing loyalty from youth voters. So far I'm about six pages into this paper, and it promises to be much shorter than 2012. 

During break, I also came to a number of important realizations. With time running out, it is beginning to seem unrealistic that I may complete more than three essays and still have time to proof read and edit everything. I have decided that I will use the three weeks between the breaks to write new material almost exclusively. If I am able to complete four papers by then, that's great. If not, I will certainly have three. I will then devote my Winter Break to revisions and touch ups. All and all, I'll probably have 90 to 100 pages by the start of break at the very least. 

Editing

I was hoping to start the Age Gap this week, but I got bogged down in the editing process for 2012. If it takes a quarter as long to edit it as it did to write it, I'll be happy. At some point over Christmas Break (no, I don't mean Thanksgiving, yes, that is how backed up I am) I'll have to go in and make proper in text citations for 2012 because I don't have time now. I'm dreading that. For now it's mostly grammar and syntax I'm concerned with. Also, some recent developments have warranted that I edit the content of some sections. 

Believe me, I want nothing more than to begin the Age Gap. It's a new and interesting topic... and it doesn't take place three years from now. But for the moment, I'm stuck editing and adding here and there to 2012. I figure I should finish this mammoth essay before I move on and get distracted. All and all, another terribly busy week (the Long Island Challenge and Model UN didn't exactly hone my focus on Senior Project), but I hope to get A LOT done over Thanksgiving Break.

2012 Complete(ish)

Not a ton to report this week. College essays and applications dominated most of my writing time. I did, however, at long last finish my 2012 essay. But I'm not too ecstatic about having completed this opus only because it's going to take me the better part of two weeks to correct it all. Also, I'm not entirely sure that I don't want to add just a little bit at the end. In other words, 2012 is done, but it still needs work. Either way, this is a big milestone. After the lengthy correction process is complete, I will then, finally, move onto the long awaited Age Gap essay. More details on the nature of that paper to come next week.

In other news, I got my budget request confirmed which means I'll be reimbursed for the research books I purchased. This is great news, I'm really happy that I was able to get that done so I can further my study into American electoral politics. 

Still Trying to Finish "2012" Before 2012

Okay, so if you said that I'd been working on my 2012 essay for an inordinate amount of time, I couldn't blame you. If you said that I wasn't working on it enough, I'd probably discontinue whatever relationship you - theoretical person - and I have. Yes, I am still working on my essay on the 2012 presidential election. Yes, I hope to finish it before Election Day, 2012 or the Mayan apocalypse thing that's supposed to happen that year. 

But honestly, even though I'm pulling my hair out trying to finish this paper, I've enjoyed writing ever word of it. Even as I close in on forty (yes, forty) pages total, I am still having fun hypothesizing about the next presidential election. Since I last posted, I finished covering Pawlenty, and moved onto Palin, Romney, and Huckabee (the "Big Three"). Of the Big Three, I'm done with everyone except Huckabee. At this point I'm finishing up Huckabee, editing extensively, and working on the mammoth conclusion that is going to need to be tacked onto this thing. 

Without giving too much away from the content and predictions of the essay, I can say that I have entered a very, very long term bet concerning the election. I have chosen the top three most likely people to receive the nomination, and two potential running mates. My list of nominees, in order of likelihood, is as follows.

1) Governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty

2) Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee

3) Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney 

For running mates, where the order of their likeliness of being chosen doesn't matter, I have Senator John Thune of South Dakota and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas. 

Want to know why? Read my essay. By the time you finish, it should have a day or two to wait until you find out if I'm right. 

2012 Ongoing

Still working on the 2012 essay and I'm making a lot of progress. A list of potential Republican candidates I've reviewed already: Newt Gingrich, John Thune, Eric Cantor, Ron Paul, Jeb Bush, Gary Johnson, Donald Carcieri, Haley Barbour, and I'm almost done with Tim Pawlenty. If the majority of these names seem obscure, it's because they are. These are, mostly, dark horse candidates who may or may not run. I analyzed the odds that these candidates might run, win the nomination, and then win the general election. Discussion of the three "front runners," Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee will follow shortly. I don't want to disclose too much about the essay until it's done, I haven't quite concluded who I think the best Republican nominee would be myself. I'm hoping I can get this paper done by the end of next weekend, it's taking longer than I thought. The sections on the front runners will certainly take a while too. 

Lied About the Age Gap

    I've decided to stall work on the Age Gap essay for now and work on a different project. I have begun what I hope will be the longest and most in-depth of my essays, a paper on the presidential election of 2012. A series of papers on electoral politics could never be complete without a discussion of the next presidential election... even if it is three years away. I know it's fairly premature to begin working on an essay about something that will happen in three years, but it's important to remember that national elections begin earlier and earlier each cycle. The first Democrat to declare their candidacy for the 2008 election came in April of 2006, two and a half years before Election Day. Right now, even as Obama settles into the White House, potential 2012 Republican opponents are setting up for a run. They're stumping for other candidates, raising money, forming PACs, gathering campaign staff, making an unusually large number of trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, and becoming more and more vocal about national issues that seemingly don't have too much to do with them at the moment. So while it might seem early to be focusing on the next presidential election, it seems America is becoming more and more settled into the idea of the perpetual campaign.

     My 2012 essay will focus on what Republican challengers, in my opinion, will have a realistic chance at defeating President Obama in the general election. Since the nature of the essay is quite speculative, I have decided to write this one paper in a less formal tone. It seems unbefitting to write such as a hypothetical essay in a overly certain voice. I've tackled the essay with a lot of enthusiasm, I've written over twenty pages since I began it last weekend and I'm still not done, though I imagine that it will be edited down before I hand it in for presentation. I'm moving through this paper so quickly that I might expect to have a finished rough draft by the end of next week. Then, hopefully, I will move into discussing the Age Gap. 

Gender Gap Completed, Age Gap Next

    Earlier this week I completed my first senior project essay. It is an in-depth study on the gender gap - the voting divide between women and men. For the past thirty years, men have trended toward the Republican Party while women have moved toward the Democratic Party. I explain more on the history of the gender gap in last week's post. The first draft was over 11 pages altogether and I expect it to grow to at least 12 as a I edit and remember things I may have left out. I'm extremely excited to see my first paper complete, it is immensely rewarding. 

    Most of this week was spent struggling to get at least one person to answer an email to be my outside consultant. The list of people I hoped to maybe call my outside consultant included local politicians, journalists, bloggers, pollsters, and political strategists. Not a single reply as of yet, but I have some emails out there waiting to be replied to. I also worked on my rubric extensively, trying to figure out what I should be held accountable to complete. Initially I had hoped to complete six papers or more, that now seems pretty unrealistic. My current rubric shoots for between three and five papers by the time this is over. I had imagined at first my collection would be a series of shorter papers, now I plan on doing a few full-length ones instead. With all of this going on, I've barely had time to think about my next paper. Right now, it seems as if I'll be writing one on the Age Gap next, but it's also possible that I will write one on the presidential election of 2012. I have outlines almost ready for both. I hope to begin my next paper this weekend.