Presidential Election 2012

Blog overview

Dutch journalist Kemal Rijken, author of Roma and journalist for Metro, covered the US 2012 Presidential Election and shared his experiences in this collection of blogposts.

Day 5, No Enthusiasm or Craziness on Election Day

October 31, 2012

Long lines of voters, cheering Obama supporters along roads and many happy Americans that say they have made history. Shortly, this was the spirit that made Election Day 2008 a historical day for the United States and the world. How different is it now, four years later. Today Chicago was a dull and grey city, …...

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Day 4, Obama: “get out and vote!”

October 30, 2012

An old African American woman is leaning against a fence and holding a blue sign with ‘Forward’ in her hand. She is surrounded by others who stand shoulder to shoulder in the burning Florida sun. All of them are accompanied by thousands of people. They all are here for one thing: to support President Barack …...

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Day 3, Paul Ryan: “we need a high turnout in Florida”

October 29, 2012

One who drives through Bay County, Florida, is confronted with Romney-Ryan signs along the road everywhere. Anti-Obama signs, such as ‘Obama isn’t working’ and ‘defeat Obama’, are also very popular over here. This is an average country in the pan handle, a piece of Florida with an overall Republican base. It is in this area …...

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Day 2, Driving long to meet Paul Ryan

October 28, 2012

Swing state Florida is definitely one of the most interesting places to visit during election time. During the last couple of months both candidates and their running mates hold many rallies at places such as Palm Beach and Jacksonville. The grand finale was this week, when Michelle Obama and former president Bill Clinton held five …...

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Day 1, Stereotypes in the Sunshine State

October 27, 2012

Palm trees, beaches, beautiful woman, amusement parks, senior citizens and Miami Vice are a few of the many stereotypes that I have about Florida, the so called sunshine state that lies at the northern edge of the Caribbean. Another stereotype is the one of the all time swing state, where the counting of voting ballots …...

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