By: DonkeyHotey

In the final weeks before the election, the presidential campaign can only be described as something between a high school rivalry and an afternoon soap opera. Here are five of this week’s weirdest moments from the race.

1. Voter registration dumping

A Republican consultant was arrested earlier this week after thousands of voter registration forms were found in a dumpster. The fraud was uncovered when a student at James Madison University tried to verify changes to her registration online and found that the form had never been submitted. This is the third instance of registration dumping that has occurred in Virginia.

2. Biased debate moderators

Everyone was excited to finally see some female debate moderators … until they sided with the Democrats. Martha Raddatz continually interrupted vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, and Candy Crowley defended President Obama when challenged about his handling of consulate attack in Benghazi.

3. Staged photo op

Paul Ryan decided to make a campaign stop at the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society soup kitchen for a 15 minute appearance on his way to the airport. He proceeded to wash dishes that reportedly weren’t even dirty, and Brian J. Antal, the charity’s president, later said that Ryan did not obtain permission for the visit. Now, the soup kitchen is losing money from donors over what Antal calls an “embarrassing” incident.

4. Biden’s behavior

Speaking of vice presidential candidates … we don’t know what happened to the old Biden, but the new one giggles incessantly and says “malarkey.” In his most recent display of bizarre behavior, Biden called tax plan “etch-a-sketch-y” and told Ryan that “the bullets are aimed at you” in regards to his recent book about Americans’ dependence on the government.

5. What did he just say?

Both presidential candidates have said things this week that have made us shake our heads. Thanks to Romney, “binders full of women” went viral after he tried to explain his efforts to include women in his cabinet as the former governor of Massachusetts. Unfortunately, Obama followed suit in coining a new term, saying that his opponent’s changes in stance in the days leading to the election can only be a result of “Romnesia.”

The Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) welcomes  Dr. Chris Hennigan, Associate Professor of Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering, as guest for the seminar “Closing the Gap on Missing Sources of Organic Aerosol in the Atmosphere” this Friday, October 26th.

The seminar is the latest for CUERE’s Fall 2012 Seminar Series, which has been held annually since 2003. It begins at 2 PM, and will be hosted in Room 206 of the Technology Research Center, and is free and open to the public.

An op-ed by George Derek Musgrove, assistant professor of history, recently appeared on The Root DC blog on the Washington Post website.

In the piece, Musgrove and co-author Chris Myers Asch discuss why current discussions of gentrification in the Washington D.C. region can be so heated.

“Simply put, people do not want to be gone or forgotten,” they write.

“Displacement and struggles over who “owns” the city have a long history in Washington. Ours is a city both Southern and transient, where the constant churn of newcomers has amplified the importance of place and rootedness.”

The authors conclude that “We must also help create the conditions in which a diverse population can flourish now and in the future.”

The story, “Not gone, not forgotten: Struggling over history in a gentrifying D.C.” appeared online on October 19.