Tuesday, November 9

Election result maps ‡

As with the last election, the maps of red and blue America are all the rage. In 2000 the map was a novelty and some pundits used it to make broad statements about red and blue America that verged on the inane. This year the mania over "red" and "blue" America is reaching a fever pitch especially as James Dobson and the freaky rightist try to claim some sort of mandate for Bush and his intimidating 51% (286 EV) popular landslide. For those willing to look a little deeper, of course, there is much, much more to be found out about our country in maps similar to the bland red/blue but that make more effective use of the data. Comes now this page, which incorporates a host of different number-crunching takes on the old red/blue map. For my money, this is the most effective.

Prior to the election, this quote from Mark McKinnon in Ron Suskind's piece got a lot of press:

"You think he's an idiot, don't you?'' I said, no, I didn't. ''No, you do, all of you do, up and down the West Coast, the East Coast, a few blocks in southern Manhattan called Wall Street. Let me clue you in. We don't care. You see, you're outnumbered 2 to 1 by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don't read The New York Times or Washington Post or The L.A. Times. And you know what they like? They like the way he walks and the way he points, the way he exudes confidence. They have faith in him. And when you attack him for his malaprops, his jumbled syntax, it's good for us. Because you know what those folks don't like? They don't like you!"

Now inside the bubble that is the power-grabbing right in Washington, I'm sure 51% looks to them like 66%, but as the map above shows, there is no 2:1 margin in favor of any faction. It's important to keep this in mind, espeically if you're in the habit of watching the Sunday talk shows or any of the nightly offerings from the cable stations.

9.11.04

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