My first election was in 1968. I remember that as a college student, I was rabidly for Eugene McCarthy and mildly disliked RFK because we thought he was trying to coopt our squeekly left cause. After his assassination, we assumed his supporters would rally around McCarthy. But instead, they supported LBJ and later, LBJ's VP, Hubert Humphrey from liberal Minnesota. But McCarthy was a Minnesota senator too, so why wasn't he equally popular with the RFK people. The answer was LBJ who was manipulating the nomination and knew with the choice of Humphrey and Nixon, we young idealistic McCarthy new voters would come around. Not enough, however to win the election. You remember your first presidential election a lot like you remember your first sexual experience. You lose your virginity along with your idealism!
1
Election 2000 where Bush W was selected our president was not and will not be acceptable. Since then I lost trust in Supreme Court. Supreme Court has become a political wing.
6
Voting for President Obama in 2008 was my humble payback, appreciation for the overwhelming African-American support for Jack Kennedy which tipped the 1960 Election to our only Irish-Catholic President.
5
As the election of 2000 shaped up to have so much confusion in Florida, I thought, "Oh well, the elections of 1824 and 1876 were determined by Congress. I wonder if Congress will decide for Gore and respect the popular vote, or if Republicans will vote their majority."
It never crossed my mind that a self-packing Supreme Court would torture legal doctrine in a satirical way to choose Bush as president. In those following weeks, the Supreme Court was not only self-packing, but it was self-de-legitimating.
If the Supreme Court had merely thrown out the Florida results and thus referred the selection of the President to Congress under the Constitution, the Supreme Court would have retained legitimacy, and whoever was president would have had more legitimacy as well.
It never crossed my mind that a self-packing Supreme Court would torture legal doctrine in a satirical way to choose Bush as president. In those following weeks, the Supreme Court was not only self-packing, but it was self-de-legitimating.
If the Supreme Court had merely thrown out the Florida results and thus referred the selection of the President to Congress under the Constitution, the Supreme Court would have retained legitimacy, and whoever was president would have had more legitimacy as well.
10
In the 60's, the Democrats were as conservative or more conservative than the GOP. It needs only to recall the hair splitter in 60 when Nixon and Kennedy disputed the outcome and , numerous historians to this day claim Nixon ought to have taken the election.
The 64 election was a vote both on Johnson's war beginning to heat up, and against the apparelntly mad Goldwater, who allowed himself to be used as a tool of extremeist right wing elements in the GOP. No one will ever forget"Extremeism in the pursuit of liberty is no vice. One needed only replace "liberty" with "right" to understand it."
^8 was the election that the Democrats gave to the GOP. Unable to agree among themselves, average Joe Sixpack type voters decided it was safer and more "American" to have Nixon than Humphrey.
Since the end of the century, I have realized that the most prescient predictions of American political, business and social behavior have come
from the Science Fiction writer Robert Heinlein, who wrote about the contraction and ruination of American society and politics in Stranger in a Strange Land and some other books from the late 20th century.
Though I will never forget the pictures of LBJ with Mayor Daley and HHH from the Chicago convention. Something rotten indeed. The idea of the convention was forever polluted after that, even though it was clear that the protesters were equally guilty of outrageous behavior.
The 64 election was a vote both on Johnson's war beginning to heat up, and against the apparelntly mad Goldwater, who allowed himself to be used as a tool of extremeist right wing elements in the GOP. No one will ever forget"Extremeism in the pursuit of liberty is no vice. One needed only replace "liberty" with "right" to understand it."
^8 was the election that the Democrats gave to the GOP. Unable to agree among themselves, average Joe Sixpack type voters decided it was safer and more "American" to have Nixon than Humphrey.
Since the end of the century, I have realized that the most prescient predictions of American political, business and social behavior have come
from the Science Fiction writer Robert Heinlein, who wrote about the contraction and ruination of American society and politics in Stranger in a Strange Land and some other books from the late 20th century.
Though I will never forget the pictures of LBJ with Mayor Daley and HHH from the Chicago convention. Something rotten indeed. The idea of the convention was forever polluted after that, even though it was clear that the protesters were equally guilty of outrageous behavior.
Anti Catholicism almost stole 1960 Presidential Election.
1
“Al Gore won a 481-vote squeaker Friday in New Mexico..."
Proud to be one of those Gore voters in NM! What a different place we'd be in had he been elected...
Proud to be one of those Gore voters in NM! What a different place we'd be in had he been elected...
7
The massive fraud that took place in Florida in 2000, with led to the fraudulent "victory" of George W. Bush with the support of a corrupt U.S. Supreme Court, is, by far, the more memorable election night of my life.
9
It was 1980. I was still too young to vote that year, being only a junior in high school, but on election night, I had to go to the school to work on scenery for a play. When I walked into the auditorium, other students had followed along with the election results enough to know that Carter was doomed. One of the flats had the words "Not my fault - I couldn't vote yet" written on it in the same color paint as would later be used. I remember feeling utterly despondent. A feeling I later found familiar, as I repeatedly voted for first Mondale, then Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry.
IN 1960, my parents hosted an election party. Everyone there was a Nixon supporter except my parents. As the returns came in, the party got quieter and quieter. The next day my mother passed by one of the more rabid anti-Kennedy neighbors and said she was going downtown to buy her rosary could she get one for him, too. He was not amused.
4
As late as 1958, a majority of U.S. Voters told pollsters they would not elect a Catholic President. John F. Kennedy overcame enormous religious bigotry , including answering hateful questions from self important Protestant poobahs in Houston.
1
I was 18 in 1980, a sophomore in college, casting my first vote in a presidential election. What choices! My young, inexperienced, and still mostly uneducated self thought Carter was a confused yokel in over his head and Reagan a venomous snake coiled to strike at the heart of working America. Being idealistic I voted for John Anderson who was the only one who made any sense to me.
It wasn't until Obama in 2008 I actually voted for a presidential candidate who won.
It wasn't until Obama in 2008 I actually voted for a presidential candidate who won.
3
Here I thought I would find out why the Democratic states on graphical election maps were changed from sometimes red to now always colored blue (and Republican states from sometimes blue to now always colored red).
After thinking about it for a while I believe the media had to settle on blue for Democrats to avoid any accusations of bias by subliminally connotating that Democrats are "Red" or communists (remember right wingers equating liberals with pinko-commies?).
2
That's funny, because here in Canada the Liberals (centrist, corresponding to Democrats) were always coloured red, going back to the 19th century (in Quebec they are often referred to as 'les rouges'), and the Conservatives (corresponding to Republicans) blue.
To round out the other parties - New Democrats (socialist) are orange (!), Bloc Quebecois (nationalist regional party) are sky blue (the colour of Quebec's flag) and Greens are . . . green.
To round out the other parties - New Democrats (socialist) are orange (!), Bloc Quebecois (nationalist regional party) are sky blue (the colour of Quebec's flag) and Greens are . . . green.
I watched the 2000 election at a friends house in DC and when he drove me back to my hotel we happened to pass the White House. There were no lights on and it actually looked unoccupied. It was a strange feeling witnessing all the contention still going on over Florida and realizing it was all about who gets to occupy that house. After this year, I doubt anything so trivial concerning an election will ever seem strange again.
2
We tried to listen to the Democratic Convention while camping on West Mountain in the Glorious NY Adirondack Mountains. My buddy and I had paddled a fair portion of Blue Mountain Lake from the Marion River and hiked nearly half way up the summit. It was difficult to get the transistor radio into just the right position. The static killed the signal. The cold summer sky was studded with simmering stars. We treated a bottle of Jack Daniels with great respect, poured a can of Dinty Moore beef stew over charcoal broiled steaks and tossed the radio away. We forgot about Viet Nam, had all the answers, even questions that have never even been been asked. We never came down from ...........what was the question?
3
These electoral college maps are misleading because they use a geographic map to represent population. Thus the 2000 map, where Bush beat Gore by 2 electoral votes is a sea of red, because the populous blue states are geographically small- compare tiny blue NJ (14) to big red MT (3). This inaccuracy promotes a dangerous narrative that elections don't reflect the will of the people. NYT would do a great service by using a stylized map that apportions size by electoral votes rather than geographic area.
17
I will not stop hoping that voters will make their first priority the happiness, health and advancement of their fellow Americans.
I refuse to accept the idea that we all know the differences in will and conscience that are evident in the political parties.
I refuse to accept the idea that we all know the differences in will and conscience that are evident in the political parties.
2
I don't remember much. It WAS the 70's, you know.
I lived in Los Angeles in 1972 and was among the first Americans to believe the stories published in the LA Times about Nixon's Watergate scandal.
My designated voting station was just inside the Sunset Boulevard gate to Bel Air. When pulling back the curtain after casting the first vote of my life, my peripheral vision was attracted to a brilliant shade of blue exiting the booth next to me. It turned out to be the silk sports jacket of Jack Benny.
All of my life, I have felt confident that I cancelled out his vote.
My designated voting station was just inside the Sunset Boulevard gate to Bel Air. When pulling back the curtain after casting the first vote of my life, my peripheral vision was attracted to a brilliant shade of blue exiting the booth next to me. It turned out to be the silk sports jacket of Jack Benny.
All of my life, I have felt confident that I cancelled out his vote.
6
Virginia is key, hence Hillary's running mate.
3
In 2000 I was a freshman in highschool writing a paper on presidential elections. I watched the debates between Al Gore and George Bush; I don't remember the debates themselves, but I remember being impressed at how both politicians conducted themselves. They were passionate but remained on topic and professional. I remember thinking that Gore had a more detailed understanding of the issues under debate, but Bush had more personality and compassion. I thought we'd be in good shape no matter who won.
3
In the summer before the 1964 election, I worked with Julian Bond and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in SNCC's Atlanta office, then traveled in Mississippi, helping in the Freedom Summer civil rights project. Since the official Mississippi Democratic Party systematically excluded would-be black voters, the state's African-American citizens (and a handful of supportive whites) organized the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and asked the national Democratic Party to recognize them as the real, democratic party of the state. I recall my keen disappointment during the 1964 convention when President Johnson insisted that the Freedom Democrats be rejected, in the interest of not discommoding white Southerner voters.
Since we all recognized that this wasn't going to be a close election -- and that the official Democratic Party of Mississippi refused to support LBJ -- we were disappointed that the Democrats wouldn't recognize the party of disenfranchised local black people . I recall seeing this map the morning after election day 1964, and my mixed feelings -- happy that a reactionary who devised the Southern Strategy had been defeated, disappointed that a real grass-roots freedom party had been spurned.
