Election Day By the #s (2 of 4)_ Ms. Duckworth Goes to Washington

Most of the numbers are in, and the good news is that Cong-elect Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) is going to The Hill with a 55-45 percent victory over Cong. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), one of only 20 incumbents to lose this seat, which means 95 percent of the House is returning to Washington, D.C.

The bad news is that among the 95-percent is Cong. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). After winning the Ames, Iowa, Straw Poll, Bachmann just barely edged out Democratic challenger Jim Graves to keep her seat. On expects that she will continue to be one of the most vocal far, far members of the House.

Her fellow Minnesota House member Cong. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), one of the most progressive members on the Hill and the first and only Muslim congressional representative elected kept his seat by a considerably wider margin in a win over Republican Chris Fields.

Here are the numbers (we have some fun with these at the very end):

8,620- Number of votes that Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson got in New Hampshire, a swing state

697- Number of votes that Socialist Party candidate Peta Lindsay, who is only 28, got in Vermont.

72.8 %- Percent Mitt Romney got in Utah, the state in which he got the most support

70.6 %-Percent President Barack Obama got in the state of his birth, and is also the state in which he got the highest support.

51.2 %- Percent Obama got in Colorado, a swing state

50.6%- Percent Romney got in North Carolina, a swing state

46.1 %- Percent Romney got in Wisconsin, which went to Obama, in spite of being Paul Ryan's home state.

69%- Percentage of the Jewish vote that went for Obama

20, 938- Number of votes Duckworth won by.

13,000- Number of votes separating Martha McSally (R) from taking the seat that belonged to former Cong. Gabrielle Giffords before she was shot in Tempe, Ariz., early last year

11,400- Number of votes that Dan Forest (R) is winning by over Linda Coleman (D) in North Carolina's lt. governor race.

4,802- Number of votes Bachmann won by.

18- Number of women gymnasts on North Carolina State's team roster

15- Number of players on Georgetown's men's basketball team roster

14- Number of points Florida State was favored by against Virginia Tech

6- Number of points Florida State won by (the final was 28-22 in Blacksburg, Va.)

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

Quote of the Day/Week- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Today's quote of the day is from F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1944), the famed Minnesota novelist who died age 44. Last year, a characterization of him was in the Woody Allen movie "Midnight in Paris." He was played by Tom Hiddleston.

In a tragic irony, his wife Zelda Sayre (known as Zelda Fitzgerald) also died young at age 48 in 1948. She was played in the same Allen film by Alison Pill.

Here are some other quick facts about F. Scott Fitzgerald:

_ Best-known for his novel "The Great Gatsby" (1925), which was made into a theatrical film in 1974 with Robert Redford playing the lead. I found a paperback copy of it at a nifty used bookstore in Wilmington, NC.

_Wrote the novel "Tender is the Night" (1934), which is the same title of a catchy Jackson Browne ballad, released in 1983.

_ A theatre named after him in St. Paul, Minn., was featured in Robert Altman's last film "A Prairie Home Companion"

Here is the quote:

"Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy."

Quote of the Day/Week- Al Gore

Today, we continue our month-long series of quotes from American vice presidents. Today, we quip Al Gore, 64, who served under President Bill Clinton, who is for some strange trending on Twitter today. My fellow progressive Turkish-American Cenk Uygur hosts "The Young Turks," a progressive political talk show on Gore's Current-TV at 7:00 p.m.

Gore is also known for being an advocate for global warming, which seems to be quite accurate given that Minnesota is now as hot as Alabama on any given day in July.

We have a quote from Walter Mondale, who served under President Jimmy Carter, on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

Here is Gore's quote:

"The day I made that statement about inventing the Internet, I was tired because I'd been up all night inventing the camcorder."http://www.algore.com
http://www.current.com

The Other Sweet 16- the NCAA Hockey Tournament

We had problems finding suitable images for college hockey teams, so we just went with Peter Puck, the cartoon character who was featured on NBC broadcasts of NHL games when I was a kid in 1970s. Amazingly enough, the games were broadcast in Roanoke, Va., in those days, but they were preempted in many Southern markets. Ironically, today there are several NHL teams south of the Mason-Dixon line, including the Carolina Hurricanes, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers.

