minuscule presidential election facts

[calimac]

While musing over the statistics and the news ...

1) The South was once the most Democratic region in the country, but more recently it's been the most Republican. With the exception of Humphrey narrowly taking Texas on a minority vote in 1968, Obama's wins in VA, NC, and FL are the first time a non-Southern Democrat has won any of the 11 canonical Southern states since Kennedy in 1960.

2) New England was once the most Republican region in the country, but now it's reliably Democrat. With the exception of W's narrow minority win in New Hampshire in 2000, the last time a Republican won any New England states was Poppy Bush in 1988. Traditionally, Vermont was pretty reliably the most Republican state in the region, and still was as late as 1968. This year, for the first time, it's the least Republican state in the region, polling nearly 4 points lower than any other.

3) There was once a congressman named William Lloyd Scott who was reported as having been named the dumbest member of Congress. But what really earned him immortality was when he proved the point by calling a press conference to deny it. Oh, Sarah Palin!

(And could we have done with speculations that Palin could have herself appointed to the Senate to replace Ted Stevens? In Alaska, the governor does not have the power to make interim Senate appointments. It was taken away after the previous governor abused it.)

Comments

[barondave.livejournal.com]

1 & 2 = Nixon's "Southern Strategy", with the concomitant loss for the GOP of NE and the Dems response of running Southern candidates.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

And 3 = Bushian "dimwit strategy."

"The enthusiasm generated by Palin shows that the party intends, wittingly or not, to replicate not just Bush's policies but his whole operating style. She is the most Bush-like figure conceivable. Jeb Bush would be a far more dramatic departure from the incumbent than her. Her utter lack of interest in policy, her obsession with certitude ("you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission"), her folksiness masking incoherence--all reflect the style of The Decider." - Jonathan Chait, The New Republic

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

I'm relieved and happy to read your last paragraph. Thank you. Palin appointing herself as Senator occurred to me the other night, prolonging an already sleepless night.

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

And a Nebraska electoral vote went to a Democrat for the first time in over 40 years (since Johnson got one in 1964).