Since we all recognized that this wasn't going to be a close election -- and that the official Democratic Party of Mississippi refused to support LBJ -- we were disappointed that the Democrats wouldn't recognize the party of disenfranchised local black people . I recall seeing this map the morning after election day 1964, and my mixed feelings -- happy that a reactionary who devised the Southern Strategy had been defeated, disappointed that a real grass-roots freedom party had been spurned.
6
THESE MAPS really do your readers a disservice. It would be much more meaningful -- that is, it would actually be meaningful -- if you used the maps that weighted the states by electoral votes. These are really not informative.
9
Election night 2000 witnessed perhaps the biggest media miss ever in a U.S. presidential election, arguably surpassing even "Dewey Beats Truman" in 1948: every major TV network calling Florida for Gore BEFORE polls in the panhandle portion of the state (which is in the Central time zone) had even closed. I was in law school at the time, watching election coverage in one of the lecture halls, and even those of us who wanted Gore to win (of which I was one) immediately knew that something was off. Did that premature announcement wind up costing Gore the election that year? Were there at least 538 voters in the Florida panhandle who were going to vote for Gore but decided not to when the state was called for him? We'll never know for sure. What we do know for sure was that November 7, 2000 was truly a night of shame for TV news in this country.
12
Twas a night of shame when the Supreme Court turned us into a banana republic.
20
Great "class study" written & shown here re: Electoral College, think I feel a migraine coming on.
First thought, The Electoral College should be re-thought as the popular vote of ALL
Americans should take precedence in a democracy. MY most memorable election shifts
from conventions 1944 to actual election night was 1944! Even the press including The New York
Times "called" it wrong to the point of going to press with a Dewey win (moderate establishment
Republican winning nomination 1st vote). FDR was acknowledged to be in poor health, his VP, Wallace,
an issue as he was considered too far left, therefore strong opposition for Wallace as a 2nd Term VP,
also didn't know Truman. The VP vote was consequential here. FDR carried popular vote 53.4% over Dewey 45.9%. Electoral college wide margin 432 (FDR) to a paltry 99. I was just a 6 year old, a
terrible night for me, left alone (against the law might add) to listen to results as entire family
at Clubhouse. Believe I still suffer PTSD about the election of Harry S Truman, a dark horse VP
candidate whom became a good President. Yes, I STILL don't understand The Electoral College
but I'm still trying. TX for educating me!
First thought, The Electoral College should be re-thought as the popular vote of ALL
Americans should take precedence in a democracy. MY most memorable election shifts
from conventions 1944 to actual election night was 1944! Even the press including The New York
Times "called" it wrong to the point of going to press with a Dewey win (moderate establishment
Republican winning nomination 1st vote). FDR was acknowledged to be in poor health, his VP, Wallace,
an issue as he was considered too far left, therefore strong opposition for Wallace as a 2nd Term VP,
also didn't know Truman. The VP vote was consequential here. FDR carried popular vote 53.4% over Dewey 45.9%. Electoral college wide margin 432 (FDR) to a paltry 99. I was just a 6 year old, a
terrible night for me, left alone (against the law might add) to listen to results as entire family
at Clubhouse. Believe I still suffer PTSD about the election of Harry S Truman, a dark horse VP
candidate whom became a good President. Yes, I STILL don't understand The Electoral College
but I'm still trying. TX for educating me!
I love the prayer aspect of this article, with the most lopsided big-government party victory ever depicted in the alerts sent to readers.
My first election was voting for Jimmy Carter for what I hoped would be his second term. It was not to be. I remember walking down Market Street with my dad, politely arguing the merits of Carter versus Reagan. It was my first real political discussion....The '92 election was thrilling. I was working in a telemarketing office at San Francisco Ballet when I and my friends burst out in screams. The election of this exciting, brilliant star named Bill Clinton was a seminal moment of my youth. Elections since these weren't memorable until '08. When Barack Obama was elected, I took my mentee, Celeste, out for burgers in Harlem and rejoiced with her. I remember wanting to cry because this community finally had a role model.
4
There is no logical reason to keep the electoral college. Let us please get rid of it. Imagine if Gore had been president...
11
The electoral college as it stands is not without flaws, but on the whole it guaranties a voice for each state and is a basic pillar of the union. Naturally, the defeated camp always calls for the eradication of the electoral college, but in the long run this would only make elections less democratic.
7
Yeah, let's all stop a moment and imagine that.
Whew, it's kinda like the weight of the world falls off your shoulders, isn't it? Iraq? No problem there. Syria remains stable. China is our firm trading partner. Real progress has been made to reduce Global Warming. AND, every time we turn a corner, we're not looking over our shoulders to see who's watching. Thanks, I needed that.
Whew, it's kinda like the weight of the world falls off your shoulders, isn't it? Iraq? No problem there. Syria remains stable. China is our firm trading partner. Real progress has been made to reduce Global Warming. AND, every time we turn a corner, we're not looking over our shoulders to see who's watching. Thanks, I needed that.
1
I remember hearing George Wallace speak during the 68' election about the bloated federal bureaucracy and government workers with nothing but boloney sandwiches in their expensive briefcases. He was an awesome politician!
2
Like Joe Biden and Ronald Reagan, Wallace was a seriously skilled speaker. Too bad that discussion of him is banned by the majority of progressive-run organizations except as a negative example.
His late-in-life realizations are a good example to political thinkers everywhere.
His late-in-life realizations are a good example to political thinkers everywhere.
2
“We’re also looking for readers to share their memories of past elections:”
I have strong memories of the 1976 election as that same evening I saw "Casablanca" for the first time as a fifteen year old, went to sleep having looked at the television beforehand - elated from the film and happy that Ford was predicted to win. The first time that I felt truly depressed in my life was the next morning when I woke up to the news that Carter had won.
What I remember most about my first time to vote, as a resident of Arkansas in the 1980 election, was voting for two non-winners: Anderson and Clinton. I was shocked that for the first time in Arkansas' history, an incumbent was voted out of office (especially a good one), and shocked again when I learned that my entire family (conservatives and liberals alike), without speaking about it to each other beforehand, had all voted for Anderson.
By the 1984 election, any possibility of my ever voting Republican had vanished due to Pat Buchanan's screaming at the Republican convention that year that all gays should be placed in concentration camps to halt the spread of AIDS. One thinks, okay, he's crazy; it was more that though. It was the enormous positive response he received from the delegates and the complicity of the newscasters in not calling him to the carpet for it -- shades of our current battle thirty-two years ahead of schedule.
I have strong memories of the 1976 election as that same evening I saw "Casablanca" for the first time as a fifteen year old, went to sleep having looked at the television beforehand - elated from the film and happy that Ford was predicted to win. The first time that I felt truly depressed in my life was the next morning when I woke up to the news that Carter had won.
What I remember most about my first time to vote, as a resident of Arkansas in the 1980 election, was voting for two non-winners: Anderson and Clinton. I was shocked that for the first time in Arkansas' history, an incumbent was voted out of office (especially a good one), and shocked again when I learned that my entire family (conservatives and liberals alike), without speaking about it to each other beforehand, had all voted for Anderson.
By the 1984 election, any possibility of my ever voting Republican had vanished due to Pat Buchanan's screaming at the Republican convention that year that all gays should be placed in concentration camps to halt the spread of AIDS. One thinks, okay, he's crazy; it was more that though. It was the enormous positive response he received from the delegates and the complicity of the newscasters in not calling him to the carpet for it -- shades of our current battle thirty-two years ahead of schedule.
7
I recall the Bush v. Gore election in 2000 and surreal coverage of vote recounts and "hanging chads" in Florida. The 1964 birth of the GOP "Southern Strategy" to court white voters opposed to Johnson's embrace of the Civil Rights Act was the most significant change in the two-party system over the past 50 years. It also suggests the GOP has a problem in adapting to future demographic trends.
The 2016 election is a year of anger and bitterness for voters still "left behind" in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008. While the upcoming Presidential election is an opportunity for the GOP to reform itself, the "Southern Strategy" and fears of a "Tea-Party flank attack" have trapped many moderate GOP politicians into a state of limbo. Thus, it's difficult for the GOP to innovate.
The 2016 election is a year of anger and bitterness for voters still "left behind" in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008. While the upcoming Presidential election is an opportunity for the GOP to reform itself, the "Southern Strategy" and fears of a "Tea-Party flank attack" have trapped many moderate GOP politicians into a state of limbo. Thus, it's difficult for the GOP to innovate.
6
I can't remember why or how the Far West (CA, OR, WA) went for Ford in 1976; seems odd.
4
Ford was a very personable, believable candidate who people could identify with. While Carter had enough appeal that I voted for him, the Democratic Party was wracked with progressives making unbelievable demands with such firebrands as Jesse Jackson and an already radicalized Ted Kennedy.
2
Great story, particularly because unlike so many others it addresses Wallace' role in "68 and Perot's in both '92 and '96 (not to mention Thurmond's in '48, although I am curious what effect Henry Wallace had, in those days he may have taken some votes from Dewey?).
But the maps should show DC from 1964 on. While mentioned in text, we are ignored in the maps. Since we don't get to vote for Congress, at least show us voting for President, however predictably.
But the maps should show DC from 1964 on. While mentioned in text, we are ignored in the maps. Since we don't get to vote for Congress, at least show us voting for President, however predictably.
3
Henry Wallace was a Bernie Sanders-style thinker, too radical even for FDR to have held onto him for the 1944 election. Dem leaders all figured that there was no way Roosevelt could finish a fourth term of office.
Dewey had poor name rec and Harry Truman was the most honest, believable Democrat ever until Jack Kennedy showed up.
Oh, but what if everyone had TV and the 1948 election played out on video? We'll never know.
Dewey had poor name rec and Harry Truman was the most honest, believable Democrat ever until Jack Kennedy showed up.
Oh, but what if everyone had TV and the 1948 election played out on video? We'll never know.
1
We've really become two countries: the coasts .vs. the middle. What's especially sad, and what the maps don't show, is the vitriol, the venom, that drives the debate on many issues. Even calling someone a "republican" as a pejorative (payback for the "N" or "F" or "Q" words, I guess) has been something I've overheard lately.
I remember (barely) the Kennedy-Nixon debates. The effect of TV even then probably decided the election. But the debates were civil and issue oriented. Compare that to what I'm sure will happen when Hilary debates The Donald.
Of course, the media has a great deal to say about the perception of the candidates, in their quest to sell print ads and commercial time. Imagine what Ed Murrow or Cronkite, or Severeid, or the journalists of that day would have to say about HRC's flagrant disrespect for the law, or The Donald's steaming ego. We have no "journalists" now (at least in the American media); just news readers and the odd reporter. Noone with the perspective to see the larger picture and the command of language to stir the nation.