But, our focus today is on NCAA college hockey, a sport I have just started to try and follow in recent years. One thing that is confusing about college hockey is the conference alignment, the major conferences include the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), which includes several Big 10 teams, including Michigan and Michigan State, two teams which also made the NCAA field of 16, and the Hockey East Conference, which includes the number-one team in the country, Boston College.

In total, five CCHA schools made the field, including Ferris State (Grand Rapids, Mich.), Miami (Ohio) and Western Michigan, which actually upset Michigan for the conference tournament title. There are four schools from the Hockey East Conference; the other three that are in the field are Boston University, Maine and Mass-Lowell.

On Saturday, in a game that will be broadcast on ESPN-U, the Boston College Eagles will face another team with a bird nickname as they face the Air Force Falcons, a team that is ranked 16th in the country.

That game will take place in Boston College's home state as the two teams are in the Worcester, Mass.-region. The other game in that region pits the defending national championship Minnesota-Duluth against Maine.

The winner of the Worcester-regional will then face the winner of the St. Paul, Minn.-region for the Frozen Four, which takes place in (of all places) Tampa, Fla., starting on April 5th.

In the St. Paul-region, Minnesota will face Boston University, and Western Michigan will face North Dakota.

Though I am not an expert on college hockey, by any stretch, I am going to 'predict' that the Frozen Four will be between Boston College and Minnesota, and the other game will be between Miami (Ohio) and Denver University.

We will have more coverage of the other regionals on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Times."

Boston College won its third straight Hockey East Conference title in the conference tournament in Boston when they beat Maine 4-1; the two games could meet in the quarter-finals if the Black Bears upset Minn-Duluth. For BC, the team got two goals from freshman Johnny Gaudreau (Carneys Point, NJ) and goal-tender Parker Milner, a junior (Pittsburgh, Pa.) made 41 saves.

The Falcons won its fifth Atlantic Hockey Association Conference title in six years thanks to senior Paul Weisgarber (Fargo, N. Dak.) and sophomore goal-tender Jason Torf (Hermosa Beach, Calif.).

Boston College has won two hockey titles in recent years (2008 and 2010).

It should be an amazing journey to the Frozen Four, irregardless of which team wins.

Things We Learned on Twitter Today: Michele Bachmann Headline-Maker

I've been a fan of Suzy Khimm, a great liberal reporter, since she wrote an excellent profile of Virginia's crazed right-wing maniac attorney Ken Cuccinelli, who looks like a grown-up Pinocchio doll, in the December 2010 issue of "Mother Jones."

This afternoon, Khimm tweeted the following:

"Daily Beast's most popular articles today: 1) Is Michele Bachmann submissive? 2)Queen of the Cougars."

We didn't want to put a photo of Bachmann up, since she does look like a professional female wrestler. And, ironically, her state of Minnesota elected a pro wrestler, Jesse Ventura, for governor.

(These headlines are in reference to Bachmann's 'performance' during the Republican debate in Ames, Iowa, last night. I didn't watch, but I gather her heated exchanges with Tim Pawlenty were very amusing. Pawlenty took over after Ventrua's term expired as governor of Minnesota.)

So, instead, we went with this image of a gorgreous Wyoming chainsaw cougar. We tried to find a cougar from Colorado, but I guess we will have to find one somewhere on the net some other time.

And, we thought that since Bachmann apparently wants to turn back the clock on social progress, we'd include an image of a Tupperware party. Perhaps, if elected president (of course, that will mean many of us on the center-left will get one-way plane tickets from Expedia to Costa Rica), she will also segregate schools again.

