Elections 2008

[Redoverfarm]

The Wild & Wonderful state was all Red.  It is just a short jump for you. 

[peternap]

We were all red except Varyland (North Va) and a couple of cowpiles.

[Redoverfarm]

Has anyone looked at the blue states.  Are they the most drastic when it comes to economy or hope to gain in the flurry of promises made.

[peternap]

I haven't looked at them yet John. One thing I noticed in Va was that nearly the whole state was red. The cities and urban counties were what went blue and since they had most of the population, kicked us over the edge.

I posted a link to a survey earlier that said the turnout was about the same as 2004. The difference was that Republican voters stayed home.

[Pox Eclipse]

But even the red states that went to McCain voted bluer than they did in 2004.  If you look at this map (click on 'Voting Shifts" at the left), it shows how each county across the country changed from the 2004 election.  With some exceptions in the South and Arizona, even the red states are bluer today than they used to be.

[peternap]

There are a lot of reasons I think, Pox.

There is a large Latino population and they hate Bush so they hate McCain.
The economy has terrified the soccer moms and That person, says he can fix their 401K's, mortgages and save their jobs.
Bush and his constant spying and anti terror BS has PO'ed most of us so far we don't want anything to do with The Republicans.
Black voters that never voted before (and I suspect some that aren't living) went Obama because he's gonna give them money.

Last...Give the Devil his due. He ran one of the best campaigns I've ever seen.

[John_C]

The backlash against the Bush administration is such that the democrats could have nominated Jack the Ripper and he would have won. 

Bush 1, the 1994 contract with America, Bush 2,  .... its been a generation since the republican party even attempted to deliver on their "platform".  They have spent most of that time pandering to the religious right.

I want MUCH less government, fiscal accountability, power returned to state and local government, and renewed respect for the Constitution and individual liberties, so I'm no democrat.  But I couldn't bring myself to vote for the republican ticket. I voted for Bob Barr and mostly the libertarian slate.  Didn't make any difference.. McCain carried GA by a wide margin... which didn't mean anything either. 

The electoral map shows that if a candidate carries the large urban areas they are pretty much in control.  The 11 states with the most electoral votes comprise a controlling majority.

For those dissatisfied with the electoral college...  Good Luck!  It would require a constitutional amendment and ratification by 2/3 of the states.  Is your Senator or Congressman likely to introduce such an amendment?....  I didn't think so.

[alcowboy]

I don't think HE ran the campaign, the biased media did it for him.  Look how they attacked Palin and are still doing so. Because of the loss of election there are those in the Republican party that are trying to throw blame also. It is a sad state of affairs that there are basically two major political parties and that people vote along party lines instead of for the person themselves. I think this shows more of the racial divide in this country than what we were willing to address and it is more on the black side than it is on the white. I live in the south and I see more racisim coming from the blacks than I do the whites. The past is the past. We cannot answer for our ancestors mistakes but it seems the hatred is still there from the blacks view. I disagree that the majority of white carry that racist view anymore. Sure there are those idiots out there that are mean enough to hate even themselves.

Regardless of what has happened I am hoping that he will do the right thing and help those Americans in need out here, black, white, hispanic or whatever nationality - we are all Americans afterall. Lets just pull together as a nation once again and roll up our shirt sleeves and get to the task at hand. ON A LIGHTER NOTE - and knock some common sense into those danged politicians up there. 

JohnC it sounds like the battle cry from the Confederate States once again. State's rights! That was what the Civil War was really all about to begin with. The politicians (eh hem once AGAIN) pulled the slavery thing into the war. Don't get me wrong - I AM AGAINST SLAVERY OF ANY KIND. Just trying to prove a political point here.

[Pox Eclipse]

The Republicans are doomed to wander the wilderness until they get back to their core conservative principles:  lower taxes, lower spending, and smaller government.  When they let themselves get dominated by cultural issues like same-sex marriage, abortion and prayer in the schools, they dilute their message and lose the support of moderates, independents, and centrist Democrats.