What's worse is that given this atmosphere, no sane person would want to run for national office. Only the egomaniacs: The Trumps, the Wieners, the Jerry Browns..or the fools who are disgraced in the process.
I remember (barely) the Kennedy-Nixon debates. The effect of TV even then probably decided the election. But the debates were civil and issue oriented. Compare that to what I'm sure will happen when Hilary debates The Donald.
Of course, the media has a great deal to say about the perception of the candidates, in their quest to sell print ads and commercial time. Imagine what Ed Murrow or Cronkite, or Severeid, or the journalists of that day would have to say about HRC's flagrant disrespect for the law, or The Donald's steaming ego. We have no "journalists" now (at least in the American media); just news readers and the odd reporter. Noone with the perspective to see the larger picture and the command of language to stir the nation.
What's worse is that given this atmosphere, no sane person would want to run for national office. Only the egomaniacs: The Trumps, the Wieners, the Jerry Browns..or the fools who are disgraced in the process.
3
Once upon a time being a Republican meant to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative. That all changed in 1968. It's not hard to understand how it happened. The real question is how we get back to having two political parties interested in making life better for all Americans, instead of just one.
As it stands, the Republican Party is in permanent minority status because it appeals to just around 40% of the electorate. Were it not for gerrymandered districts and a full court press on state houses the GOP would literally wither on the vine.
The GOP's power comes from manipulating the political process, not from its ideas. If and when Democrats ever vote in presidential year numbers during off-year elections, the Republican Party would be forced to to re-calibrate itself in order to survive.
As it stands, the Republican Party is in permanent minority status because it appeals to just around 40% of the electorate. Were it not for gerrymandered districts and a full court press on state houses the GOP would literally wither on the vine.
The GOP's power comes from manipulating the political process, not from its ideas. If and when Democrats ever vote in presidential year numbers during off-year elections, the Republican Party would be forced to to re-calibrate itself in order to survive.
18
Read a lot more. 1968 was when the Republicans elected their MOST liberal President, Richard Nixon. He gave us the EPA that has shut millions of jobs out of the American workplace and a lot of other progressive craziness.
No other Republican Senate or Presidential candidate has been so far to the big-government, executive power side of thinking a Nixon. Would he have been that way of he'd won in 1960? That's an interesting question but all my people went with Kennedy.
No other Republican Senate or Presidential candidate has been so far to the big-government, executive power side of thinking a Nixon. Would he have been that way of he'd won in 1960? That's an interesting question but all my people went with Kennedy.
1
I still like when Megyn Kelly retorted " It's over Carl ! " in 2012. Rove would not let go about Ohio when only Cleveland was left to count it's votes.
8
States cannot be counted on to vote reliably one way or another. I liked the example of the South going for Carter in '76, proving that sometimes personalities and connectedness to a region can be decisive. Also, Indiana is generally Republican - but they went for Obama in '08. I would imagine campaign managers sometimes get worried about stuff like this!
3
I really miss Tim Russert. His plain spoken use of his little white board explaining electoral votes and the pivotal role of Florida on the Bush II v. Gore 2000 election night was nothing less than brilliant. As was most of his work every other week.
RIP, big guy...... Ya left too soon. What would you have made of the Trump phenomenon?
Don't forget, if the climate changin' Inventor of the Internet had carried his own state of Tennessee, or Slick Willie's Arkansas in 2000, no one would have ever heard of a hanging chad...
Oh, BTW, its not the same thing, I know, but the Republican Convention in 1964 with Goldwater, Scranton and Rockefeller locked in battle was epic.
RIP, big guy...... Ya left too soon. What would you have made of the Trump phenomenon?
Don't forget, if the climate changin' Inventor of the Internet had carried his own state of Tennessee, or Slick Willie's Arkansas in 2000, no one would have ever heard of a hanging chad...
Oh, BTW, its not the same thing, I know, but the Republican Convention in 1964 with Goldwater, Scranton and Rockefeller locked in battle was epic.
6
In 1980 I was attending George Washington University Law School in DC. It was election night and I was attending an early evening labor law class on public unions taught by a person who was then general counsel for the NTEU and who would go on to serve as its president. We were talking in class about the election and what might happen that night - remember, the polls showed a very close race between Reagan and Carter, although late polling was breaking for Reagan after their one debate on the past Sunday night. I remember commenting that the winner probably would be projected by the 3 networks (no cable then) by the time we got home. Class ended around 8pm and it was a 15 minute walk to my rental apartment. Well, I walked through the door, turned on my black and white portable TV and the networks immediately called it for Reagan at 8:17pm.
3
A Republican response to JAM from Florida regarding the low regard the Republican Party seems to inspire among New York Times readers. I think the core of this low regard lies in your own characterization of the traditional Republican Party, e.g., low levels of government interference, balanced budgets, political freedom. I look at my own party today and what do I see: Republicans promoting voter suppression, Republicans insisting on deficit financing, Republicans intervening in reproductive rights, Republicans opposing religious freedom. etc. These are not traditional Republican values. Instead they have their origins in the takeover of the party by extremist elements in 1980, a perspective that has become more dominant across the intervening elections. What do we see today? A Republican presidential candidate promoting his candidacy through an emphasis on lies, bigotry, and fear. To the extent we see an economic program it seems based on massive tax cuts, not balanced budgets. We see a rejection of science and education, an embrace of propaganda and dogma. We see proposals to abandon two centuries of commitment to “full faith and credit“ and to international commitments we made when our country's good word meant something. Like you I greatly regret seeing the party of Lincoln regarded with distain but the sad truth is the Republican Party is no longer the party of Lincoln but an alliance of economic predators and white nationalists willing to destroy American democracy.
59
I think that your response begs the question that I asked: why do so many commentators see the issues that the Republican Party has stood for & continues to stand for (notwithstanding your opinion to the contrary) as irrational or bigoted? Your comment goes to your disagreement over these issues, which you are fully entitled to have. But to conclude that because you disagree with current Republican policy makes those policies irrational or bigoted and not worthy of discussion is unwarranted in my opinion.
3
It's interesting to see the things costing both parties votes today, they tend to be the things that are most irrelevant to the role of government. Gun control for example is a huge political loser, yes the Democratic base cries for it, but it's a total waste. Drugs are illegal outright and it doesn't stop people from getting them, and guns last forever, unlike a drug which is gone after it's consumed. Walk away from gun control and the Dems gain voters.
The same goes for the GOP on gay rights and other topics which are simply veiled racism. Why does the party of "small government" want to be in the business of re-enacting segregation laws or controlling people's judgement? Embrace the present and the GOP gains voters.
The same goes for the GOP on gay rights and other topics which are simply veiled racism. Why does the party of "small government" want to be in the business of re-enacting segregation laws or controlling people's judgement? Embrace the present and the GOP gains voters.
3
TMA1: You are so right. Hillary's positions on gun control, including her flirtations with the "Australian Solution" get very little press. I assume this is because of press bias in her favor.
I am voting for Trump on this single issue alone, and there are many others who feel likewise (although I doubt they are reading this newspaper).
But for gun control I don't even think this election would be close, not because of Hillary being a good candidate, but because of Trump being horrible.
What this country really could have used was a Bernie Sanders who opted not to pursue gun control. Then we could actually spend our time talking about things that matter, like universal health care, student loan debt, over the top military spending, the drug war, police militarization, social security funding, energy policy, etc.
But we should all cheer up. If you think partisanship is bad now, wait 'till Hillary wins. The Republicans will be forced to circle the wagons and attempt to stop her at all costs, even if it means shrinking the Supreme Court.
I am voting for Trump on this single issue alone, and there are many others who feel likewise (although I doubt they are reading this newspaper).
But for gun control I don't even think this election would be close, not because of Hillary being a good candidate, but because of Trump being horrible.
What this country really could have used was a Bernie Sanders who opted not to pursue gun control. Then we could actually spend our time talking about things that matter, like universal health care, student loan debt, over the top military spending, the drug war, police militarization, social security funding, energy policy, etc.
But we should all cheer up. If you think partisanship is bad now, wait 'till Hillary wins. The Republicans will be forced to circle the wagons and attempt to stop her at all costs, even if it means shrinking the Supreme Court.
Al Gore did NOT defeat George Bush in the popular vote in 2000. There was no contest for the popular vote in 2000 so nobody won and nobody lost.
The SF Giants scored more runs than the Angels in the 2002 World Series. I have never seen anyone say the Giants defeated the Angels 44-41 in the runs scored in 2002. They say that the Angels defeated the Giants 4-3 in the World Series.
Bush defeated Gore 271-267 in the Electoral College. Anybody who cares about the popular vote doesn't understand the way we elect a President.
There are 56 races this year to determine the President. It doesn't matter who wins the most races, it doesn't matter who wins the most popular votes. Winning California is a lot more important than winning Omaha.
All that counts is who gets the most electoral votes.
The SF Giants scored more runs than the Angels in the 2002 World Series. I have never seen anyone say the Giants defeated the Angels 44-41 in the runs scored in 2002. They say that the Angels defeated the Giants 4-3 in the World Series.
Bush defeated Gore 271-267 in the Electoral College. Anybody who cares about the popular vote doesn't understand the way we elect a President.
There are 56 races this year to determine the President. It doesn't matter who wins the most races, it doesn't matter who wins the most popular votes. Winning California is a lot more important than winning Omaha.
All that counts is who gets the most electoral votes.
4
Your point is taken but your up-front assertion is still factually wrong. George Bush DID lose the popular vote to Al Gore - almost 2+ million MORE PEOPLE voted for Al Gore than for Bush. That matters to analysts and politicians and also establishes a "people's mandate" when a candidate wins an election through the electoral college AND wins the popular vote.
You're just stating the obvious by saying only the electoral college matters - to fully understand the win AND the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of the electoral college system, the country, the media and the politicians themselves have to at least know and interpret the popular vote.
How do we know Republican's committed treason against the desires of the American people in 2008? Because they took a RESOUNDING people's mandate in swore to make Obama a failure as a President.
Well, the people will speak again and the Republican party will be no more - FOREVER shunned from the White House. People's mandate.
You're just stating the obvious by saying only the electoral college matters - to fully understand the win AND the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of the electoral college system, the country, the media and the politicians themselves have to at least know and interpret the popular vote.
How do we know Republican's committed treason against the desires of the American people in 2008? Because they took a RESOUNDING people's mandate in swore to make Obama a failure as a President.
