Election Day by the #s- Ok, Maybe This Was a Bad Idea

First of all, we salute our veterans today on Veteran's Day. I am particularly remembering my late stepfather Donald Sullivan (1918-2003) who served in the European theater in World War II. He sure is missed.

When we started this project of tallying Election Day results, we had no idea how involved we would get in the process, and our efforts have seemingly not paid off, as we have received very few hits. But, perhaps there is someone in Singapore who wants to know how swing states, like Nevada, Colorado and Florida voted. And, hopefully, for that particular person, this information is beneficial.

Here are the numbers:

50.9- Percentage Mitt Romney got in Jefferson County (Martinsburg), West Virginia

46.9- Percentage for President Barack Obama in Jefferson County, W.Va, the jurisdiction he came closest to winning in the Mountaineer State.

106- The number of votes that Obama won by in the City of Winchester, Va.

51.2- Percentage of the vote that Obama got in the City of Staunton, Va.

61.3- Percentage that Romney got in rural Floyd County, Va.

68.3- Percentage Obama got in Santa Cruz County, Ariz., his highest in a state that went red.

76.6- Percentage Romney got in rural Yuma County, Colo., a state that went blue

55.4- Percentage Obama got in Pueblo County, Colo.

64.6- Percentage Cong. Jim Moran (D-Va.) got in his re-election bid

61- Percentage that Cong. Gerry Connelly (D-Va) got in his re-election bid; Cong. Bobby Scott (D-Va) is other Democratic congressional representative from Virginia, which has eight Republican members of the house.

94.4-Percentage that Cong. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the house minority leader got in his re-election bid; he is the only Democrat from South Carolina on the Hill.

90.4- Percentage that Romney got in Cimmaron County, Oklahoma, one of three states where he won every county.

58.2- Percentage Romney got in Salt Lake County, Utah, the most progressive part of the Beehive State

49.8- Percentage Obama got in Sandusky County, Ohio, a vital swing district

47.9- Percentage Romney got in Sandusky County, Ohio

75.2- Percentage Romney got in Elko County, Nevada- a state that went blue.

54.7- Percentage Obama got in Teton County, Wyoming, the lone county he won in that state.

59.5- Percentage Romney got in York County (Rock Hill), SC, which is a Charlotte, NC-suburb

63- Number of votes Obama won by in Clark County, Iowa

50- Percentage for Obama in Bucks County, Penn., a county Romney campaigned in two days before the election.

49.8-Percentage Romney got in Bucks County, Penn.

344- Number of votes Romney won by in rural Dinwiddie County, Va. (near Petersburg)

148- Number of votes Romney won by in Van Buren County, Mich.

83- Percentage of Puerto Rican vote that went to Obama in Florida.

48-Percentage of Cuban vote in Florida for Obama, an all-time high for a Democratic candidate

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

It's Election Day in America

As a resident of North Carolina who is from neighboring Virginia, today's election, in spite of the constant tv ads, radio spots, mailings and robo calls, is of great interest: North Carolina carries 15 electoral college votes whereas Virginia has 13. But, Ohio with 18 electoral college votes is considered the most important battleground swing state.

In the Sunday edition of "The Washington Post," Chris Cillizza who is an excellent non-partisan political analyst with his 'Post" blog 'The Fix,' predicts that President Barack Obama will get 277 electoral college votes while his challenger Mitt Romney will have 261; Reid Wilson of the non-partisan "National Journal" forecasts that Obama will get slightly more votes 294 for Obama and 244 for Romney.

Hopefully, everyone will get a chance to vote. I am fortunate to live in a swing state and I realized that people in Fort Mill, South Carolina, which neighbors the Tarheel State, and Bluefield, West Virginia, which neighbors Virginia, have to be agonized over the fact that their state is not in play.

Similarly, people in far away places like Baku, Azerbaijan, and Nairobi, Kenya, are watching this election very closely, perhaps in some cases just as much as Americans.

