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Post by Rachael on Nov 5, 2008 12:46:35 GMT -5
This is my favorite map; you can select a state and get a county-by-county total. Oklahoma is the only state without a single blue county; otherwise you can look at the map and see where the "minorities, people under thirty, and college educated whites" live. Tow GOP commentors on NPR this morning pointed out that the Republican Party has failed because they have lost all three of those groups- even in Florida, the majority of Latinos voted for Obama. Even in Wyoming and Utah and Alaska, the majority of college educated whites voted for Obama; even in Tennessee, the majority of people under 30 voted for Obama. It's going to be instructive to see how the GOP is going to go about rectifying that situation. Julia, because those are where the population is growing Maybe they won't. Maybe the Libertarian party will grow in membership and power and eventually nudge the Republicans out of the way. One thing is for sure, we agree that if the Republicans expect to survive they are going to have to make some serious changes. Agreed. I hope the Libertarians will absorb the non-Sarah-Palin Republicans, and reduce the religious right to its own third party.
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Post by Rachael on Nov 5, 2008 12:47:14 GMT -5
This is my favorite map; you can select a state and get a county-by-county total. Oklahoma is the only state without a single blue county; otherwise you can look at the map and see where the "minorities, people under thirty, and college educated whites" live. Tow GOP commentors on NPR this morning pointed out that the Republican Party has failed because they have lost all three of those groups- even in Florida, the majority of Latinos voted for Obama. Even in Wyoming and Utah and Alaska, the majority of college educated whites voted for Obama; even in Tennessee, the majority of people under 30 voted for Obama. It's going to be instructive to see how the GOP is going to go about rectifying that situation. Julia, because those are where the population is growing Yes, except my county pulled strongly for McCain, and it's full of college-educated whites. But many of those college-educated whites also happen to work for NASA, and it's my understanding they really did not want a Democrat in office. And also, lots of military here. And lots of engineers. And corporations. *sigh* Makes me feel even more like a minority around here than usual. Come here. We like your kind.
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Post by Onjel on Nov 5, 2008 12:49:56 GMT -5
Maybe they won't. Maybe the Libertarian party will grow in membership and power and eventually nudge the Republicans out of the way. One thing is for sure, we agree that if the Republicans expect to survive they are going to have to make some serious changes. Agreed. I hope the Libertarians will absorb the non-Sarah-Palin Republicans, and reduce the religious right to its own third party. I'd pay to see that.
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Post by Sara on Nov 5, 2008 12:50:42 GMT -5
Agreed. I hope the Libertarians will absorb the non-Sarah-Palin Republicans, and reduce the religious right to its own third party. I'd pay to see that.
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Post by Squeemonster on Nov 5, 2008 12:52:46 GMT -5
Yes, except my county pulled strongly for McCain, and it's full of college-educated whites. But many of those college-educated whites also happen to work for NASA, and it's my understanding they really did not want a Democrat in office. And also, lots of military here. And lots of engineers. And corporations. *sigh* Makes me feel even more like a minority around here than usual. Come here. We like your kind. ;D I won't deny it's extremely tempting.
