Edwards: "Here's an Inconvenient Truth. If You Want to Reverse Global Warming...

... you've got to start by reversing the time-lapse photography of the Electoral College map losses our party has suffered since 1960, by putting a President in the White House who isn't in the pockets of polluters.

The time-lapse photography of the damage done to our environment won't reverse, until we elect a President who understands that you can create quality American jobs, provide long-term economic benefits to rural America, provide clean energy for all of America, cut dependence on unstable foreign energy, AND regain our global leadership role on this vital issue.

But I repeat: the only way to do that is to select a nominee who can reserve the erosion shown by the Electoral College time-lapse photography."

That would be a stump speech snippet I'd like to see, at least in rough draft form.

If anyone knows of a time-lapse Electoral College map, I'd be curious to view that.

- Dave

That is a very neat tool; I figured it had to be available somewhere, and where better than PBS?

- Dave

The BUSHIES screwed all of AMERICA!! Until the day I die I will never believe ANYTHING else!! I live here and I also live in the COUNTY that sort of/kind of lost 18,500 votes!!

To think, our country has suffered through 7 years of this dipshit because he was "installed" into office by the Supreme Court. Unbelievable...

... Florida's electoral votes could be icing on a very blue cake.

- Dave

... maybe this is where Mark Penn is getting his 360 Electoral College votes "dataset," for lack of a better term.

Clinton: 370
Bush: 168

It's also an interesting baseline to use for Hillary's general election chances, should she win the nomination. Which of the states that Bill won in 1992 will flip to the GOP nominee, if any? Which of the close states that he lost would flip to her, if any?

- Dave

... would have him in the two Virginias and the two Carolinas, disproportionately during the general. V(Squared), C(Squared), if you want a campaign memo title.

For good measure, spend resources in Northern Florida, Southeast Ohio, and the eastern half of Kentucky to make sure that his stump speeches in the two Virginias and the two Carolinas are getting airplay there, too.

- Dave

I think Edwards would win as well in places like New Mexico, Missouri, and Arkansas.

... with him focusing on the most winnable states, and with a logistician's eye toward minimizing criss-cross travel time to maximize face time with the crowds.

- Dave

We don't need to "flip", we need to "stay flipped".

Tesha

This is a very useful tool - one that should serve as a serious wake-up call to Democratic Presidential candidates.

... it would be even more powerful.

- Dave

Are you making reference to the Ohio issue, or are you having trouble using the tool?

- Dave

2004 on the PBS map isn't actual data from the 2004
election; it's simply a copy of the 2000 data which
you can then "click" on to flip states back and forth.
As you do this, the bar chart on the bottom shows your
new tally of Republican versus Democratic electoral
votes.

Tesha

... that it allowed you to see which states had been "solid" red or "solid" blue for the past 3 elections, as of each election, so you could see when a state wobbled from "solid" to "swing state" status.

I'd still like to see a map like this that went back to 1960.

- Dave

It's never too late to elect a reality-based president, though.

Who do you think best fits the bill?

- Dave

That's an interesting list for those claims.

The biggest reason the Democratic Party lost power was because it took upon its platform the advancement of social issues. I'm not saying that's a bad thing because it isn't, but when civil rights and later gay marriage and abortion became issues, a good number of Democrats who were economically left wing in bent but socially conservative stopped voting. Democrats who were neither very socially liberal or very economically left wing became Republicans. The shift started in the 1960s with the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. When the alignment was complete, there were simply fewer people left voting Democrat.

If Democrats wish to win the White House more often, then they must hold onto existing Blue states but also try for Ohio and Florida. This flies against the 50-state strategy championed by Howard Dean, but in a world of limited resources such as money, one is forced to pick one's battles. I mean, you wouldn't be expending a whole lot of resources in a presidential election on hardcore states like Mississippi or Utah.

... is a sleeper demographical trend that works in favor of the right Democratic candidate:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_cities_in_america#Incorporated_places_over_100.2C000_population

- Dave

In many ways.:patriot:

... the more I've drilled down into the candidates' policies, the less I care about his non-traditional resume.

- Dave

:sarcasm:

... they're investing in these days?

; )

- Dave