Lastly, in order to be 'remotely' objective, we should point out that the top image is of a Greek donkey (it may actually be from Macedonia); I am a Turkish-American:)

http://www.nationaljournal.com

http://www.thehill.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix

http://www.theonion.com (a satirical publication)

Tweet of the Day_ From Larry King???

We have decided to just post one tweet from today instead of the usual 6-to-12 that we normally post, so we can get some pancakes at Denny's or something....and, the tweet of the day comes from former CNN talk show host Larry King, 78, who recently moderated a third party candidate debate between the likes of Gary Johnson, Jill Stein and Virgil Goode, who is highly unlikely to become Virginia's ninth president, in Chicago.

We should also point out that the man in the middle is Toledo, Ohio, mayor Michael Bell, and the bottom image is of a very young Reese Whitherspoon in the film "Election" (1999).

Here is the tweet: "The way #election2012 is going, it could be one person in Toledo that will decide the race."

Friday Night Tweets- Abortion and Billboards in Ohio

Today, we are posting tweets from the 6:00 p.m. hour, most of which are politically focused as we edge closer to Election Day here in the United States. One of the most interesting races is between far-right Tea Party favorite Cong. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) and Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War combat veteran who lost both of her legs in 2004. Duckworth ran for Congress in 2010, and she is profiled by Adam Weinstein in the current issue of the liberal magazine "Mother Jones."

Here are some tweets from the night:

1) @SunDC (The Sun in DC): Sunrise 6:22 a.m.; Sunset tomorrow 6:24 p.m.

2) @tnr ("The New Republic"): "It's getting ugly. check out those Ohio billboards trying to scare minority neighborhoods."

3) @Chuck Todd (MSNBC news analyst Chuck Todd): "Mitt Romney just added Boston to his New Hampshire TV buy. Had avoided it for weeks. First sign that they are more serious about NH."

4) @TeaPartyCat (Top Conservative Cat, actually a hilarious liberal satirist): "Obama ad says Romney will ban abortion. Mitt says no: I'll appoint judges who will. But, I will not ban it myself."

5) @HuffPostPol (Huffington Post politics): "John Kerry's daughter launches swift boat-inspired pro-Obama super PAC."

6)  @capitalweather (Capital Weather Gang): "Nasty storms continue around Baltimore vicinity. Intensity of storms diminishing around DC, but rain to last inside beltway, up to another 30 minutes."

10 People Who Will Decide Who Becomes President (6 of 10)_ Michigan

Name: Oscar Lee Davidson

Age: 45

Race: African-American

Residency: Kalamazoo, Michigan

Occupation: Car mechanic

Will Likely Vote for: Obama

In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama won 12 out of 15 of Michigan's congressional districts, including four held by Republicans. Kalamazoo, in southwestern Michigan, is not a part of the state where Obama fared as well John McCain. Kalamazoo's metro area is located within the fourth district represented by Cong. Dave Camp (R) where McCain won 50-48 percent. The Arizona senator fared even better in the sixth district which is held by Cong. Fred Upton (R).

But, in urban area, such as Detroit, Obama decimated McCain; this includes the 14th district represented by Dem. John Conyers Jr. (D) which he carried by a whopping 86-14 percent. African-American voters also voted for Obama by a 95-4 percent margin and that number is expected to be similar this year.

The non-partisan "Politico," a daily web site and journal dedicated to politics has Obama winning Michigan, a key swing state, 49-41 percent.

Michigan is the home state of the very liberal filmmaker, activist Michael Moore, but the rural sector is very Republican, as is the case for most American states outside of New England. Michigan is also the birth state of Republican nominee Mitt Romney, whose late father Sen. George Romney represented the state.

The state has actually lost a point in the Electoral College; it was worth 17 points in 2008. It will be worth 16 points this year.