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Post by Vlad on Nov 5, 2008 12:54:17 GMT -5
This just in... Obama wins Indiana by 22,000+ votes! Okay, maybe this wasn't just in, but I hadn't checked since early this morning. It does my heart good. Indiana hasn't voted for a Dem president (other than the LBJ sweep in '64) ever. Vlad
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Post by Julia, wrought iron-y on Nov 5, 2008 12:58:39 GMT -5
This is my favorite map; you can select a state and get a county-by-county total. Oklahoma is the only state without a single blue county; otherwise you can look at the map and see where the "minorities, people under thirty, and college educated whites" live. Tow GOP commentors on NPR this morning pointed out that the Republican Party has failed because they have lost all three of those groups- even in Florida, the majority of Latinos voted for Obama. Even in Wyoming and Utah and Alaska, the majority of college educated whites voted for Obama; even in Tennessee, the majority of people under 30 voted for Obama. It's going to be instructive to see how the GOP is going to go about rectifying that situation. Julia, because those are where the population is growing Yes, except my county pulled strongly for McCain, and it's full of college-educated whites. But many of those college-educated whites also happen to work for NASA, and it's my understanding they really did not want a Democrat in office. And also, lots of military here. And lots of engineers. And corporations. *sigh* Makes me feel even more like a minority around here than usual. Nation-wide, the generalization holds; in specific places, there are aberations. Nuclear engineers and NASA mission people tend to vote GOP. And people who move to conservative states, strangely enough, tend to be more conservative than the average for their demographic. Selection bias always obtains. Julia, which is unfortunate, because people often think more people agree with them than is actually the case, which is what fuels teh crazee at LJF and Free Republic
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Post by SpringSummers on Nov 5, 2008 13:21:28 GMT -5
This passed? I'm both surprised and deeply disappointed. As am I, on both counts. This is extremely depressing news. This isn't good news, granted, and I don't mean to trivialize it in any way, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna get depressed or disapppointed today. Change on issues like this takes time. There are back and forths . . . but today is a day that means that whatever setbacks, there is hope.
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Post by Sue on Nov 5, 2008 13:22:26 GMT -5
So far the stock market is not thrilled. But who can tell until the final hour. (Didn't I say I was off to do stuff?) Addict. Of course, I'm here so what does that say about me? Yeah. I think Jim is about to call for an intervention. Fortunately he goes to choir practice tonight so I've got until 9 pm.........
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Nov 5, 2008 13:23:09 GMT -5
Google News says that all the NC precincts have reported in and Obama narrowly won but the state hasn't been "called" yet. Maybe cause if it's that close they have to do some other magical doohicky thing?
McCain's concession speech was classy. He seemed more like the McCain of old than the McCain during the last days of the campaign.
Obama's acceptance speech was inspiring; the cadence seemed very reminiscent of MLK's I have a dream speech.
It will be very interesting to see where the political parties go from here, particularly the Republican party.
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Post by Sue on Nov 5, 2008 13:26:44 GMT -5
Here is what I was looking for: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/politics/role over the states, click on one and not just the results come up but also the RCP average of polls. It's not 538.com but it will do and it doesn't prove that my impression was wrong, at least in the states I've checked. So they've called prop 8? I didn't realize. Yeah, not officially, but it's 95% reporting and we're down by 4 points. But, really - Virginia poll average: +4.2%, actual nearly +5% We beat the spread by 2 points in Ohio, 1 point in Florida, 6 points in Nevada, 5 in Indiana, 2 in Montana, 4 in Colorado...McCain beat the spread in many Southern red states, Arizona...places he never had a chance of losing. Looks like a lot more Republicans than expected came out in truly "red" states, and a lot more people came out for Obama in "blue" and "flipped" states. LIke I opined about TN before the thread changed----Obama never came here at all (except the debate); nor was there much "ground game"---next to none outside of Nashville. So there was absolutely NO moderating influence out in the small towns or rural areas to (essentially) "humanize" him. I'm guessing that anybody who was voting for Obama actually kept the fact fairly quiet. You need a certain "tipping point" of a group of voters before you rise to the attention of the other side and can begin to get others to consider your guy.
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Post by Sue on Nov 5, 2008 13:34:27 GMT -5
Google News says that all the NC precincts have reported in and Obama narrowly won but the state hasn't been "called" yet. Maybe cause if it's that close they have to do some other magical doohicky thing? McCain's concession speech was classy. He seemed more like the McCain of old than the McCain during the last days of the campaign. Obama's acceptance speech was inspiring; the cadence seemed very reminiscent of MLK's I have a dream speech. It will be very interesting to see where the political parties go from here, particularly the Republican party. My brother said "Yes we can" didn't sound quite as lofty as "I have a dream." Maybe not, but I think it's perfect given the times and situation. Barack has never been (at least publically) about the "I" statements. Nor is he contemplating change which can only exist as a dream. The dream has been (at least to some extent) fulfilled and now it's time for the WE to be convinced of the CAN. [And, I know that it's historic and I can't possibly appreciate that from a black person's POV (although I have enjoyed Harold Ford Jr's comments on MSNBC about how he, at 38 and in a biracial marriage just does.not.see through the same lens of race as does his father's generation) but I don't think all this emphasis on how white people are going to be a minority and how the Kenyans and the Pakistanis, etc and all hepped on Obama is really helping Obama's hope to win over McCain voters. For the really far right it probably just adds fuel to the fire. But then, for the really far right there is probably not a whole lot that would reassure them at the moment.]
