Compared to other presidential elections, 2008 was an exceptional year in voter participation. Many states saw turnout records broken during the primary election season. Some analysts considered this a high point in our democratic process, but it was far from a trend setter.

Historically, turnout in primaries and caucuses have always been low.

Image: blog.twitter.com

The Internet has been abuzz over Paul Ryan since the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney declared his VP pick on Saturday, but Romney was not the first to announce his choice. The Veepstakes came to a close when Twitter scooped the story 7 hours early.

Credit: cfr.org

The continued failure of the United States to provide decent education to its citizens threatens national security, says a recent report by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR.) The study was co-chaired by Joel I. Klein, former head of New York City public schools and Condoleezza Rice, former US Secretary of State.

Texas has an open primary, but many people like to refer to it more as a semi-open primary. Voters don’t have to declare a party when they register to vote. They do, however, have to declare a party for the year if they want to vote in that year’s primary elections. Once a person chooses a party they cannot vote across party lines and, in the event of a runoff, they have to stick with the party.

In just 8 days, a video by JustNewProductions, who has never posted any other videos on YouTube, has received over 600,000 views on a music video called, "Obama that I used to Know." The video is a "parody" of Gotye's popular song, "Somebody that I Used to Know." The message is particularly directed at young voters who are don't believe Obama brought the change he promised. Young voters are the fastest growing segment of non-partisan voters.

Within just one day of Romney's Vice President announcement, he has managed to raise over $3.5 million with Rep. Ryan Paul on his presidential ticket in just 24 hours.

https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew/status/234693124742598656

https://twitter.com/guypbenson/status/234685108412641281

2012-presidential-tickets

With Mitt Romney's VP announcement of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, all major presidential tickets for the 2012 election cycle are now set. Democratic and Republican National Conventions will be held in the coming weeks to formalize their official choices, while the Green Party and Libertarian 2012 presidential tickets are finalized.