Realizing that not every person in American has the opportunity to view the election, and judge the candidates inside our Communications class room, and knowing that not everyone in America actively reads the news paper, I worry about where some Americans are getting their information about the candidates. As we come down to the last week of the election, I wonder if somewhere, someone is voting for “that nice lady who looks like Tina Fey”, or if they are passing up a vote for Obama because “he’s a Muslim”. Although I think the SNL skits are hilarious, and Tina Fey does an impeccable impression of Sarah Palin, SNL is hardly a reliable source for information. However, SNL has picked up remarkable speed with their political satires, so much so that the show now has it’s own Thursday Night Election Update. Now, SNL has never shied away from joking about the presidency, and this election is no different, however, with such a close race it’s hard to imagine that voters wont be influenced by what they are seeing on T.V. Last week, on an episode of Thursday Night Election Update, Will Ferrel made a guest appearance as President. Bush, happily endorsing Sarah Palin and the McCain ticket. Clearly the joke was on McCain, and it obvious that SNL was joking about how now, during the election McCain was trying to distance himself as far from Bush as possible. During the skit, Will Ferrel (or Bush) repeated several times, looking straight into the camera, “A vote for McCain is a vote for Bush”. Obviously this was just part of the skit, but I was shocked to see that Will Ferrell was saying what most Obama supporters have been saying for months, but he was doing on national T.V. Imagine how many people were watching him say that, how many of those people were undecided. Are they now going to vote for Obama because Will Ferrell told them to? It sounds pretty ridiculous but watch the video and see how commanding his performance is. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6qkeB6Lt…

SNL aside, there are other franchises that have started to pick up on election hype. 7-Eleven for example has now started selling red or blue coffee cups for customers to chose based on their party affiliation. By going to 7-Election.com you can even see which candidate cup is more popular state by state. So far, the results show 60% support for Obama, and 40% for McCain, and 7-Eleven boasts that they have successfully predicted the outcome of the past two elections. And in case customers don’t know which candidate they support, there always seems to be at least one tabloid with McCain or Obama (or their running mates) plastered all over the front. Is it just me, or do the candidates this year appear on the cover of Us Weekly more often the Britney Spears? Not to discredit the journalistic skills of tabloid writers, but the candidates have a lot more to discuss than a two page spread can offer. Are we supposed to base our election on who has a nicer looking family, or which candidate had a more difficult life? It seems that these tabloids are only a platform for candidates to gain more pathos.

Regardless of the source, SNL, 7-Eleven, or the tabloids, it is good to see how far this election has reached. But for those who do not read the paper, or watch a reliable news network, their sources of information are limited. They vote based on what projections they have seen of the candidates, and whether that’s Will Ferrell’s impression, a red or blue cup, or a spread of the eclectic McCain family, it isn’t enough to make the right choice this November. So although I am happy to see the candidates being supported in a myriad of ways, I just hope that this years election isn’t left up to Tina Fey.