Today is the last day you have to cast your vote for either the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, or the Republican candidate, John McCain. If you’re not a fan of them, there are plenty of others. So please, if you are an American who can vote, go vote today.
Here is some last minute information for you to help make up your minds:
I look forward to seeing the results tonight! Get out the vote!!!
I know there is tons of talk about “Electability” when it comes to the current Democratic Nominees and much talk about the Electoral Votes. The main issue seems to be, will their Primary wins translate into Electoral Vote wins? According to the latest Clinton/McCain and Obama/McCain charts, they’re not doing so well in the Electoral Vote area. So, who wants to see some maps?! I know I do! The starting map image was borrowed from Electoral-Vote.com, and I gathered the data and colored them in.
Let’s start with the Wins (and current predicted wins) for Obama/Clinton:
The biggest thing you can see here is that Obama rules the Midwest and South East, while the South West and North East go mainly to Clinton. Sure, that’s a generalization, as there are a few states that don’t fit the mold (Florida, Washington, Maine), but it’s a good sum up of their strengths. So, with seeing that map, most people say that Obama is great at winning Red States, while Clinton can easily pick up the “standard” Blue States. Is this really the case? Let’s go back a few elections and see which (if any) States are really “red” or “blue”. Read the rest of this entry →
I was browsing the web last night when I came across the new Republican National Convention logo:
Wow… what a logo that is. Wanna see the Democratic National Convention logo? Check it:
I don’t think those mountains stand a chance against that elephant. In fact, here’s an awesome mini-article about the current RNC Logo (The Angry Elephant):
The elephant—a symbol of the Republican Party dating back to Thomas Nast’s cartoon in Harper’s Weekly in 1874—has long been thought to be both “strong and dignified.” While these words have not always described the Grand Old Party itself, they do well apply to the old and familiar elephant symbol, with its simple red and blue graphic forms and three patriotic stars. The new Republican National Convention logo has pushed the immobile elephant in a less cute direction, now looking something like Babar’s evil and dumb cousin who ate wild mushrooms; it’s breaking free of the circus ring in order to bludgeon the crowd. Simplicity has been cast aside with the new agressive stripes, flailing limbs, a curly trunk, and pointy tusks. A terrifyingly patriotic and angry eye stares at the indoctrinated far right, and threatens the majority of the United States (also the world) with a circus of policies we can’t even imagine. Just like the party it symbolizes—the symbol is both unwieldy and frightening—”strong and dignified” no more.
This is what the terror looks like up close, right before you get crushed.
(note: this was written by a hippie, pinky, east-coast, big-government liberal)
Hilarious and scary all at the same time.
The short answer is “no”. Well, not in this universe, but that seems only to be because of the way Democrats have “split” the delegates, rather than have the “winner-take-all” system of the Republicans. A lot of people probably assume that Obama would be still winning had the Democrats used that system, but they’d be wrong. According to Electoral Vote, it looks like the only way Hillary isn’t currently winning is due to the fact that there isn’t a “winner-take-all” system in place. To quote the data:
Quite a few people have asked what would have happened if the Democrats had used a statewide winner-take-all rule. In other words, suppose the statewide winner got all the delegates. Where would be be now? Here is the answer. The calculation assumes Clinton won Nevada and Texas. She got more votes in Nevada but fewer delegates (by 1). She also won the popular vote in the Texas primary.
Hillary Clinton would have 1726 delegates to Barack Obama’s 1533. The reason the Democrats don’t have a winner-take-all rule is because they are Democrats. They don’t consider it fair that the birthday boy or girl gets to eat the whole cake. You have to share it with your friends. Republicans have a different world model. You either win or you lose. If you win you get to take all the marbles home. If you lose, you get no marbles. Try harder next time. If the Democrats had employed winner take all but for only 80% of the delegates leaving 20% for the PLEOs, the score now would be Clinton 1381, Obama 1226.
So there you have it… Obama should be counting his lucky stars that the Democrats don’t have a winner-take-all rule. The other interesting thing about this number is that Florida and Michigan aren’t included, so it shows Hillary would be ahead even without the help of those two states. I wonder if this will change anyone’s opinion on the whole race, or will maybe just be seen as an interesting fact.