Thursday, November 8, 2012

Election Day By the #s (1 of 4)_Good Thing Hawaii Isn't a Swing State

Yes, the camel wrestling match is over and kudos to President Barack Obama in winning re-election over a feisty challenger in multimillionaire Mitt Romney.

Before we get to the numbers, let's run down three major U.S. Congress races:

Tammy Duckworth, 44, the double-amputee from her years of services in the Iraq War,  won as the Democratic challenger to Cong. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), who was just one of 20 incumbents to lose his or her seat.

But, Cong. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), one of most far right members on the Hill, maintained her seat by the slimmest of margins over Democrat Jim Graves.

Similarly, though he lost as Romney's veep choice Cong. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) had a surprisingly close scare from his challenger Rob Zerban, but in the end Ryan won by a 55-44 percent margin.

And, in another surprise, a Democrat won a House election in Montana as state senator Kim Gillian won over Republican Jonathan Paton.


Now, as they say on "Market Place," one of our favorite daily NPR radio programs, 'let's do the numbers:'

60,602,103_ The number of votes Barack Obama got in the 2012 election.

57,776,942_ The number of votes Mitt Romney got in the 2012 election.

48,886,097_ The number of votes George H.W. Bush got in the 1988 election (The first year I voted)

41,809,074_ The number of votes Michael Dukakis got in the 1988 election

62.7 %- The percent Obama got in New York state

62.3 %- The percent Romney got in West Virginia

56%- The percent Obama got in Maine

52%- The percent Obama got in Pennsylvania (a swing state)

303- The number of electoral votes Obama got (if the present holds up, it will equal the same number that President John F. Kennedy got over Richard Nixon in 1960)

206- The number of electoral votes Romney got

29- The number of electoral votes for Florida which has yet to be called

53- The number of Senate seats belonging to Democrats

45- The number of Senate seats belonging to Republicans

5-The number of Senate seats which changed hands

3- The number of Democratic gains in the Senate (Conn., Indiana and Mass.)

2- The number of seats won by independents in the Senate (Maine and Vermont, both will sit with Democrats)

1- The number of seats gained by Republicans (Nebraska) and independents (Maine)

0-The number of Senate incumbents who lost his or her seat









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