TPM: It's now official that Al Franken is ahead in the Minnesota recount by 50 votes, after the state canvassing board finally approved a spreadsheet of all the ballots that have been counted, recounted and examined again over this very long process. And while it now appears to be almost certain that Franken will defeat GOP Sen. Norm Coleman in … Read More
I’m Beginning To Think Of Alaska As Just One Large Trailer Park
Thank you, Sarah Palin, for educating me. You all remember Levi Johnston? The baby-daddy to Sarah Palin's pregnant teenage daughter? [UPDATE: The baby is due tomorrow, and the announced wedding strangely hasn't happened yet]. Well, Levi's mom is having some legal troubles: A 42-year-old Wasilla woman was arrested Thursday at her home by Alaska State Troopers with a search warrant … Read More
Minnesota Senate Seat Still Ridiculously Close
Norm Coleman's lead over Al Franken melted away during the Board of Canvassers' deliberations on Coleman-challenged ballots yesterday. According to the Star Tribune, it is down to five votes. According to the AP, it is down to two. UPDATE: Now we're hearing that Franken is, for the first time, ahead. The Minnesota Star-Ledger has a real-time running (re)count. As of … Read More
Election ’08 Turnout
The Electoral College meets today to choose our next president. Yeah, you thought we did that last month, didn't you? But we didn't. We just elected electors to the Electoral College who gather, and — oh, screw it. It's arcane and stupid. But it happens today. And with that, the New York Times informs us that '08 turnout was the highest in … Read More
Rejected Obama Logos
I don't recall a presidential election logo as memorable as Obama's… But then again, I don't recall logos ever playing much of a part in presidential elections. I guess it just shows something new that the Obama campaign brought to the political scene. However, there were rejected logos, and here are some of them: I'm not crazy about the bottom one; the … Read More
SCOTUS Rejects Obama Birth Case
First Read reports: The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up a case that questioned whether President-elect Obama met the Constitution's requirement that only a natural-born citizen is eligible to be president. As is the court's usual custom, the request to take up the case was denied with no explanation. I blogged about the petition here. David Horowitz is … Read More
Stunning Numbers
If you tally up all the votes for President since 1932, who comes out ahead — Democrats or Republicans? Answer below the fold….
Minnesota Senate Race
It's hard to believe, but with hundreds of votes being cast, the difference between the two candidates (Al Franken, Democrat and Norm Coleman, Republican) is — well, maybe a couple dozen votes at best. It's that close on recount. And of course, given human error in counting and recounting, we may never know who truly won. Each time you count, you're … Read More
Challenge To Obama’s Presidency In The Supreme Court
This is wingnuttery at its wing-nuttiness. Even most right wing blogs think this is stupid. But it is out there. I'm talking about the claim that Obama isn't qualified to be President, because he is not a U.S. citizen. Some desparate people believe it, like Shiv Zieve, who writes a column entitled "Obama Too Important For The Supreme Court": President-elect Barack … Read More
Thank You, Sarah Palin. No, Really. Thank You.
Satire? Apparently not.
On Recounts
Minnesota Public Radio has a great photoessay/poll giving particular actual examples of the kind of issues faced by election judges when it comes to determining ballot results on hand recount. Here's an example, called "The Arrow": Who gets the vote? Franken, Coleman, or nobody/indeterminable? Of course, in the real world, one's decision would be governed by this Minnesota state statute as a … Read More
Okay, NOW The Presidential Election Is Over
Although not "official" yet, Missouri has finally finished counting its ballots, all 2.9 million of them, and McCain has 3,632 more votes than Obama. So make Missouri red. Final EV count: Obama 365, McCain 173. Obama still "smucked" him, as we used to say on the playground. Note: Missouri has picked the victor 25 times out of the past 26 … Read More
Giving Up On God
There's been a few of these around, but conservative columnist Kathleen Parker's WaPo column on why the GOP should turn its back on the religious right is good reading: As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit. Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D. I'm bathing in holy water as … Read More
Begich Beats Stevens
It's all but official now: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens lost his job to Mark Begich on Tuesday, putting an end to the era of "Uncle Ted" as the dominant force in Alaska politics. Begich, the Democratic mayor of Anchorage, widened his lead to 3,724 votes in Tuesday's count of absentee and questioned ballots. The lead is insurmountable, as the only … Read More
The Cotton Belt
Fun with maps. The top map shows the 2008 Presidential results. Blue counties voted for Obama, red ones for McCain (darker hues representing larger majorities). The bottom map dates from 1860 (i.e. the eve of the Civil War), and indicates where cotton was produced at that time, each dot representing 2,000 bales of the stuff. Obviously, there's a strong relationship going … Read More