What, You Thought I Was Going to Stop with the Election Talk?
Here's an interesting graphic, the map of changes in voting patterns between 2004 and 2008 by county. Almost all of the country went more Democratic, which is hardly a surprise when you compare Obama and Kerry (world of difference) versus McCain and Bush (basically clones). Except for that one infected-looking patch, for which the usual metaphor applies quite a bit more visually than usual. Other 2008 election maps and cartograms are also interesting.
The rest of the stories I have to share are largely unrelated to eachother, so hang on a moment while I break out the bullet points:
- It looks like Obama might squeak out one more electoral vote by carrying Omaha (Nebraska divides it's electoral votes by district).
- Here's part one of the post-election GOP asplosion watch. Prepare for many popcorn-worthy moments in the weeks ahead.
- There's something really fishy going on in the Alaskan election (a native on the ballot and unprecedented registration and turnout is much lower?), which matters because the senate race has still not been called. If the convicted felon Ted Stevens wins, it would be a spectacular failure of polling.
- The website for Obama's transition office is up, so share your vision. Meanwhile, the ACLU calls out Obama with a detailed and demanding transition plan. There's also a reddit-style website for political policy suggestions; no idea who's running that, though.
- Obama was quite the candidate, but his campaign-level strategy was also quite something, especially in Pennsylvania, where McCain committed vast resources to lose by double digits. The Obama campaigners were apparently masters of the political rope-a-dope.
- Hey, the high-speed rail ballot initiative passed in California! This is very good news, I hope it's a trend-setter. High-speed passenger rail is one of the best investments we can make now. Provides jobs and gets people where they need to go when the airline industry is failing, lowers fuel consumption, takes pressure off overtaxed highway infrastructure. Good for the economy, gas prices, and the environment.