Well, the people will speak again and the Republican party will be no more - FOREVER shunned from the White House. People's mandate.
31
56? Don't you mean 51? 50 states plus DC?
But that being said, more Americans voted for Gore than Bush. The same chief executive who went on to serve two terms. The chief executive who selected the staff and counsel who initiated the drive for WMDs and the invasion of Iraq. I always think that it is amazing to realize that the majority of Americans didn't even want him to begin with. Look where we are now with post Arab spring and Daesh. Makes you wonder, huh?
3
I would love to see your maps presented using the "population projections" rather than area. That would give a much better sense of how the people voted (as opposed to how the land area voted).
6
I notice from the comments here that the Party of Lincoln gets very little respect. Is it because of Donald Trump or do most of your readers agree with Paul Krugman on most issues. The GOP has not been traditionally taken as a irrational & insane party made up of bigots & racists. But, to NYT readers that seems to be the case. It is hard to understand why a party that has nearly half of the popular vote and 18 American Presidents could be held in such low regard by the readers of this newspaper, notwithstanding the nomination of Donald Trump. The Republican Party traditionally has been the party of low taxes, job growth, strong military, balanced budget, political & economic freedom and less federal government interference in our lives. One can certainly debate the merits of these goals but one cannot truthfully say that they are racist or irrational. It seems that many just want to demonize the GOP rather than engage in a constructive discussion of the issues.
4
You DO recognize that the economy consistently does better with the dems in office, don't you?
12
The Republican Party that I knew in my youth not only had a historic progressive wing with figures like Javits and the Rockefellers but it was a party of compromise and governing. Forget that the moderate wing is pretty much extinct, but now it is organized as an obstructionist party that uses the filibuster at the drop of a hat, and has the deadly discipline that was unknown here but common in a parliamentary system, with conformity being enforced by the extreme right wing. That's why though I have vote for some Republicans in the past, I would never do it again -ever. Lincoln if alive wouldn't touch the current Republican Party with a ten foot barge pole.
17
JAM: the problem with your criticism of NYT readers is that the GOP no longer talks about the things you list. Their conversation comes from a misinterpretation of both the Constitution (guns) and the bible (abortion, death penalty).
While I think the liberal social policies of the last 50 years could use some inspection, and the squandering of trillions of dollars on social plans that have achieved declining school test scores and an ignorant population, the GOP is not offering informed discussion on these topics. Only prayer and hatred.
I once considered myself a liberal republican: socially liberal, fiscally conservative. Now of course, those those two words, like their counterpart "conservative democrat" are like oil and water. Everybody's in their own corner. Noone, least of all the GOP, really wants to talk.
While I think the liberal social policies of the last 50 years could use some inspection, and the squandering of trillions of dollars on social plans that have achieved declining school test scores and an ignorant population, the GOP is not offering informed discussion on these topics. Only prayer and hatred.
I once considered myself a liberal republican: socially liberal, fiscally conservative. Now of course, those those two words, like their counterpart "conservative democrat" are like oil and water. Everybody's in their own corner. Noone, least of all the GOP, really wants to talk.
4
I was 9 years old in 1964. Although our family was from Wisconsin, my father had taken a job in Louisiana the previous year. I recall so many cars in Louisiana with the bumper sticker "It's a Republican year" or "Goldwater '64". That was the year that the South turned Republican. We left for the Chicago area that August, before the LBJ landslide.
I still can't understand why--only in the USA--red means "right wing". Everywhere else it means "left wing", like the Red Army of the USSR.
I still can't understand why--only in the USA--red means "right wing". Everywhere else it means "left wing", like the Red Army of the USSR.
3
The Democratic South never changed its politics, only its party name. They are the same people who have embraced the same beliefs since the early 1800s. Always conservative and racial in their policies, they have not progressed one whit since Reconstruction.
28
To understand America one must know history. You are almost a century incorrect. Protestant fundamentalism which is the driving force in Southern identity politics emerged in the late 19th century. Before that time the religion was closer to the Puritanism that animated the English Civil War and the followers of Oliver Cromwell. Before fundamentalism there was the identity politics which was often racial and antiCatholic but they were Whigs not Tories.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christian-fundamentalism
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christian-fundamentalism
2
You are absolutely right, "Mr. Moe." I believe it was Santanya, the philosopher, who said, "A people who do not remember their history are condemned to repeat it." (not a direct quote because I am not taking the time to look up the exact wording.)
Take a look at who teaches history in many American classrooms. The football coaches are given many of those jobs, so that they will have something to do before after-school practice. Why don't we let the coaches coach football, which they love & know a great deal about, and leave the history lessons to the historians?
What we are seeing today is the absolute failure of our education system. Parents who don't parent and kids who think knowledge does not matter. This is what we have taught our nation's children. We have become a nation of mostly dumb bunnies.
Take a look at who teaches history in many American classrooms. The football coaches are given many of those jobs, so that they will have something to do before after-school practice. Why don't we let the coaches coach football, which they love & know a great deal about, and leave the history lessons to the historians?
What we are seeing today is the absolute failure of our education system. Parents who don't parent and kids who think knowledge does not matter. This is what we have taught our nation's children. We have become a nation of mostly dumb bunnies.
2
I agree with your perspective, Tom - you are NOT almost a century off. To understand America one cannot look exclusively at religious beliefs of one region. And to say that southern political beliefs underwent a change in the late 19th century is not in evidence. Mr. Moe here,is saying that political beliefs in the south were not the same in the mid 19th century as they were in the early 20th century. Perhaps aside from their precise religious beliefs - they were virtually the same and have only partially evolved since. To understand America one must look at factors beyond religious beliefs.
What's the matter with Kansas? = What's the matter with Camden?.....or Detroit, Flint, South Chicago, Black&Brown Bronx&Bklyn, Newark, Compton/Watts, Ferguson, Baltimore, et al.? It is easier to mock Trump a politically incorrectness and unpolished/unpolitican off the cuff ---but, truly, What Do "THEY" have to Lose? More simple arithmetic: All Trump has to do is gain 10+ percent of the socially conservative and unrewarded Blacks, and 20-35% of the long-term US Citizen Hispancs---including PuertoRicans, multi-generational Americans of Mexican Descent in the S.W. and California, and Cubans and other "legal" immigrants---oh, yeah, other "other" color minorities, like South Asians and Chinese&Japanese bourgeoisie (arrived of striving), naturalized Caribbeans and Africans = 271+ for the Donald. But does he want to close the deal? That's the question.
Lots of luck winning the Latino(a) vote in California and many other western states. California is so reliably blue that Republicans hold no statewide offices and the senatorial contest is between two Democrats--both women of color.
9
Any analysis of race and electoral policy must note the rising numbers of Latinos and Asians, which have made the West Coast reliably liberal, and added NM,CO, FL, NC to the list that Hillary will probably win.
Also, changes in education have flipped VA, NH, and sometimes other states, as Bill Clinton and Obama solidified Democratic appeal among under-55 white-collar professionals. Dallas ,TX now votes Democratic!
Also, changes in education have flipped VA, NH, and sometimes other states, as Bill Clinton and Obama solidified Democratic appeal among under-55 white-collar professionals. Dallas ,TX now votes Democratic!
8
When my wife and I watched election results in 2008, I remember never being prouder as an American (not a common feeling for me), but my wife was truly afraid for his life. Sure enough, the white supremacists and racist conservatives proved the justification of her fear, and the Secret Service says no president has received more death threats. So many dumb Americans who are clueless that they have one of the best presidents in the country's history, and who was reelected four years later by voters who recognized this.
We expect something similar when Hillary becomes our first female president. The haters will still be there.
Eclectic Pragmatist — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
We expect something similar when Hillary becomes our first female president. The haters will still be there.
Eclectic Pragmatist — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
100
Eduardo,
Are you saying that Liberals cannot be "racists" ?
Why not leave the word "Racist" out of comments this election season.
Are you saying that Liberals cannot be "racists" ?
Why not leave the word "Racist" out of comments this election season.
4
Because it is still a factor, and a significant one, in the Trump election strategy?
21
Back in 2000, the Times reprinted all their Presidential endorsements since 1900. Most surprising was the Grey Lady's twice endorsing Eisenhower over Stevenson, and a lukewarm nod to Kennedy over Nixon.
4
surprising? No. Stevenson would have been the "pre-Carter". The Dems ran him because noone else wanted the job.
As to Kennedy, the 1960 election seems reminiscent of our current dilemma: A person of questionable politics against a person of questionable connections...You figure out who is who...
As to Kennedy, the 1960 election seems reminiscent of our current dilemma: A person of questionable politics against a person of questionable connections...You figure out who is who...
2
Although Harriman took 15% of the delegates and several others took 19% combined, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956_Democratic_National_Convention,
so hard to say that no one else wanted the job.
so hard to say that no one else wanted the job.
I was a late convert to Reagan over Jimmy Carter, so when Lake Reagan sprouted across the SA, only minus Minnesota, I was particularly tickled.
nd of course, the next four years were a godsend to the Americans and all small-d democrats around the world.
Isn't it interesting how the Republicans win the overwhelming victories more often then the big-government types? It makes one think that he country is conservative at heart but is extremely gullible to practiced liars too often for its own good.
nd of course, the next four years were a godsend to the Americans and all small-d democrats around the world.
Isn't it interesting how the Republicans win the overwhelming victories more often then the big-government types? It makes one think that he country is conservative at heart but is extremely gullible to practiced liars too often for its own good.
3
I'll never forget the exuberant, joyous expressions, great cheer expressed by African-Americans while walking through Times Square in 2008. Seems like so long ago.
17
1-2 percent of African Americans are voting for Trump? How did that happen?
4
More than 1-2 percent of whites voting for Trump is shameful.
30
1964, My mother said Goldwater would win.
Made me put a Goldwater Bumper Sticker on the Station Wagon
and on my book bag.
All the other kids said LBJ would win.
Despite neighbourhood polls that indicated Goldwater was going down.
Parents held a "Goldwater Victory Party" the night of the Election.
LBJ swept that away and my trust in my Mother's Election Predictions.
Went out and scraped the Goldwater Bumper Sticker off the Station Wagon
and off my book bag.
1980, sat down to watch the Election Results with some snacks, ABC declared
it was all over before I bit into my first brownie and finished swallowing a frito.
2000, just felt the Florida predicted results were called too quickly for Gore, stayed up and watched Florida go back into undecided and then for Bush.
Said it before and will say it again:
Award one electoral vote for each House of Representative District that is won.
And the two Senatorial Votes for whomever wins the popular vote of the State.
Then the Election Night Map would be more equitable/representative of the will of the American people.