SIDEBAR: I saw a bumper sticker in Roanoke, Va., which I'm surprised even an ardent Republican would put on his or her vehicle: it is an image of George W. Bush with the line- "Do You Miss Me Yet?," well let me just give you the short answer, NO!

Program Reminder- Antiques Roadshow

Though I listen to NPR so much that Scott Simon should perhaps invite me over to breakfast at his neighborhood I-HOP or that I should win a free trip to St.Paul, Minn., to meet Garrison Keillor even though "A Prarie Home Companion" is one of the few shows I don't listen to, I neglect PBS.

I feel a bit guilty about that, so I that I would mention that "Antiques Roadshow" is on tonight at 8:00 p.m., eastern time. Perhaps, we can all find out how much a given Swiss cuckoo clock is worth.

According to what we gathered from the show's web site, tonight's episode will either be from Grand Rapids, Mich., or Louisville, Ky.

Status Update_ I Am Burning Up

Given that we are having a huge debt ceiling brewhaha (more on that in our sidebar) here in the United States, one might be expecting a political rant from me. But, those few astute blog-readers who actually read what I have to say will notice that it's been a while since I went on one of those.

And, as someone on the center-left politically, of course, I will praise or defend President Barack Obama no matter what, though I do wonder why he was so into the music of the 'B-52s when he was in college (according to Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stones"). But, I assume this was before they released the much overplayed, and somewhat annoying song "Love Shack."

But, I do have a beef about the weather as it is quite hot here in the Virginia-North Carolina region. Amazingly, Minnesota has been one of the world's hot spots this summer which seems to suggest that even the fringe likes of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) can't possibly continue this global warming denying much longer, or can they?

According to a somewhat disturbing article by Walter Shapiro in the current issue of "The New Republic," then-governor Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) was going to actually travel to the North Pole to see the effects of global warming first-hand. But, when John McCain started courting him as a vice-presidential running mate, Pawlenty did an about face.

Similarly, Mitt Romney has gone to great lengths to distance himself from his own health care iniatives that he helped pass into law when he was governor of Massachussetts. Both Pawlenty and Romney are two of the more serious Republican candidates for presidents, and it seems the message they won't to send car mechanics in Des Moines, Iowa, is that: "I am the true backward caveman in this bunch." (Of couse, Michele Bachmann is the true cave woman in the group.)

But, to illustrate just how it is today at 6:00 p.m., eastern time, I am going to list various temperatures for cities from Maryland to Georgia. The town of Washington, NC, which reached 128 degrees a few weeks ago, was 91 degrees today, but still things seem a bit too hot:

Virginia:

Blacksburg 90
Charlottesville 97
Danville 94
Floyd 90
Mount Jackson 94
Norfolk 92
Richmond 92
Roanoke 95
Tazewell 87
Woodbridge 92


North Carolina:

Boone 82
Chapel Hill 94
Charlotte 94
Fayetville 98
Madison 94
Ocracoke (Outer Banks) 90
Winston-Salem 90

South Carolina

Columbia 99
Gaffney 98
Myrtle Beach 93
Rock Hill 92
Spartanburg 97

Georgia

Athens 97
Rome 98
Smyrna 98

DC/Maryland

Bethesda 94
College Park 97
Frederick 99
Washignton DC 94

West Virginia

Huntington 90
Lewisburg 89
Morgantown 87

The interesting thing here is that the most southern states of Georgia and South Carolina are as hot as Maryland and Washington, DC!

SIDEBAR: Though I don't know this officially, I imagine if you are looking for "Hot Stuff" comics (Hot Stuff was pictured for this entry since it's hot outside), you may well be able to find some issues of the '60s-'70s children's comics icon at Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel Hill, NC, which was 94 degrees today (see the chart). And, tomorrow night, the comic book shop hosts Ryan Claytor, the head of Elephant Eater Comics, for book-signings from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

SIDEBAR TWO: Ahh, yes, we are getting back to politics. I must admit the whole debt ceiling debate always gives me a migraine, so I shall keep this brief. My friend Morgan Griffith (R-Va), who I usually (and strongly) disagree with politically, was among the reported 161 members of the House of Representatives* who voted against raising the debt ceiling.

