The Process

It is time for your campaign team to get to work. First, you must learn what people are looking for in a President. To do this, each team member will poll five schoolmates using the Presidential Survey form. You will ask two questions:

• What are the important qualities of a President?
• Can a woman be President?

After completing your survey, bring your results to your group. Use the presidential qualities survey chart to record your group's findings for the first question. Use the vote survey chart to record your group's findings for the second question. Discuss your findings within your group.

Your teacher will show your group a campaign poster. Look at the poster. Think about what you do like and what you do not like about it. Do you like the color? Do you like the words? Do you think it is a good poster? Complete the point of view graphic organizer to record your likes and dislikes.

The next step is to research an influential woman of the past. What were the qualities of this woman that made her so successful? Are these the same qualities people said a President should have? Your teacher will assign you a person to research. Be sure to record the information you find so you may share it with your team.

Campaign Member 1 – Susan B. Anthony

• Susan Brownwell Anthony
  http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0804198.html
• The Susan B. Anthony House
  http://www.susanbanthonyhouse.org/biography.html
• Susan B. Anthony pictures
  http://pictures.ask.com/pictures?q=Susan+B+Anthony&qsrc=31

Campaign Member 2 – Harriet Tubman

• The Life of Harriet Tubman
  http://www.nyhistory.com/harriettubman/life.htm
• Harriet Tubman
  http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/tubman
• Harriet Tubman pictures
  http://web.ask.com/web?qsrc=6&q=Harriet+Tubman+Photos&o=0

Campaign Member 3 – Abigail Adams

• Abigail Smith Adams
  http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/aa2.html
• Abigail Adams
  http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/notable/adamsa/index.html
• Abigail Adams pictures
  http://pictures.ask.com/pictures?q=Abigail+Adams&qsrc=31

Campaign Member 4 – Rosa Parks

• Grand Times
  http://www.grandtimes.com/rosa.html
• Girl Power: Rosa Parks
  http://www.girlpower.gov/girlarea/gpguests/RosaParks.htm
• The Life of Rosa Parks
  http://www.tsum.edu/museum/parksbio.htm

After each of you finish your research, take turns describing to the team why your person would make a great President. List the qualities that qualify each person as a good candidate for President. Referring to the list, your team must agree who to nominate as your candidate to run for the office of President.

Once you have nominated your candidate, it is then time to start the campaign!
Remember, you need to convince people that a woman can do the job. You also need to convince them that your candidate is the best person for the job as President of the United States. You want to influence them to vote for your choice.

The first step in developing your campaign will be to design a campaign button. Your campaign team must design a campaign button for the candidate nominated by the group. The campaign button will set the mood for the entire campaign. Look at the following campaign buttons and discuss with your group which buttons you like best and why.

• Campaign Buttons
  http://www.campaignbuttons-etc.com/
• Ron Wade Political Campaign Buttons
  http://ronwade.freeservers.com

Review the button designs to get some ideas for your own campaign button. The following questions will help you in your design.

• What is the most important quality about your candidate?
• How can you say this on a button?
• What colors should you use?
• Add your candidate’s name.
• Do you want to use a picture of your candidate or an American symbol?

Good luck with your design!

Campaigns use posters to promote their candidate. Candidates deliver speeches to persuade people to vote for them.

In addition to your button, your team must now create a campaign poster and a campaign speech.

Things to think about in designing a Campaign Poster are:

• What is the most important thing about your candidate?
• How can you show it on the poster?
• What colors should you use?
• Where will you put your candidate's name?
• Do you want to use a picture of your candidate or an American symbol?
• Remember to include that your candidate is running for President of the United States

Things to think about in writing a Campaign Speech are:

• Keep it short and simple.
• Make sure you include some reasons why people should vote for your candidate instead of another candidate.
• Do you want to put in some history or background information about your candidate?
• Include one or two sentences that your audience will remember. A metaphor may help you to do it.

Take turns in your group pretending to be the candidate. Read the speech out loud to each other. How does it sound? Decide which team member will present the speech.

You have done well. Are you ready for the election?