BS: A very pretty electoral map.

Subject: BS: A very pretty electoral map.
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 01:20 PM

I've been following this site for more than a month and this is the best its been for Kerry. James Zogby, the most accurate for the last election picke Kerry on the Daily show last week. This map which relys heavily of his polls is starting to bear out his prediction.

The Map

Yes Bushies, I do realize that the only poll that really counts will be tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: A very pretty electoral map.
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 02:02 PM

Here are some excerpts from an article in today's Washington Post titled "None of the Above":

WARNING FOUL LANGUAGE IS USED BY THE WASHINGTON POST WRITER THAT WILL SURELY OFFEND THE DELICATE SENSIBILITIES OF THE BROWNSHIRTS FOR KERRY:

"MOST AMERICANS WHO ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE, DON'T.

It may be hard to believe, and harder to accept, but the numbers are inescapable. In recent presidential elections -- the quadrennial events that are the pinnacle for voter turnout -- roughly half the potential voting population chose not to exercise its franchise. For some off-year elections, barely a quarter of eligible voters show up. Even this year's ballyhooed spike in registration is considered unlikely to boost turnout to 60 percent, or anywhere near.

In short, there is no political force more to be reckoned with, no constituency potentially more influential, no voting bloc potentially mightier, than those who are too lazy or indifferent or disaffected or angry to go to the polls. The candidate of a Nonvoters Party would win in a cakewalk. You know, theoretically.

Most political experts see low voter turnout as a problem to be fixed. Earnest citizen-advocacy literature -- the sort of things passed out at polling places and party headquarters -- makes the passionate argument that every vote counts. Those documents tend to include long, familiar lists of important matters decided by one vote (Thomas Jefferson wins the presidency; Texas enters the Union; France becomes a republic). Unfortunately, such examples, while well-intentioned, are bogus. All of the "elections" cited are not popular votes but votes within legislatures, where one-vote majorities are not only commonplace but typically are illusory -- the deliberate result of leadership compromises on issues.

Every vote, to be impolitic, does not count and never has. In America, no presidential election, no gubernatorial election, no U.S. senatorial election has ever been decided by a single vote at the polls.

All of this raises a valid, if impertinent question: When it comes to voting or not voting, why should any individual give a rat's ass?

Subject: RE: BS: A very pretty electoral map.
From: Amos
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 02:09 PM

Guest:

You're getting shrill again. Have you stopped taking your meds?

Does it not appear obvious to you that this sweeping negation of votes is as corrosive as it can be to the democratic system? It is ridiculous and patently inaccurate to suggest that individual votes do not count. They certainly do.

No voter should ever expect a single vote to turn an election. But the majority of votes, made up of NOTHING ELSE BUT SINGLE VOTERS' VOTES, has done so many times and will do so in the future. So all you are doing is encouraging apathy and trying to prevent theprcess from operating at all.

How inspiring of you.

A

Subject: RE: BS: A very pretty electoral map.
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 03:39 PM

Jack, have you looked at the animated version of that map?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A very pretty electoral map.
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 03:50 PM

another opinion

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: A very pretty electoral map.
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 04:15 PM

well...gee. Close, no matter how you look at it. I almost wish I hadn't looked, as I hate to have hopes dashed...*wry grin*...

But at least I don't think it's hopeless...

Subject: RE: BS: A very pretty electoral map.
From: pdq
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 04:26 PM

...here is another site, but it seems to be very busy...

                                        2004 prediction

Subject: RE: BS: A very pretty electoral map.
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 04:40 PM

Man Comes Forward As Web Site Originator

AP/November 1, 2004 12:46 PM EST

History may never know how many working hours were lost to Andrew Tanenbaum's Web site, http://www.electoral-vote.com.

The site features a map of the United States in shades of blue, red, pink and white and a tally of which way the electoral college vote will go if the most recent polls are correct. (White is for tied, light blue is for states that are weakly leaning toward Kerry, pink is for states that are weakly leaning toward Bush.)

Updated as the poll numbers from each state arrive, it has become one of the world's 1,000 most popular Web sites and gets 600,000 visitors a day, according to Tanenbaum. At 11 a.m. EST, the site had Kerry ahead of Bush, 298 electoral votes to 231.

Until Monday, Tanenbaum maintained his anonymity.

Tanenbaum, an American living in Amsterdam, where he is a computer science professor at Vrije Universiteit, posted his biography on the site Monday. He said he lives in The Netherlands because his wife, who is Dutch, "couldn't do her kind of work in the U.S. whereas I could work anywhere."

He started the Web site as a means to register other overseas voters. Until last week, the site featured a banner ad giving voter registration information to overseas voters.

A Democrat, and a former lobbyist for the Sierra Club, Tanenbaum ran for a spot as an overseas delegate to the Democratic National Convention, but lost.

Subject: RE: BS: A very pretty electoral map.
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Nov 04 - 01:44 PM

And here is the even prettier Ironic Times electoral map.

Here is the Ironic Times color key:

Red: Safe Bush

Blue: Safe Kerry

Light Red: Leaning Bush

Light Blue: Leaning Kerry

Orange: Awaiting Instructions from Flying Saucers (Nevada, New Mexico)

Brown: Looking for Sign from God (Ohio)

Green: To Be Determined by One-Potato-Two-Potato (Iowa, Wisconsin)

Purple: Result To Be Decided by Fraud, Intimidation, Paid Mobs, Corrupt Officials (Florida)