I might be able to finish a brownie and frito snack before the Election is called.
Made me put a Goldwater Bumper Sticker on the Station Wagon
and on my book bag.
All the other kids said LBJ would win.
Despite neighbourhood polls that indicated Goldwater was going down.
Parents held a "Goldwater Victory Party" the night of the Election.
LBJ swept that away and my trust in my Mother's Election Predictions.
Went out and scraped the Goldwater Bumper Sticker off the Station Wagon
and off my book bag.
1980, sat down to watch the Election Results with some snacks, ABC declared
it was all over before I bit into my first brownie and finished swallowing a frito.
2000, just felt the Florida predicted results were called too quickly for Gore, stayed up and watched Florida go back into undecided and then for Bush.
Said it before and will say it again:
Award one electoral vote for each House of Representative District that is won.
And the two Senatorial Votes for whomever wins the popular vote of the State.
Then the Election Night Map would be more equitable/representative of the will of the American people.
I might be able to finish a brownie and frito snack before the Election is called.
3
I voted for Goldwater in 1964, and ten years later, Senator Goldwater addressed my Air War College class. He was not a Dr. Strange love impersonator and I think he would have been a responsible president.
Of course, LBJ deserves our eternal respect for ending de jure racism. We still a way to go to end our de facto racism.
Of course, LBJ deserves our eternal respect for ending de jure racism. We still a way to go to end our de facto racism.
6
"Award one electoral vote for each House of Representative District that is won.
And the two Senatorial Votes for whomever wins the popular vote of the State.
Then the Election Night Map would be more equitable/representative of the will of the American people."
Oh God, no. Wyoming then gets 3 votes and Washington DC, which has MORE people, gets 0. Thanks, but no thanks. That is not equitable at all.
And the two Senatorial Votes for whomever wins the popular vote of the State.
Then the Election Night Map would be more equitable/representative of the will of the American people."
Oh God, no. Wyoming then gets 3 votes and Washington DC, which has MORE people, gets 0. Thanks, but no thanks. That is not equitable at all.
"In 2005, Ken Mehlman, the Republican National Committee chairman, apologized for the Southern strategy: 'Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.'”
The G.O.P. of Lincoln is today the party of bigotry, homophobia, misogyny, racism and xenophobia. It has been since LBJ championed civil rights 50 years ago. Trump is 100% Republican in most of his beliefs. And most Republicans, including John "I denounce Donald Trump's comments on veterans", support Trump's violent rhetoric.
The G.O.P. of Lincoln is today the party of bigotry, homophobia, misogyny, racism and xenophobia. It has been since LBJ championed civil rights 50 years ago. Trump is 100% Republican in most of his beliefs. And most Republicans, including John "I denounce Donald Trump's comments on veterans", support Trump's violent rhetoric.
17
The headline misled me. (I enjoyed the article anyway.) I was hoping to learn how the Republicans, perpetrators of the "red scare", came to be colored red. And why the democrats are blue despite their theme song, "Happy Days Are Here Again"?
1
Red = angry.
Blue = peaceful.
Pretty basic.
Blue = peaceful.
Pretty basic.
13
Blue connotes loyalty and truth
Red suggests heat, anger, and cynicism.
See, the press is biased from the beginning
(lol)
Red suggests heat, anger, and cynicism.
See, the press is biased from the beginning
(lol)
I'm curious. When did the "Red" vs. "Blue" designations begin?
When I was in college and required to take Army R.O.T.C., the Captain who taught some of the courses remarked that the maps used by NATO showed the NATO countries in blue and the USSR/Warsaw Pact countries in red. If you captured a map used by the USSR/Warsaw Pact countries, they used the same color scheme: blue for NATO, red for themselves.
Should one continue the rationale behind the color scheme and surmise that the "red" states are more totalitarian in their governance? It does seem that "red" states do try to restrict voting rights, limit access to abortion, underfund eduation, and try to keep taxes (and services) to a minimum.
When I was in college and required to take Army R.O.T.C., the Captain who taught some of the courses remarked that the maps used by NATO showed the NATO countries in blue and the USSR/Warsaw Pact countries in red. If you captured a map used by the USSR/Warsaw Pact countries, they used the same color scheme: blue for NATO, red for themselves.
Should one continue the rationale behind the color scheme and surmise that the "red" states are more totalitarian in their governance? It does seem that "red" states do try to restrict voting rights, limit access to abortion, underfund eduation, and try to keep taxes (and services) to a minimum.
13
The current Republican Party would favor a theocracy of course based on their far right "theo".
2
My first presidential vote shows up as a pixel somewhere on your first map (1964). I would have backed Kennedy in 1960, but 18-year-olds did not yet have the vote. In 1964, fretting that Goldwater might somehow win, I cast an urgent ballot for LBJ -- irony alert! -- seeking to prevent war.
I've been voting for more than half a century, which makes me a personified and precise overlay of your map collection. Now I and y'all confront a contest between two unelectable candidates. One, unfortunately, will win. Today's young voters -- much like my 1964 self -- seem to believe the Bouffant Buffoon actually might prevail. I have no doubt he will lose badly -- barring cataclysmic news on the terror front, or an electoral epiphany that will be of no use considering the other option. And I say this despite being an old, low-income white man who does have a college degree but did not study very hard.
Your next electoral map will show Hillary Clinton winning by more lengths than Secretariat won the Belmont the year after I voted for McGovern. What I really wish is that a false start would be declared, and that we have a re-do. If that proposition were on the ballot then I believe we would see a true landslide.
I've been voting for more than half a century, which makes me a personified and precise overlay of your map collection. Now I and y'all confront a contest between two unelectable candidates. One, unfortunately, will win. Today's young voters -- much like my 1964 self -- seem to believe the Bouffant Buffoon actually might prevail. I have no doubt he will lose badly -- barring cataclysmic news on the terror front, or an electoral epiphany that will be of no use considering the other option. And I say this despite being an old, low-income white man who does have a college degree but did not study very hard.
Your next electoral map will show Hillary Clinton winning by more lengths than Secretariat won the Belmont the year after I voted for McGovern. What I really wish is that a false start would be declared, and that we have a re-do. If that proposition were on the ballot then I believe we would see a true landslide.
13
Agreed. Something is wrong in a country of 300M people when we wind up with an old, tarnished pair like HRC or Trump to choose from.
5
Since 1992, the Democrats have won every presidential popular vote except one, the 2004 reelection of Geo W.(W lost the popular vote in 2000 despite winning the electoral vote.
And chances are that the 2016 election because of profound and relentless demographic change, the Democratic Party will again win the popular vote.
The only hope for Republicans is a 2000 Florida like-Supreme Court Controversy or a tie that goes into the House of Representatives, that steals the election.
The Republicans are resigned to losing the popular vote, but will steal election by any means possible as the 2000 election demonstrates.
And chances are that the 2016 election because of profound and relentless demographic change, the Democratic Party will again win the popular vote.
The only hope for Republicans is a 2000 Florida like-Supreme Court Controversy or a tie that goes into the House of Representatives, that steals the election.
The Republicans are resigned to losing the popular vote, but will steal election by any means possible as the 2000 election demonstrates.
34
Bad baseline. In 1956, Eisenhower won six southern states. Including Texas. So the idea that the Southern GOP starts with Goldwater is bogus.
5
In 2005, Ken Mehlman, the Republican National Committee chairman, apologized for the Southern strategy: “Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.”
All very nice for the Committee chairman himself...but he seems to have forgotten to send the memo to his party's members.
All very nice for the Committee chairman himself...but he seems to have forgotten to send the memo to his party's members.
44
Retire the Electoral College, outlaw gerrymandering and enable easier registration and early voting. PS outlaw campaigns that begin prior to January 2nd in any given election year. Let's really live as a democracy should on this issue.
82
Getting rid of the Electoral College would require an Amendment to the Constitution so it wouldn't be a fast fix. In fact, it might not even be possible since an Amendment needs to be ratified by 3/4 of the states and I think many of the less populous states might balk at giving up their power.
2
The 1980 map reminded me to check the 1964 map for sanity - not today, but the day after Election Day, 1980.
America was not all-red in 1980, any more than it was all blue in 1964.
Those elections - as any - were reflections of the candidates, the times and their intersection.
It is easy to misread elections and their impacts in the short term, and easier still to predict in error. That is why few effective histories are written in the immediate aftermath of any event.
America was not all-red in 1980, any more than it was all blue in 1964.
Those elections - as any - were reflections of the candidates, the times and their intersection.
It is easy to misread elections and their impacts in the short term, and easier still to predict in error. That is why few effective histories are written in the immediate aftermath of any event.
9
There are people voting republican because their daddy or grandfather did. It is like the scene out of Forest Gump where Lt. Dan says “there has been a member of my family that has died in every American war” but with the republican voters it would be “members of my family have voted republican in every American presidential season”. Interestingly enough, the results of both Lt. Dan’s family and the family members who vote republican, both pretty much end with the same results. The cult of “family” passing down through the years the dysfunction all held up proudly as if it was an honor to do so. Women and children being forced to vote republican because their dominating husband or father forced them to do so. Male driven religions, Adams rib, reducing women and children to be less than whatever man has been assigned to govern them. Meanwhile what the GOP stands for is against the very needs of those women and children and in doing so is actually against any healthy man’s family.
Liberals speak for the weak and oppressed; want change and justice, even at risk of chaos.
Conservatives speak for institutions and traditions; want order even at the cost to those at the bottom.
[Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we're left, right, or center]
Liberals speak for the weak and oppressed; want change and justice, even at risk of chaos.
Conservatives speak for institutions and traditions; want order even at the cost to those at the bottom.
[Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we're left, right, or center]
27
Forgive a second comment, but 2000 needs a footnote. Nader took enough votes to beat Gore in both New Hampshire and Florida, and the election in Florida was pretty clearly stolen. The 1,500 plus votes for Buchanan on the butterfly ballot were small change compared to the 12,000 or so "felons" who were not really felons, but who were overwhelmingly black, removed from the voting rolls. Those folks in Florida got us the worst president ever, and nobody was prosecuted.
108
Yes. Few people know this about the 2000 election. Ari Berman wrote an interesting book that describes how this happened -- Give Us The Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America. Highly recommended reading.
2
The night of the 2008 election I was working backstage as a costumer for the of a youth theater company's first dress rehearsal of Fiddler on the Roof. The performers were 12-18. The director told them they had to turn off their electronic devices, but many of them cheated, getting text from their parents or friends about the election results. I didn't know what was going on in the front of the house, but I kept hearing, "Dudes, they're calling Pennsylvania for him!" "Oh, God, North Carolina for Obama!" "Guys, Guys, Ohio just went blue!" They shouted out each time a network called the election for Obama, and the director a little frustrated but also amused and understanding, called off the rehearsal of the final scenes. The kids poured out of the theater and whooped into the din of firecrackers, music, and other whoops.
