Dear State Demographic Advisor,

You will research the ethnic, social, economic, educational, etc. realities of a swing state (down to the county level) to help a presidential candidate win your state.  

Using your party's platform along with sites like patchworknation.org and census.gov, dig up important swing issues for your candidate.   You will need to know every facet of your state's demographic populations and relate that via presentation to a committee (your class).

Your research will inform your candidate what needs to be said, when to say it, to what degree, and to whom.  Take into consideration various aspects of your message (positive or negative), the topic (immigration, healthcare, foreign policy, etc.), the image your candidate should portray (rolled up sleeves, color of clothes, jewelry, etc) and so on.  Everything you present will be questioned by either me or the committee (your fellow school mates).  You will present six maps, correlating two maps at a time (ie. unemployment map and HS graduate map) and explain how this will help flip your swing state.  This will require you to extrapolate beneficial information for your candidate from these maps.  For example, under President Obama the unemployment rate has not improved much in the state of Ohio and those counties that voted for him in large numbers are worse off.  You might suggest to your Republican candidate to focus on these facts and address them in such and such way.

Your grade will not come from which maps or which party you support...it will come from HOW WELL you back up your "advice" to your candidate with data.  Finally, with this information, you will either write a speech or author a “game plan” to help your candidate win that state.  Take into consideration the population density of the counties you choose, ethnic populations, recent party history, median household level, education level, union strength, changes in recent political history, access to transportation, average age, and so on...  I MUST approve your choice of technology.  Use one from the list in class.

Swing states to choose from: Nevada, Ohio, Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin, or Pennsylvania.