The interesting thing here is that Griffith, who has reportedly varied from center right to arch conservatism over the years (he was also the majority leader while he was in the General Assembly in Richmond), voted along the lines of some of the Hill's firmest ideologues. This includes Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Jared Polis (D-Colo) on the left, and Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Ron Paul (R-Tex.) on the right; all of whom voted against the bill. I guess uber-partisans can agree on some things!

In the Senate, the debt ceiling bill also passed 74-26. Among the most progressive U.S. senators, Al Franken (D-Minn) voted 'yes,' while Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) and Barbara Boxer both voted 'no.'

A similar disparity was on the right as the arch conservative Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) voted 'yes,' whereas Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) both voted 'no.'

In the center of the political spectrum, moderate senators including Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.), Kay Hagan (D-NC), James Webb (D-Va) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) all voted 'yes.'

*-We made a dubious mistake in the first draft of this entry stating that Morgan Griffith was one of 24 house reps to vote no. It was actually 24 U.S. senators who voted no.

Road Trip USA-(10 of 10) Jackson to St. Paul

Today, in our last regular entry for Road Trip USA (we will have about four bonus entries on each blog to cover all 50 states, including Hawaii_?!_ plus
Washington, DC and Canada), we look at the distance between two state capitals: Jackson, Mississippi, and St. Paul, Minnesota.

St. Paul, Minn., is known for being the home of Garrison Keillor's "Prarie Home Companion," the NPR equivalent of the Grand Ole Opry that was made into Robert Altman's last film.

Jackson, Miss., is blues country, and the Magnolia State is also known for hot tamales.

For this entry, we chose the Trattoria da Vinci, an Italian restaurant in St. Paul, and Fenian's Pub, a bar located in downtown Jackson.

So, today, we ask, what is the distance in driving time between these two cities. Is the answer:

A) 16 hours

B) 16 hours, 20 minutes

C) 16 hours, 40 minutes

D) 17 hours

The answer to yesterday's quiz was B). DC United has won four MLS Cups.

SIDEBAR: It may not be showing at the Eden Drive-in in Eden, NC, but Woody Allen's latest film "Midnight in Paris" is still screening up the road at the A/peture Theatre in Winston-Salem. And, apparently, it is still screening at lots of other cinemas too as it has now become Woody Allen's most financially succesful film as it has now made $40.1 million domestically in addition to strong profits overseas, especially in France. Over the weekend, "Midnight in Paris," which cost $30 million to make, surpassed "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986), which had been his most commercially succesful film before Allen's current film.

PSA- Share the Road

Speaking of the recently-deceased Dennis Hopper (see last entry), he comes up again here as we post our weekly PSA segment- this time in honor of "Sharing the Road."

Apparently, the concept is popular in South Africa since it is the subject of a billboard that one see along with one for an airliner in the United Arab Emirates (well, it says Fly Dubai).

But, Share the Road concepts are occuring here in les etats unis as well. One such statewide program in Minnesota is sponsoring "Bicycling Around Minnesota" from Aug. 18-21 in Cloquet, Minn.

The national site devoted to drivers 'sharing the road' with the likes of bicyclists, motorcyclists, buses and those right-wing idiots who drive Hummers (we couldn't resist the political humor) suggests the following tips on the road:

1. Don't Cut in Front
2. Watch Your Blind Spots
3. Buckle Your Belts
4. Be Wary of Inattentive Drivers
5. Watch Out for Aggressive Drivers (hmmm....might those be the ones driving Humers?!)
6. Avoid 'Squeeze-Play" with Trucks
7. Don't Drink and Drive
8. Stay Alert in Work Zones

This has been a Public Service Announcement from your friends at The Daily Vampire, stay tune for another PSA next Thursday. Now, let's return to that late night rerun of "Perry Mason."

