Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita says there are 500,000 new and updated voter registrations in Indiana.   Rokita says that brings the number of voters in the state to 4.4 million and there are still six weeks to go before voter registration ends.  More than 200,000 of those registrations are new voters.  In 2004, Indiana saw 565,000 new and updated registered voters.   A spokesman says they could get between 700,000 and 750,000 new and updated registered voters by the time voter registration ends in October.

She gave a great political speech tonight at the Democratic National Convention and reminded her supporters that this election is bigger than them and they need to get over themselves. If these guys actually manage to follow through, the GOP is in big trouble in November.

I’m taking a few seconds today to write about something other than politics.  I’m actually writing about college.  At one the schools I teach at they’ve instituted a new policy;  the instructors are now required to take attendance at the beginning and end of each class. 

The logic is that students should be as acclimated to the world of work as possible so someone thought making them “punch in and punch out” would be the best way to do it.  Now as instructors, we are obligated to carry out the policies of the institutions we teach in, but I’ve always wondered if mandatory attendance policies in higher education is a good idea.

I’ve always believed that as a student, you have a responsibility to come to class, period.  It’s part of being a grown up. Now some classes (i.e. history) being there everyday may not be as important as say calculus or nursing.  And I’ve never understood students who chronically miss class.  You wouldn’t spend $7.00 on a burger and fries, get your food and not eat so why would you do it for an education that costs you thousands of dollars a year?

As a teacher/instructor my job is make the class engaging enough so that students don’t want to miss class and they feel bad when they do.  I also have a duty to make sure that’s what taught in the class isn’t necessarily what’s in the text, so students should have a reason to come.   And students who tend not to show up, tend not to do so well.

I’ve never thought making people show up somewhere is a good idea.  Smart people get it.  Good teachers get it.  The ones who tend not to show up are the ones who probably shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

Back to politics tomorrow.

As you watch the DNC this week, here’s some helpful background reading to help put the Clinton v. Obama fight in perspective.  The Clinton’s have no one to blame but themselves for their loss.  I enjoyed reading the part where Hillary tells an aide who brought her bad news about her campaign to “shut the f*** up!” It’s priceless.

Also enjoy Jen’s work as well.

As the Democratic National Committee gets underway,  I had a few thoughts I thought I would share.

• Despite Evan Bayh not being on the ticket, Indiana is still in play and will come down to a good old-fashioned ground war.  The GOP has one of the best get-out-the-vote operations in the nation, but the Obama people are opening offices and engaging in massive voter registration drives.
• The last best hope for Jill Long Thompson to run a competitive race against Mitch Daniels just went out the window.  Had Barack picked Evan Byah, the Governor’s race would have become a U.S. Senate race because the Governor would pick Bayh’s replacement.  Millions of dollars would have flown into the state to her campaign.  Now she’s on her own.
• The Biden pick also makes me turn my attention towards Mitt Romney as John McCain’s VP choice. 
• A final note from Springfield, one unofficial count put the crowd at 30,000.  Not bad from the 10,000 that were there 17 months ago.  However, I’ve never seen so many people who drive hybrid vehicles leave behind so much paper, trash and empty water bottles.