The Kalazmazoo-metro area has 336,589 residents according to the latest census. The local newspaper "The Kalamazoo Gazette" is dedicating a series to important issues that ballot-voters are considering in this year's election.

http://www.kalamazoocity.org

http://www.mlive.com/kalamazoo

http://www.michigandemocrats.com

http://www.migop.org

http://www.politico.com

10 People Who Will Decide Next President (5 of 10)

Name: Adam Youngman

Age: 26

Race: White

Residency: Glendale, Arizona

Will Likely Vote for: McCain....ooops, sorry we mean Mitt Romney

Baxter the Bobcat is the actual mascot of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team, which one game below .500. Though Arizona was considered a possible swing state when we devised this blog series, it now appears that Romney will win the state unless his problems with foot and mouth disease further catch up with him.

Arizona's governor Jan Brewer is a highly controversial right-wing figure who has clashed with President Barack Obama over immigration. The state of Arizona borders Mexico.

Of course, if the person in the mascot's outfit is really named Adam Youngman that is puerly coincidental, and this is a fictional person indicative of a given demographic. We also don't know what the mascot's actual political leanings are?!

http://www.azdem.org

http://www.azgop.org

 

10 People Who Will Decide Who Becomes President (2 of 10)- Truck Driver in Indiana

First of all, thanks to those of you in Slovakia, Ecuador and Finland for visiting our blog today. Just last week, I got the best-selling book "Procrastination"  by Jane Burka and Lenora Yuen, and I have actually delayed this entry for three days now, so let's get to it. Note: Be sure to read the disclaimer at the end of the entry.

Here is a profile of today's fictional character_

Name: Danny Givens

Age: 37

Profession: Truck Driver

Residency: Fort Wayne, Indiana

Will Likely Vote for: Mitt Romney


In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Democrat to win the presidential vote in Indiana since Lyndon B. Johnson, and this took even the most objective, non-partisan political experts by surprise. Obama edged out John McCain by a 50-49 percent margin. McCain won Allen County, where Fort Wayne is, by a 52-48 margin. Obama won the state's more liberal area, including Saint Joseph County, where South Bend and Notre Dame University is, by a 58-42 margin.

Obama's largest margin of victory, however, was in neighboring Lake County while McCain had his highest percentage of votes in rural northern Indiana in Kosciusko County, where the town of Warsaw is.

In the 1996 election, Bob Dole edged the eventual victor Bill Clinton by a slim 47-42 percent margin. But, George W. Bush was able to defeat both Al Gore and John Kerry with relative ease. However, in 2004, when Bush got 60-precent of the vote, then Sen. Evan Bayh (D) got 62 percent of the vote.

There are circa three million truck drivers in the United States. Though we could not find sources to verify this, it is widely believed that in the South, truck drivers tend to be partisan Republicans whereas in northern and mid-western states where labor unions are significantly stronger, they tend to be more independent-minded.

Some ten years ago, I read a "Washington Post Magazine" article about an African-American truck driver passing through the hamlet of Toms Brook, Va., in the Shenandoah Valley where there is a large truck station, who was surprisingly held extreme right-wing political views.

Since Indian's current governor Mitch Daniels (R) has a strong national presence, it seems like the Hoosier State will likely go back to the Republicans this year, but Obama did pull a major upset there just four years ago.

EDITORIAL NOTE: Danny Givens is a fictional character. There is a Danny Givens who is a pastor in Minnesota, but in no way, is our fictional character indicative of him or his political views. The person who is picture is not Danny Givens, and the person in the picture's political views are not known.

Though this blog is satirical in nature, with a center-left bias, this series is not meant to be partisan. It simply reflects the author's theory that indeed every vote counts.

www.journalgazette.net

www.fortwayne.com

http://www.indems.org

http://www.indgop.org

We Have A Choice

Some people don't............Please vote today, even if it's for Bill the Cat.


Pictured: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev shaking the hand of former Russian leader Vladamir Putin. Both got substantially more than 50 percent of the vote.