1. What is responsible for the recent increase in the high school graduation rate?
2. Should Congress allow emergency unemployment benefits grind to a halt?
3. Is Arizona’s campaign finance law constitutional?
4. What is the likelihood that Congress passes the DREAM Act during the lame duck session?
5. Will Joe Miller’s refusal to concede the Alaskan Senate election push Lisa Murkowski away from the GOP?
6. Is the controversy over airline screening practices much ado about nothing?
7. How will the arrival of Mark Kirk to the U.S. Senate impact the lame duck session?
8. Will President Obama’s decision to freeze the pay of federal workers help him score political points?
9. Is the GOP dead in California?
10. Will the WikiLeaks controversy hinder President Obama’s foreign policy?
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Until early November, extempers can expect to run into lots of questions about the midterm elections. These questions may ask you which party will win the elections, what the biggest issue in the elections is going to be, or about specific races happening throughout the country. Usually, if you get a question about a specific race it will be about a Senate or governor’s race because those typically attract more attention than House races. Extempers should have files on the major races and get to know the candidates in those races. To get an idea of what the major races are, extempers should go to the Cook Political Report or Real Clear Politics and see the races that are classified as “tossups.” The “tossup” label designates races where the Democratic and Republican candidates have a chance to win. If you are new to extemp, you will see this labels again in 2012 for the presidential campaign.
Once the midterm elections end, the next big political campaign will be the 2012 presidential election. While President Obama will likely be nominated by the Democrats for a second term, the Republican opposition has no clear frontrunner. Based on the midterm election cycle, the GOP presidential primary might be one of the most thrilling and competitive in years and might see a bloody civil war between social and fiscal conservatives. Such a battle has the potential to either strengthen the party and the candidates involved or devastate the GOP’s 2012 chances.