Quote of the Day- Frida Kahlo

I must profess when my girlfriend Louisa (pse) left me for an unemployed car mechanic in Duluth, Minn., that she meet on the Internet, she did cite the fact that I spent way too much time blogging as a factor!

So, it should be no surprise to those who know me well that I am devoting 32 quotes from 32 people, both alive and dead, from the 32 countries in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which starts (yikes?!) tomorrow with a game between the host country and Mexico that will air at 9:30 a.m. in Boston and Miami (and the rest of the American east coast as well as places like Toronto, Canada).

Today, we feature a quote from the late Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) who was the subject of the film "Frida" (2002) which starred Mexican actress Salma Hayek in the title role.

Frida is popular not in Mexico but throughout Central America as there is a popular restaurant named Frida's in Antigua, Guatemala, that we couldn't get into because there was a long, long line waiting outside (?!) when we there in 2005. We've since read from travel writers that many Americans who go to Guatemala have trouble getting a seat in this restaurant, which is known for its cocktails and quesadillas.

As for the painter Frida, she was known for her Realism, Symbolism and Surrealism. She was also a bisexual and a communist, which made her life, as tragic as it was, even more interesting!

She was married to fellow Mexican artist Diego Rivera. And, she had affairs with the African-American singer Josephine Baker as well as the Russian socialist leader Leon Trotsky, who was murdered in 1940 while in exile in Mexico. Trotsky also lived for a while in Turkey. My late Turkish aunt happened to spend her summer residence on the island of Buyukada off the coast of Istanbul where Trotsky lived in the late '20s and early '30s before heading off to Mexico.

Frida also suffered from massive injuries that she suffered from a bus accident which happened when she was 18. Those injuries haunted her for the rest of her life. She died under mysterious circumstances, and there is much speculation that she committed suicide.

An exhibit of Frida's paintings is currently taking place at a museum in Berlin, Germany--- a city where one can also see Knut the Polar Bear (at the Berlin Zoo, of course!).

Here is today's quote from Frida:

"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?"

Quote of the Week- Judy Garland

To celebrate my mother Lila Sullivan's 70th birthday, which is tomorrow, I am going to quote the late Judy Garland since her most famous film "The Wizard of Oz" came out in 1939, the same year my mom was born in Florence, SC.

While researching this piece, I found out there is a Judy Garland Museum which is located at her birth home in Grand Rapids, Minn. We hope the weather there is nice than it is here in Roanoke, Va., as we are not used to two feet of snow! And, we can only imagine what it's like in Judy Garland's hometown.

Here's the quote which seems fitting since "Guiding Light" and "As the World Turns" have been canceled this year (much to my surprise):

"If you have to be in a soap opera try not to get the worst part."

Special Quote of the Day- Bela Lugosi

Halloween maybe behind us, but we are quoting Hungarian-born actor Bela Lugosi, best known for his starring role in "Dracula" (1931), because (according to Wikipedia) he was inspiration for the "Sesame Street" character Count von Count.

The PBS children's series is celebrating its 40th anniversary, but The Count first appeared in 1972. He is still voiced by Jerry Nelson, who first provided the voice for Count von Count.

He is perhaps my favorite "Sesame Street" character.

Last year, the minor league baseball team The St. Paul Saints in St. Paul, Minn., offered Count von Recount dolls with Al Franken and Norm Coleman's heads on them as the state was determining who would hold its senate seat.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), the winner of that much-contested race, was profiled in our "Know Your Congressman and Senators" series earlier this summer.

It should be pointed out that the subject of our previous entry, Klaus Kinski also played a vampire in Werner Herzog's 1978 remake of "Nosferatu."

Here is the quote from Lugosi, which we initially forgot to post here!:

"Every actor is somewhat mad, or else he'd be a plumber or a bookkeeper or a salesman."