I had had a hard time deciding between Clinton and Obama in the California primary but ultimately went with Obama because he inspired young people. This night made me glad I did.
I had had a hard time deciding between Clinton and Obama in the California primary but ultimately went with Obama because he inspired young people. This night made me glad I did.
9
Fear, anger, stupidity? All of them?
We are a fickle group who expect things to be right the first time and if not to turn around quickly.
If nothing else, these maps indicate so many of us change our expectatioins so quickly, it makes me think that for many if not most, the right to vote entails no responsibility. Who ever has the most appealling quick answer to problems is almost a shoo in. Most of the time solutions to major problems are tried and retried with each new election cycle without a chance to address let alone solve the problem.
We've been at this process long enough to know what works. World as well as local affairs can change with natural or social disruption in a flash and while natural disasters are difficult to predict, the ways in which we interact, found in recorded history, unequivocally show us what works and what doesn't. War and militarism don't work for anyone, especially the dead, wounded and displaced.
The same reasoning applied to laws, can be applied to governing. There really is no need to elect legislators esdpecially with an increased probability those we reelect will settle into the comfortable roles of professional politicians which is what we now have and the last thing we need
If 1) we wake up to population growth and; 2) climate change, we will delegate the UN to identify solutions and follow their recommendations.
We have been been fighting a free for all far too long and it is past time for us to start using our minds.
We are a fickle group who expect things to be right the first time and if not to turn around quickly.
If nothing else, these maps indicate so many of us change our expectatioins so quickly, it makes me think that for many if not most, the right to vote entails no responsibility. Who ever has the most appealling quick answer to problems is almost a shoo in. Most of the time solutions to major problems are tried and retried with each new election cycle without a chance to address let alone solve the problem.
We've been at this process long enough to know what works. World as well as local affairs can change with natural or social disruption in a flash and while natural disasters are difficult to predict, the ways in which we interact, found in recorded history, unequivocally show us what works and what doesn't. War and militarism don't work for anyone, especially the dead, wounded and displaced.
The same reasoning applied to laws, can be applied to governing. There really is no need to elect legislators esdpecially with an increased probability those we reelect will settle into the comfortable roles of professional politicians which is what we now have and the last thing we need
If 1) we wake up to population growth and; 2) climate change, we will delegate the UN to identify solutions and follow their recommendations.
We have been been fighting a free for all far too long and it is past time for us to start using our minds.
3
Greenlight the suppression of blacks, along with it the most vile iniquities and injustice, and watch the South rush right up with hearty hoorays.
I hope they are proud of themselves.
I hope they are proud of themselves.
26
The 2000 election was my first. It felt as if almost nobody my age I knew was voting, and the popular view of Bush vs. Gore seemed to be the prodigal son vs. the prodigal son’s brother. A friend of mine, whose first vote was in 1996, remembered the campaign against Dole basically as “ain’t no fool like an old fool.”
2
The divide is best explained by urban vs rural, between traditional and contemporary, between integrated minds and segregated minds. All of these chasms are virtually unbridgeable and will remain for elections to come.
24
Missing in the factors for realignment, is the increasing divergence between rural and urban views on politics.
See, e.g.
Red State, Blue City: How the Urban-Rural Divide Is Splitting America.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/11/red-state-blue-city-...
There really are two Americas. An urban one and a rural one.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/10/21/there-really-a...
There’s a Clear Urban-Rural Divide – But Why?
http://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2016/03/theres-a-clear-urban-r...
As urbanization rose, so did the fortunes of the Democratic Party
Amazing that Mr. Monkovic missed that
See, e.g.
Red State, Blue City: How the Urban-Rural Divide Is Splitting America.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/11/red-state-blue-city-...
There really are two Americas. An urban one and a rural one.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/10/21/there-really-a...
There’s a Clear Urban-Rural Divide – But Why?
http://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2016/03/theres-a-clear-urban-r...
As urbanization rose, so did the fortunes of the Democratic Party
Amazing that Mr. Monkovic missed that
24
Take a look at any electoral map in presidential elections on a county basis. Urban counties in Red states vote Blue. Rural counties even in Blue states vote Red. It comes through vividly when color coded.
THANK YOU this is a really important issue.
I rarely hear this discussed, and it's key in a number of topic areas.
GUNS are a completely different issue urban to rural, and yet no pol seems to address this - beyond the occasional nod to traditional hunters.
THE ECONOMY or rural areas has suffered profoundly from a century-long shift to corporate farming and loss of local manufacturing. Despite the benefits, tobacco buyout killed the family farm in Maryland.
I see rampant urban snobbery in this country, an implicit assumption that country folk are less intelligent or capable.
Why cant we develop different policies for urban and rural areas?
I rarely hear this discussed, and it's key in a number of topic areas.
GUNS are a completely different issue urban to rural, and yet no pol seems to address this - beyond the occasional nod to traditional hunters.
THE ECONOMY or rural areas has suffered profoundly from a century-long shift to corporate farming and loss of local manufacturing. Despite the benefits, tobacco buyout killed the family farm in Maryland.
I see rampant urban snobbery in this country, an implicit assumption that country folk are less intelligent or capable.
Why cant we develop different policies for urban and rural areas?
There are two fundamental reasons for the "red-blue" divide. First, President Reagan's elimination of the Fairness Doctrine caused the development of talk radio and its spewing of one-sided hatred of anything the other side proposes. Second, gerrymandering has sunk to new lows. One only need recall the outlandish performance of Rep. Joe Wilson in 2009.
We would do well to recall the sage advice attributed to Benjamin Franklin: "We must hang together or surely we will hang separately."
We would do well to recall the sage advice attributed to Benjamin Franklin: "We must hang together or surely we will hang separately."
63
I was born in MN. I moved away in 1991. I return periodically to visit relatives. Over time, it's gotten meaner. Minnesota Nice is in jeopardy, and is dead in some places.
20
Racism and far right religion defines today's Republican Party.
55
Along with a complete unwillingness to acknowledge facts that don't fit their beliefs or are "inconvenient".
It's amazing to me that we seem to be far more ignorant than decades ago when people had far less formal education. How was everyone smart enough to vote for FDR? He got 57.4% of the popular vote and carried 42 states in 1932, including the entire south. In 1936, he got 60.8% of the popular vote and carried 46 states. In 1940, he lost states in the midwest, but still got 54.7% of the popular vote and carried 38 states. And in '44, he still carried 36 states, got 432 electoral votes and got 53.4% of the popular vote (and still won the entire south).
It's amazing to me that we seem to be far more ignorant than decades ago when people had far less formal education. How was everyone smart enough to vote for FDR? He got 57.4% of the popular vote and carried 42 states in 1932, including the entire south. In 1936, he got 60.8% of the popular vote and carried 46 states. In 1940, he lost states in the midwest, but still got 54.7% of the popular vote and carried 38 states. And in '44, he still carried 36 states, got 432 electoral votes and got 53.4% of the popular vote (and still won the entire south).
8
Spot on!
2
ZoetMB,
The re-eleciton of FDR in 1940 broke precedent and the
re-election of FDR in 1944 was a disaster for the Country and
the World as FDR was a very sick man and gave Stalin what he wanted in a naive belief that this would make "Uncle Joe" our friend.
The re-eleciton of FDR in 1940 broke precedent and the
re-election of FDR in 1944 was a disaster for the Country and
the World as FDR was a very sick man and gave Stalin what he wanted in a naive belief that this would make "Uncle Joe" our friend.
2
Is "Mr. Trump ... polling at around 1 to 2 percent among African-Americans," or does he have 1 or 2 African American votes? He probably has Clarence Thomas and Herman Cain in the bag. Anybody else?
www.endthemadnessnow.org
www.endthemadnessnow.org
18
Let's count Katrina & Omarosa.
3
My Grandfather Hanway taught me to hate FDR as a child, and my parents were Republicans too. It was 1972 that made me a Democrat, with Watergate stories confirming what we young folks felt about Tricky Dick. And I've never looked back.
56
Susan,
We would have been better of if Nixon had finished his second term.
The "tricks" that Nixon did pale in comparison to what Kennedy/Johnson/Clinton
did.
Sometimes it is wise to look back and take stock of what has actually happened.
We would have been better of if Nixon had finished his second term.
The "tricks" that Nixon did pale in comparison to what Kennedy/Johnson/Clinton
did.
Sometimes it is wise to look back and take stock of what has actually happened.
1
I voted for JFK the first time I came of age. JFK, LBJ and Clinton were of better character than Nixon. Nixon had much to offer but his paranoia did him in.
4
By changing state winner-take-all laws (not in the U.S. Constitution, but later enacted by 48 states), without changing the Constitution, using the built-in method that the Constitution provides for states, the National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the country.
Every vote, everywhere, for every candidate, would be politically relevant and equal in every presidential election.
No more distorting and divisive red and blue state maps of pre-determined outcomes.
No more handful of 'battleground' states (where the two major political parties happen to have similar levels of support among voters) where voters and policies are more important than those of the voters in 38+ predictable states that have just been 'spectators' and ignored after the conventions.
All of the 270+ presidential electors from the enacting states would be supporters of the presidential candidate receiving the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC)—thereby guaranteeing that candidate with an Electoral College majority.
The bill has passed 34 state legislative chambers in 23 rural, small, medium, large, Democratic, Republican and purple states with 261 electoral votes, including one house in AZ, AR, ME, MI, NV, NM, NC, OK, and both in CO. The bill has been enacted by 11 small, medium, and large jurisdictions with 165 electoral votes – 61% of the 270 necessary to go into effect.
National Popular Vote
Every vote, everywhere, for every candidate, would be politically relevant and equal in every presidential election.
No more distorting and divisive red and blue state maps of pre-determined outcomes.
No more handful of 'battleground' states (where the two major political parties happen to have similar levels of support among voters) where voters and policies are more important than those of the voters in 38+ predictable states that have just been 'spectators' and ignored after the conventions.
All of the 270+ presidential electors from the enacting states would be supporters of the presidential candidate receiving the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC)—thereby guaranteeing that candidate with an Electoral College majority.
The bill has passed 34 state legislative chambers in 23 rural, small, medium, large, Democratic, Republican and purple states with 261 electoral votes, including one house in AZ, AR, ME, MI, NV, NM, NC, OK, and both in CO. The bill has been enacted by 11 small, medium, and large jurisdictions with 165 electoral votes – 61% of the 270 necessary to go into effect.
