PUMA kittens?

The Scholastic Presidential Election results are in and Obama is the winner! The kids have only been wrong twice in history...and no, it wasn't the last two elections. Odd, eh? Out of 250,000 votes, 4% of the kids wrote in people including *drumroll* Hillary Clinton (11% of the write in vote). 1,100 students out there voiced their allegiance to Senator Clinton.

While the focus of the results will be on Obama's winning, does the fact that 1,100 students still voted for Clinton (most likely the most serious write-in candidate given) mean that there's a small group of future voters who are just plain unsatisfied with Obama and McCain? Perhaps.

Could this signal that 1,100 students around the country are still loyal to Clinton and what her vision of America? Perhaps.

We may never know why they voted the way they did, but I love that Scholastic reports the write-ins. Here in Illinois, we can't draft a candidate from the people. They have to accept that draft for our write-in votes to count. We learned this when the voters of Cook County had to decide between Heir-to-the-Presidency candidate Todd Stroger versus Republican Tony Peraica. My friends & I wanted to write in Forrest Claypool, who lost to Todd's Papa in the primary.

I also know that there is talk from Hillary supporters to write her in, but really it's a waste in that they aren't counted, so she wouldn't be told and you cause the election judges to spend time on it. And we know they need to focus on counting those ballots carefully.

But I'd rather like to imagine, postulate, that there are 1,100 budding feminists of all ages who just can't let go of the idea of a woman President; who want it so badly that they wrote in Hillary Clinton. Are they stubborn? Yes. Are they angry? I'm sure. I hope that their anger is funneled into positive outlets. Some pundits have decided that Hillary's failure will mean less women running for office in the future. My hope is that Hillary's success will mean more women running for office...and hopefully those 1,100 future voters will keep that anger to fuel their successes.

MORE FROM THE ELECTION RESULTS:

So why is a kid poll important? And does it mean anything come November 4? Kid Reporter Lya Ferreyra knows.

"Not only does [voting in the] poll give kids the experience they will need to vote in the future, but it allows them to have input on who should be the next President of the United States," she said. "It gives kids a voice, which is important, but we won't know the actual outcome until November 4. No one can predict that."

Ferreyra and this reporter both appeared on numerous news programs this week to announce the poll results.

Results from key swing states are as follows:

Colorado:	McCain 61%	Obama 36%	Other 3%
Florida:	McCain 41%	Obama 55%	Other 4%
Indiana:	McCain 51%	Obama 47%	Other 2%
Iowa:	McCain 48%	Obama 49%	Other 3%
Michigan:	McCain 40%	Obama 57%	Other 3%
Missouri:	McCain 49%	Obama 47%	Other 4%
Ohio:	McCain 47%	Obama 51%	Other 2%
Pennsylvania:	McCain 46%	Obama 50%	Other 4%

h/t Claire Mysko

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