Two things must happen before they have a chance at winning another election:  kick the religious right to the curb, and vow to cut spending before cutting taxes.  The Bush Republicans were like spoiled children who demanded dessert before they ate their vegetables; likewise, you cannot cut taxes before cutting spending.  The last 8 years are proof of that.

[alcowboy]

I would liken to the last 4 years, no? Pox has a valid point though. I hope not 40 years of roaming though. 

[peternap]

I would liken to the last 4 years, no? Pox has a valid point though. I hope not 40 years of roaming though. 

Hmmmmm..The first president I remember was Eisenhower (I Like Ike....I didn't though )

Including him, Regan is the only President (and this should be qualified) that I didn't think should be hung.

I have never been given a choice of a president, that had a chance of winning, that was worth a damn. Why should it change

[Squirl]

Hopefully the best thing that can come out of this is Republicans will adhere to their conservative values again.  They seemed to keep ringing the gay marriage and abortion bell and ignored everything else.  They ran up the largest increase in government size along with being a better friend to big business instead of small business.  They abanoded all values by spying on americans, especially U.S. troops, and torturing prisoners.  The foreign policy has been to make the U.S. the police of world.  They pushed pay-go orginally and deficeit spent us into being owned by the Chinese and Saudi's.  They were the party of enviromental protection (Teddy, Bush I) and totally abandoned that for big business.

There are many parts of both parties platforms that I like.  Hopefully while wandering the political wilderness, the repbulicans will find themselves again.

John C. the electoral college will never change, because it gives so much power to smaller states.  Look at how hard they campaigned in Nevada and New Mexico.  Both have only 5 electoral votes, but if the election were done by popular vote, no one would pay any attention to any rural parts of the countries.  Over 80% of the population of the U.S. lives in urban or urban sprawl areas.  If you live in Virginia 3,608,941 votes were cast.  That is 277,610 votes per electoral vote.  Meanwhile if you live in Alaska  216,688 votes were cast.  That gives you 72,229 votes per electoral vote. The electoral college gives a lot of power to rural states and gives a vote of the people in those states the value of 4 people from other states.  This hurts California, Texas, and NY most.

[MountainDon]

...electoral college...   ...This hurts California, Texas, and NY most.

But if the choice made was by popular vote those who choose to live in less populated areas would lose their voice.   Nothing's perfect.  There are arguments pro and con the electoral college system.


Under a parliamentary system there's no picking the individual; you get the leader of the party that wins the most seats.

[cordwood]

John C. the electoral college will never change, because it gives so much power to smaller states.  Look at how hard they campaigned in Nevada and New Mexico.  Both have only 5 electoral votes, but if the election were done by popular vote, no one would pay any attention to any rural parts of the countries.  Over 80% of the population of the U.S. lives in urban or urban sprawl areas.  If you live in Virginia 3,608,941 votes were cast.  That is 277,610 votes per electoral vote.  Meanwhile if you live in Alaska  216,688 votes were cast.  That gives you 72,229 votes per electoral vote. The electoral college gives a lot of power to rural states and gives a vote of the people in those states the value of 4 people from other states.  This hurts California, Texas, and NY most.

Please do the rest of the math for me! After 28 votes for one candidate in Ca. the votes go instantly to 55, With that the math would break down to how many votes it took to get 28 and then divide that number into 55 Electoral votes!?!?! Ca. being an all or nothing state means the majority of votes rules the entire number of votes for the state, Right?
I like the thought of one person = one vote but I know that's not going to happen, But I think the more people understand how the "Super States" are controlling so much and they are still growing the more I think something will get done to at least reduce the size of "Group" Electoral votes to manageable sizes like maybe 12 to 15 per group.
If the large states were broke up into groups or zones of Congressional Districts the people who live in more rural areas of high populous states wouldn't have their votes drowned out by the more populated districts in the same state. I really believe this is what the founders had in mind but they had no way of knowing that a state could get to 53 Congressional Districts. JMHO