National Popular Vote
9
oldgulph,
Your changes, though well meaning would lead to disaster.
We are the United States of America.
It is the States the are foundational to this country not the Federal Government.
A better plan is that each Electoral Vote be awarded to the House of Representative District won and the two Senatorial Votes going to whoever won
the Popular Vote in the State.
Your changes, though well meaning would lead to disaster.
We are the United States of America.
It is the States the are foundational to this country not the Federal Government.
A better plan is that each Electoral Vote be awarded to the House of Representative District won and the two Senatorial Votes going to whoever won
the Popular Vote in the State.
1
The powers of state governments would be neither increased nor decreased based on whether presidential electors are selected along the state boundary lines, or national lines
With the end of the primaries the political relevance of three-quarters of all Americans is now finished for the presidential election.
States have the responsibility and power to make their voters relevant in every presidential election. The bill uses the power given to each state by the Constitution to decide how they award their electoral votes for president.
Maine (since enacting a state law in 1969) and Nebraska (since enacting a state law in 1992) use the system you want.
77% of Maine voters and 74% of Nebraska voters support a national popular vote for President.
After Obama won 1 congressional district in NE in 2008, the only state in the past century that has split its electoral votes between presidential candidates from two different parties,
NE Republicans moved that district to make it more Rep to avoid another GOP loss there, and
the leadership committee of the NE Rep Party promptly adopted a resolution requiring all GOP elected officials to favor overturning their district method for awarding electoral votes or lose the party’s support.
A GOP push to return NE to a winner-take-all system only barely failed in March 2015 and April 2016.
Dividing more states’ electoral votes by congressional district winners would magnify the worst features of the Electoral College system.
With the end of the primaries the political relevance of three-quarters of all Americans is now finished for the presidential election.
States have the responsibility and power to make their voters relevant in every presidential election. The bill uses the power given to each state by the Constitution to decide how they award their electoral votes for president.
Maine (since enacting a state law in 1969) and Nebraska (since enacting a state law in 1992) use the system you want.
77% of Maine voters and 74% of Nebraska voters support a national popular vote for President.
After Obama won 1 congressional district in NE in 2008, the only state in the past century that has split its electoral votes between presidential candidates from two different parties,
NE Republicans moved that district to make it more Rep to avoid another GOP loss there, and
the leadership committee of the NE Rep Party promptly adopted a resolution requiring all GOP elected officials to favor overturning their district method for awarding electoral votes or lose the party’s support.
A GOP push to return NE to a winner-take-all system only barely failed in March 2015 and April 2016.
Dividing more states’ electoral votes by congressional district winners would magnify the worst features of the Electoral College system.
1
John Brown, our states are not equal in education or in appreciation of humanity.
The red states are much more likely to be gerrymandered or controlled by religious fanatics. We were created as a secular nation by enlightened people who were suspicious of religion for valid reasons.
The red states are much more likely to be gerrymandered or controlled by religious fanatics. We were created as a secular nation by enlightened people who were suspicious of religion for valid reasons.
4
My favorite election night memory is from 1972 when John Chancellor opened NBC's coverage at 7 pm with these (approximate) words: "Good evening. Richard Nixon has been re-elected President of the United States." That suspense-killing pronouncement was of course before the days of withholding projections until the polls closed in each state.
3
For DWS and others who like more accurate graphics, try looking at the Cartogram rendition on the wikipedia article about the Electoral College. There are many other sites that also show data and projections this way, with the states drawn to their appropriate size. It would be a nice feature for Upshot to adopt, or at least give the reader the option to look at the states in proportion to their EVs.
4
It has always been about race. I was just leaving Dallas to go to college in 1960. I was in chem lab at Rice in 1963 when they announced the shooting of JFK in Dallas. Race was immediately suspected as the motive.
In short succession, Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were murdered. Was race an issue?
What stole the GOP focus on race, was the Viet Nam war and Kent State. But the Viet Nam was was also a race issue -- mostly the poor and black went to fight. As soon as the draft included the white students going to college, the war began to wind down.
In Texas, in the South, look at everything through the dark glass labeled Race -- there is a group that is always worried that someone with darker skin may get one jot more salary or education that they will get.
I've heard it all my life when I'm in Dallas. That is why I stay in Austin.
In short succession, Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were murdered. Was race an issue?
What stole the GOP focus on race, was the Viet Nam war and Kent State. But the Viet Nam was was also a race issue -- mostly the poor and black went to fight. As soon as the draft included the white students going to college, the war began to wind down.
In Texas, in the South, look at everything through the dark glass labeled Race -- there is a group that is always worried that someone with darker skin may get one jot more salary or education that they will get.
I've heard it all my life when I'm in Dallas. That is why I stay in Austin.
33
Dottie,
You perpetuate several myths about Vietnam.
The proportion of "Blacks" who died in Vietnam was 12.5 % which was very
close to the proportion of Americans who were "Black".
2/3rds of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers.
The War was winding down by the time of the first Lottery.
You perpetuate several myths about Vietnam.
The proportion of "Blacks" who died in Vietnam was 12.5 % which was very
close to the proportion of Americans who were "Black".
2/3rds of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers.
The War was winding down by the time of the first Lottery.
2
I am career military, and a white Vietnam vet. I had been stationed in the segregated south of the late 1950s. The South is still racist.
4
Just for personal entertainment, I down loaded state by state data that were easily available, (e.g. income, race) and tried to model the outcomes in three presidential elections, last one 2008. While most predictors are correlated, the statistically strongest in each of the elections I looked at was the percentage of college graduates in the state population. Utah was the major exception each time. I suspect the college grad factor will be even clearer in the upcoming election; it's a decent stand in for a state IQ test. I watched the South get flipped between 1960 and '64, so I have no doubt how that was accomplished, but when you pick your team by recruiting racists, you get a lot of extra negatives.
18
I love the analysis but continue to be disappointed in the graphics. A map of the US is really an unfortunate choice. A major premise of the article is about popular versus electoral votes... two graphics for each year that showed proportional weight of electoral and popular votes would have been so much more effective. For instance, Kansas looks disproportionally more important than it is...
3
In December 1970 I was a sophomore at Connecticut College. Kevin Phillips had recently published a book called "The Emerging Republican Majority" and the book was assigned to us as part of the Political Parties course by our professor Wayne Swanson. Phillips came to give a lecture at CC and a few of us government majors were invited to have dinner with him. He noted that it would take at least three or four consecutive presidential elections to prove his thesis correct, but that it would take just one disruption to prove him wrong. Well, that disruption (Watergate) did happen in 1976. But otherwise the Rs kept winning until 1992. What has changed over time is that the GOP has moved too far to the right for its own good. And now in 2016 they are in total disarray thanks to Trump. Phillips should be writing a new book now, called The Emerging Democratic Majority. Maybe he can publish it by late 2017.
9
CM,
With victory comes hubris.
The Democrats, should they win will over-reach, and the nation will be very
tired of the Democrats by 2020 and the Republicans will have learned their
lesson and nominate a charming/handsome/moderate who will win.
With victory comes hubris.
The Democrats, should they win will over-reach, and the nation will be very
tired of the Democrats by 2020 and the Republicans will have learned their
lesson and nominate a charming/handsome/moderate who will win.
1
A political scientist named Texiera wrote that book in the 90s, and a lot of what he predicted seems to have come to pass.
@John Brown.
And the Republican candidate will be pro NRA, and anti freedom of choice when it comes to pregnancy. And the GOP will promise a return to Christian values.
And the Republican candidate will be pro NRA, and anti freedom of choice when it comes to pregnancy. And the GOP will promise a return to Christian values.
1
With the end of the primaries, without the National Popular Vote bill in effect, the political relevance of three-quarters of all Americans is now finished for the presidential election.
Over the last few decades, presidential election outcomes within the majority of states have become more and more predictable.
From 1992- 2012
13 states (with 102 electoral votes) voted Republican every time
19 states (with 242) voted Democratic every time
If this 20 year pattern continues, without the National Popular Vote bill in effect,
Democrats only would need a mere 28 electoral votes from other states.
If Republicans lose Florida (29), they would lose.
Some states have not been competitive for more than a half-century and most states now have a degree of partisan imbalance that makes them highly unlikely to be in a swing state position.
• 41 States Won by Same Party, 2000-2012
• 32 States Won by Same Party, 1992-2012
• 13 States Won Only by Republican Party, 1980-2012
• 19 States Won Only by Democratic Party, 1992-2012
• 7 Democratic States Not Swing State since 1988
• 16 GOP States Not Swing State since 1988
Over the last few decades, presidential election outcomes within the majority of states have become more and more predictable.
From 1992- 2012
13 states (with 102 electoral votes) voted Republican every time
19 states (with 242) voted Democratic every time
If this 20 year pattern continues, without the National Popular Vote bill in effect,
Democrats only would need a mere 28 electoral votes from other states.
If Republicans lose Florida (29), they would lose.
Some states have not been competitive for more than a half-century and most states now have a degree of partisan imbalance that makes them highly unlikely to be in a swing state position.
• 41 States Won by Same Party, 2000-2012
• 32 States Won by Same Party, 1992-2012
• 13 States Won Only by Republican Party, 1980-2012
• 19 States Won Only by Democratic Party, 1992-2012
• 7 Democratic States Not Swing State since 1988
• 16 GOP States Not Swing State since 1988
5
oldgulph,
I was happy that my candidate, Bernie Sanders, was at least competitive in my state this year even though Republican-Lite Hillary still won the Democratic Primary. I voted for him as I remember when college costs were not horrendously high as now.
I'm also more liberal than either party in all aspects; e.g., during the 1970s, I recognized that our dependence on oil and coal energy adversely affected our heaths, (let alone our Middle East problems like the two oil embargos in that decade), and that the drug problem should be totally and better regulated as health problems by the Federal government (like prescription drugs, alcohol and cigarettes), not drug cartels.
I still miss the streetcars that were disbanded in the early 1960s. I still wonder who are the supposedly upright citizens who are allowed to profit from these scourges inflicted on the masses.
I was happy that my candidate, Bernie Sanders, was at least competitive in my state this year even though Republican-Lite Hillary still won the Democratic Primary. I voted for him as I remember when college costs were not horrendously high as now.
I'm also more liberal than either party in all aspects; e.g., during the 1970s, I recognized that our dependence on oil and coal energy adversely affected our heaths, (let alone our Middle East problems like the two oil embargos in that decade), and that the drug problem should be totally and better regulated as health problems by the Federal government (like prescription drugs, alcohol and cigarettes), not drug cartels.
