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The effect of political humor on US elections

September. If he can convince them then that he'd make a better nominee than McCain, he could become our next president despite the votes McCain received from delegates.

It's very possible that he could, too. McCain is a moderate Republican who holds to several political ideas that are favored by Democrats and considered anathema to conservative Republicans. While McCain's political philosophy endears him to moderate Republicans and would allow him to work with Democratic members of Congress, it also pushes away the religious conservative base of the Republican Party. This right-wing base should not be underestimated, as they could possibly keep McCain from getting the 1,191 votes needed. If that should happen, McCain will have to start defending himself again to his own party to lock the nomination.

On March 1, 2008, Hillary Clinton made her appearance on Saturday Night Live. While she was on, she joked about whether or not a skit, one that addressed the accusation from Clinton of the media being harsh on her but being soft on Obama, was an endorsement from Saturday Night Live. She made a few other jokes about her campaign, and said she loved Amy Poehler's impression of her. At the end of the skit, Hillary Clinton started the show with its opening catchphrase.

So why did Hillary go on the SNL show? I honestly think that she did it to follow in the footsteps of the other candidates. Obama has had the initiative in the race for the Democratic nomination for a long time and Clinton has been trying to defend against him. Clinton has been reacting more to Obama than being proactive. Because of Obama's great popularity and because of Clinton's reputation from when she was First Lady, it's easy to understand why Hillary made those accusations against the media for being soft on Obama. She got a bit of flack for pointing it out, but now that it's been called to people's attention I believe the media focus will start getting a bit more harsh on Obama. Why the news outlets haven't already is unknown, but I'm sure that one factor why is because of what has been called Obama's cult-like following among the politically active youth of America. I think the media is afraid to infringe on the image of hope and promise Obama has built up around himself.

So now that we have the candidates' reasoning for appearing on the show, what is Saturday Night Live's reason for having them on?

Well, SNL is a comedy show, but it's a timely one which focuses very well on current events. Naturally,


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The effect of political humor on US elections

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The effect of political humor on US elections

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