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Nov 5, 2008 13:38:17 GMT -5
As am I, on both counts. This is extremely depressing news. This isn't good news, granted, and I don't mean to trivialize it in any way, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna get depressed or disapppointed today. Change on issues like this takes time. There are back and forths . . . but today is a day that means that whatever setbacks, there is hope. I'm sad to hear this to, but I have hope that it can be overturned in the near future, which is bound to happen as the younger folk who see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about gay folk come into power.
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Nov 5, 2008 13:40:30 GMT -5
Google News says that all the NC precincts have reported in and Obama narrowly won but the state hasn't been "called" yet. Maybe cause if it's that close they have to do some other magical doohicky thing? McCain's concession speech was classy. He seemed more like the McCain of old than the McCain during the last days of the campaign. Obama's acceptance speech was inspiring; the cadence seemed very reminiscent of MLK's I have a dream speech. It will be very interesting to see where the political parties go from here, particularly the Republican party. My brother said "Yes we can" didn't sound quite as lofty as "I have a dream." Maybe not, but I think it's perfect given the times and situation. Barack has never been (at least publically) about the "I" statements. Nor is he contemplating change which can only exist as a dream. The dream has been (at least to some extent) fulfilled and now it's time for the WE to be convinced of the CAN. [And, I know that it's historic and I can't possibly appreciate that from a black person's POV (although I have enjoyed Harold Ford Jr's comments on MSNBC about how he, at 38 and in a biracial marriage just does.not.see through the same lens of race as does his father's generation) but I don't think all this emphasis on how white people are going to be a minority and how the Kenyans and the Pakistanis, etc and all hepped on Obama is really helping Obama's hope to win over McCain voters. For the really far right it probably just adds fuel to the fire. But then, for the really far right there is probably not a whole lot that would reassure them at the moment.] Obama's emphasis on "we" rather than "I" has really endeared him to me as well, because you so rarely hear that from politicians.
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Nov 5, 2008 13:50:13 GMT -5
My thoughts about where we go from here: *Elections often seem to be more about the country itself than the candidates themselves. I think that Obama came along at the right place at the right place, and he tapped into something powerful. It remains to be seen what he can do with this power, but I'm hopeful it will be good. *In one of the primary debates, when asked what the first thing he would do on day one as president, he said that he would pull out all of Bush's executive orders and have his attorney general review and then reverse any of them that were found to be unconstitutional. If he accomplishes nothing else as president, then I'll be satisfied. I'd also like to see a larger investigation of everything that the Bush did during this terms in office because I have a sneaking suspicion that we don't know the half of it. *Promises made on the campaign trail often don't get realized, so I'm not going to hold Obama to the specifics detailed ones (althought I'd really, really like to see the above one done), but I expect him to hold to the intent and general principles that he's presented to us. *I'm starting to think about what appointments Obama might make and who it might be neat to see in the Cabinet and so forth. And while I have no idea whose health care plan works and whose doesn't, I'd like to see Obama recruit Clinton to help with healthcare reform, because she's clearly so passionate about it. *I mentioned before Michael Pollan's open letter to the next President, that Obama has at least read and referenced, and I'm wondering whether he will address Pollan's proposals at all in his administration. Most of the proposals will be an extreme uphill battle against the agribusiness lobby, but at the very least, I'm hoping that he does the White House Victory Garden thing. (There's a petition supporting this idea if anyone wants to sign it). *I'm curious about what's going to happen to the grassroots network that Obama has built. I didn't volunteer to be apart of it when it was about campaigning, just on principle, but if the network continues on in some form, I may be interested in joining, depending on where it's energies are directed. *And like everyone else, I'm also worried about assassination. But I also have hope that everything will work out for the best.
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