I've been frustrated for years by the cartographic overly-red distortion of the electoral results and the assertions of "landslide" in pretty evenly-divided elections.
I encourage everyone to take a look at the great re-mapping, using population-proportional cartography, by the University of Michigan's Mark Newman, at the easy-to-read page, Maps of the 2008 US presidential election results.
i've moved from canvassing in orange county (florida) over to brevard county. to be more specific, i was in merritt island. brevard county -- especially northern and central brevard (where merritt island and cocoa beach are located) -- is staring down the barrel of an economic bazoka. in 2011, kennedy space center (the largest employer in the county) is scheduled to lay off a significant number of jobs as nasa attempts to transition to another form of human space vehicle. nor has it helped that the u.s. government has gotten out of private satellite launching business (another failure of the privatization fade). local democrats have worried that barack's positions on u.s. space policy could mean further job cuts in brevard's major employer because of earlier wording in his education plan (PDF).
another reason that local democrats worry about brevard county is that, besides being the home of the space center, it is also the home of two air force bases, a naval facility and a coast guard station. a large number of military retirees choose to settle in the area, which has long sought a veteran's hospital, and there are more people here who've had a tour of duty in the military. like other surfer's in the area, i've taught my share of young airmen how to surf the small but quick waves around patrick air force base. so there's a little apprehension about what kind of reaction we'd receive knocking on doors here.
i can put it in four words: much better than expected. as i've noted before, this is the county where hillary's 50.58% in the january primary got her 31,709 votes while mccain's 35.90% netted him 31,334. yes, florida was one of the few states where republican turnout exceeded democratic turnout this year. brevard has been reliably republican in recent years, where bush got 57.65% (kerry had 41.56%) in 2004 and jeb got 61.12% in 2002. but it isn't your father's florida anymore.
in the end, i id'ed more supporters for barack obama (combining 2s and 3s) than john mccain's (4s and 5s) in what is normally considered heavily republican winter park, florida. but it sure didn't feel that way while i was canvassing. thinking about it now, the obama supporters came in drips, while the mccain supporters were clumped together and made a bigger impression.
just goes to show that even your own impressions aren't always accurate.
getting to the turf -- to winter park from the temporary orlando campaign office -- proved more difficult than expected. the access street to the first house on my list was cut off. i could see the first house on palmer, so i walked past the barriers over to the other side and knocked on the first door. no one home, left our new lit (woo hoo!) and went to the next house. a lady, 94 years old, in this huge house overseeing a lake, came to the door to greet me.
i always tell people that the first door -- by which i mean the first person you talk to -- is the hardest. you don't know what to expect when you're in a new state or new campaign or new year, no matter how many times you've done it before.
here i am in florida, and i didn't even have to look at the list, i knew i was in republican territory. north part of orlando, close to winter park, homes built around a couple of small lakes. i knock on the first door and i look to see the party registration. republican. of course. but no one is home, so i leave the lit and move on. rinse and repeat for the second door. the third door is right next door. another republican. i didn't even have to look, there was a contribution envelope in response to a direct mail plea from john mccain. the faint blue check could be seen through it in the bright sun light. i thought about not knocking on the door (the outgoing mail was clipped to the door), but i figure, wtf. it's on my list. and that's why i'm here.
i have on my blue obama shirt and the lady who answers the door says, "i don't want to talk to anyone supporting obama!" i pretend i haven't seen the envelope.
people started lining up at the xcel center at 7:30 tuesday morning -- despite the fact that it was drizzling throughout the day. bonnie and kates, from hastings, minnesota were first in line, arriving that early. the people right after them arrived shortly afterward. they came to be part of history, to experience this moment, and they didn't want to miss it. that's real hope.
by afternoon, the line reach the length of the xcel center, about two blocks. by 4pm, the line to get into the xcel center was doubled back by the police -- and people still had a couple of hours left to wait. in the end, the line to share barack obama's victory party with the presumptive democratic nominee stretched for more than a mile. and it was worth waiting for.
even then, not everyone could get inside. the place was packed -- local press estimated that there were 20,000 people inside and another 2,000 outside watching barack's speech on the big xcel screen.
poor hillary. she just can't get a break. she's coming to hammond, indiana tomorrow, but she's calling illinois women to help fill the hammond civic center.
mrs. bored, a longtime democratic activist, received a robocall from hillary clinton "herself." but you can understand why. first, washington high school rejected the clinton campaign's request to hold a rally there (in south bend). then 25 indiana legislators, including it's hispanic member, endorsed barack obama. many of them are from northwest indiana, where hillary is struggling to fill the auditorium.
The subject must have been really unimportant if only two of the seventeen Democratic and Republican candidates could be bothered to answer a survey. What inane questions must have been on the candidate questionnaire to have elicited a batting average only slightly better than the Cubs' "Big Three" against Diamondback pitching in the playoffs? Did they ask about the Puerto Rican beauty queen? Paris Hilton? UFO's? Obama girl? How much do you pay for a haircut? The answer will shock and amaze you.
As already noted in a comment by Philosophe Forum, objections have already been filed to the petitions of several candidates. Here's a screen capture as of about 8 AM this morning:
For those keeping score, that's four Democratic and two Green Presidential candidates, and one Republican Senatorial candidate. But who is "MAYERS"? If you go to the site and click on his name, you'll find that he is "MAYERS, RICHARD B." of 3745 SOUTH WISCONSIN AVENUE, BERWYN, IL 60402.
Presumably that would be this Richard B. Mayers of Berwyn, IL:
Over the course of the voting, several different candidates dominated at one time or another. But in the end, the clear winner emerged, with more than twice the votes of any other candidate who is actually running.
Go to DFA's site for state-by-state results and an interactive calculator that lets you see the results after dropping out selected candidates.
For the fourth straight week, Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) has gained ground and he has finally caught New York Senator Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. It's now Obama 32% Clinton 32% and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards holding steady at 17%. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is a distant fourth at 3%. Senators Chris Dodd and Joe Biden each attract 1% support. So does General Wesley Clark.
There's an interesting editorial in today's Trib by Larycia Hawkins, a fellow in the Governing America in a Global Era program at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia:
Thanks to Biden's loquaciousness, Americans, both black and white, can breathe a collective sigh of relief. It's now official: The Obama campaign boils down to blackness.
Okay. His critics are right, he is light on experience. But so was George Bush. And to reduce Obama to his skin color is... well, ignorant. If Obama were white he'd still be a stand out, he just might not be getting as much attention this soon.
I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president:
From Molly Ivins: Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone. This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges.
And now a year later in the WaPo Hillary announces - LIKE IT'S A GOOD THING - she won't use public funds!!!:
By opting out of the system, Clinton will be able to spend as much money as she can raise, both for the primaries and for the general election, rather than being forced to abide by strict spending limits imposed by the Federal Election Commission on candidates who accept public financing.