I still miss the streetcars that were disbanded in the early 1960s. I still wonder who are the supposedly upright citizens who are allowed to profit from these scourges inflicted on the masses.
2
When it became clear that donald would secure the Rep nomination it also appeared (to me) that Clinton would win the election in a historic electoral college landslide vote. At this point it seems like Clinton will secure close to 400 EC votes.
23
Just one question? Who in media assigned the 'red' and 'blue' colors? In the rest of the world 'red' is the color of the left. See any European nation on May Day. Who made the decision (and why) to NOT to use 'red' for the party leaning left (Dem's) in the US?
5
As I recall, the news organizations used to change the colors around each election cycle. However, the contentious (to say the least) 2000 election solidified red for Republicans & blue for Democrats, when Florida turned from blue to red after being initially called for Gore. Now, it is quite entrenched in our current era of "identity politics."
What else but the 2000 Election.
The color coding we're familiar with today didn't stick until the iconic (and extremely lengthy) election of 2000, when The New York Times and USA Today published their first full-color election maps. The Times spread used red for Republicans because "red begins with r, Republican begins with r," said the senior graphics editor Archie Tse, "it was a more natural association." The election, which didn't end until mid-December, firmly established Democrats as the blue party and Republicans as the red — denotations which will likely hold fast for some time to come.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/6/3609534/republicans-red-democrats-blue...
The color coding we're familiar with today didn't stick until the iconic (and extremely lengthy) election of 2000, when The New York Times and USA Today published their first full-color election maps. The Times spread used red for Republicans because "red begins with r, Republican begins with r," said the senior graphics editor Archie Tse, "it was a more natural association." The election, which didn't end until mid-December, firmly established Democrats as the blue party and Republicans as the red — denotations which will likely hold fast for some time to come.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/6/3609534/republicans-red-democrats-blue...
1
It was not always this way; take a look at this link from the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/04/10/red-vs-blue-a-...
The Democratic party originated as the party of the South and rural North (Thomas Jefferson's "Democratic Republicans"). The word 'Republican' was dropped by the time Andrew Jackson became President. The South, slave states until after the Civil War and later as the Jim Crow South, was an albatross around the neck of the Democratic Party until the 1960's. The South, where I grew up, remained solidly Democratic (Dixiecrats) until Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. Nixon's southern strategy has, over a few decades, allowed the Republican Party to completely take over what used to be the Democratic Party's entire right wing. It is now an albatross around the neck of the Republican Party, and appears to be taking over the party.
By taking over the South, the Republican Party gained an enormous advantage (see maps from 1968 to 2004). Only southern Democrats managed to break through in that time (Carter and Clinton), and northern Democrats were crushed in 1968, '72, '84, '88 and 2004. At the national level, that advantage appears to be disappearing, as the South has dragged the Republican Party so far to the right that most rational people have left the party.
To me, this development is encouraging. It appears the Republican Party is becoming a regional party that will have difficulty winning presidential elections.
By taking over the South, the Republican Party gained an enormous advantage (see maps from 1968 to 2004). Only southern Democrats managed to break through in that time (Carter and Clinton), and northern Democrats were crushed in 1968, '72, '84, '88 and 2004. At the national level, that advantage appears to be disappearing, as the South has dragged the Republican Party so far to the right that most rational people have left the party.
To me, this development is encouraging. It appears the Republican Party is becoming a regional party that will have difficulty winning presidential elections.
94
But those red states are perfecting the art of taking over legislatures, appointing extreme conservatives to their judiciaries and pushing through their agendas.
This is well planned and backed by the same untraceable money bedeviling all our politics, with goal of advancing states rights, anti-federal gov't policies that include calling for a new constitutional convention. Since there hasn't been another since the original convention there are no new rules meaning only 2/3 states needed to ratify amendments and other changes to the constitution.
They realize they likely won't be in the WH soon so have an alt plan to realize their seriously retrograde platform.
So don't exhale. But pay close attention to local and state elections where the money is flowing and they're making progress.
This is well planned and backed by the same untraceable money bedeviling all our politics, with goal of advancing states rights, anti-federal gov't policies that include calling for a new constitutional convention. Since there hasn't been another since the original convention there are no new rules meaning only 2/3 states needed to ratify amendments and other changes to the constitution.
They realize they likely won't be in the WH soon so have an alt plan to realize their seriously retrograde platform.
So don't exhale. But pay close attention to local and state elections where the money is flowing and they're making progress.
I remember the days when a popular slogan of patriotic Southern politicians was "Better Dead than Red." That got flipped in the mid-60s, when President Johnson signed laws ending state sanctioned segregation and admitting millions of black voters to the rolls for the first time since Reconstruction.
The late '60s and early '70s saw a brief period of moderation, even liberalism among among Southern congressmen and governors. But it was short-lived as the Republican Party's Southern Strategy encouraged a political counter-revolution across the region, less extreme but similar to that which followed the end of Reconstruction a century earlier.
Today, black voters are largely restricted to a handful of gerrymandered black-led districts, and the white politicians across the South win election with openly racist campaigns and, once in office, do the bidding of a handful of pyscho-billionaires from hundreds of miles away who finance their "take no prisoners" state and local campaigns. It's sadly ironic how the addition of black to the voting map of the South turned the region from blue to red.
The late '60s and early '70s saw a brief period of moderation, even liberalism among among Southern congressmen and governors. But it was short-lived as the Republican Party's Southern Strategy encouraged a political counter-revolution across the region, less extreme but similar to that which followed the end of Reconstruction a century earlier.
Today, black voters are largely restricted to a handful of gerrymandered black-led districts, and the white politicians across the South win election with openly racist campaigns and, once in office, do the bidding of a handful of pyscho-billionaires from hundreds of miles away who finance their "take no prisoners" state and local campaigns. It's sadly ironic how the addition of black to the voting map of the South turned the region from blue to red.
52
"Better Dead than Red" wasn't about Republicans, it was about "Red" Communists.
4
You're right. We had an admirable and short-lived rash of progressive Democratic leaders here in Arkansas during the late 60s and 70s - Sen JW Fulbright, Gov/Sen. David Pryor, Gov/Bumpers. And then came Gov/Pres. Clinton.
Sadly the state now lives and breathes the hate speech that passes for policy for the ascendant Republicans who rule our state, whom we've had no choice but to dub the "Republiban" If they could put women and blacks into burkas they would.
Sadly the state now lives and breathes the hate speech that passes for policy for the ascendant Republicans who rule our state, whom we've had no choice but to dub the "Republiban" If they could put women and blacks into burkas they would.
4
Since when did rabble-rousers have to make sense? No matter how irrational the argument or ignorant the person making it, the loudest politician usually wins local and state races in our region, and since 1996 in Congressional races, as well.
In terms of the former Confederacy, over at least the last fifty years, only the label has changed. They have been always been Republicans, who used to call themselves Democrats.
7
At a Republican retreat, at the Library of Congress, right before Obama’s 2009 inauguration, Mitch McConnell said:
“there are enough of us to block the Democratic agenda-as long as they all marched in lockstep.”
“As long as Republicans refused to follow his (President Obama’s) lead, Americans would see partisan food fights and conclude that Obama had failed to produce change.”
January 20, 2009 Republican Leaders in Congress literally plotted to sabotage and undermine U.S. Economy during President Obama's Inauguration. In Robert Draper's book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives" Draper wrote that during a four hour, "invitation only" meeting with GOP Hate-Propaganda Minister, Frank Luntz, the below listed Senior GOP Law Writers literally plotted to sabotage, undermine and destroy America's Economy.
The Guest List:
Frank Luntz - GOP Minister of Propaganda
Rep. Paul Ryan(R-WI)
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA),
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX),
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX),
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)
Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA),
Sen. Jim DeMint (SC-R),
Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ-R),
Sen. Tom Coburn (OK-R),
Sen. John Ensign (NV-R) and
Sen. Bob Corker (TN-R).
Non-lawmakers present Newt Gingrich
During the four hour meeting:
The senior GOP members plotted to bring Congress to a standstill regardless how much it would hurt the American Economy by pledging to obstruct and block President Obama on all legislation.
“there are enough of us to block the Democratic agenda-as long as they all marched in lockstep.”
“As long as Republicans refused to follow his (President Obama’s) lead, Americans would see partisan food fights and conclude that Obama had failed to produce change.”
January 20, 2009 Republican Leaders in Congress literally plotted to sabotage and undermine U.S. Economy during President Obama's Inauguration. In Robert Draper's book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives" Draper wrote that during a four hour, "invitation only" meeting with GOP Hate-Propaganda Minister, Frank Luntz, the below listed Senior GOP Law Writers literally plotted to sabotage, undermine and destroy America's Economy.
The Guest List:
Frank Luntz - GOP Minister of Propaganda
Rep. Paul Ryan(R-WI)
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA),
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX),
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX),
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)
Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA),
Sen. Jim DeMint (SC-R),
Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ-R),
Sen. Tom Coburn (OK-R),
Sen. John Ensign (NV-R) and
Sen. Bob Corker (TN-R).
Non-lawmakers present Newt Gingrich
During the four hour meeting:
The senior GOP members plotted to bring Congress to a standstill regardless how much it would hurt the American Economy by pledging to obstruct and block President Obama on all legislation.
246
I would imagine some of that might just get some wider attention in the next few weeks. Thanks.
1
Let's see, Hillary's emails on the one hand, conspiring to use the US Congress to take down the President take no prisoners style . . . No contest, each of these men should be feeling the heat these same men are putting on Hillary.
Where's the drumbeat of stories hammering away at these men's treasonous activity.
I know she won't but my hope for Hillary is for her to expose and quash those who have perpetuated so much hate against her Obama, the economy, the list is endless. It's not just Dems that are getting hurt, it's everyone.
It's time to take down the bullies among us so prevalent everybody else cowers. When did we become a nation of cowerers?
Where's the drumbeat of stories hammering away at these men's treasonous activity.
I know she won't but my hope for Hillary is for her to expose and quash those who have perpetuated so much hate against her Obama, the economy, the list is endless. It's not just Dems that are getting hurt, it's everyone.
It's time to take down the bullies among us so prevalent everybody else cowers. When did we become a nation of cowerers?
2
now that's treason
It wasn’t red/blue until about 2000. Before then, blue meant right, and red was left, as it still is in the rest of the world. Why did this reversal happen? It certainly confuses me.
3
Wikipedia has an excellent article on this. Google "Red states and blue states Wikipedia."
10
Thank you for the review. This should be part of a high school civics class as it is so clear. We need more stuff like this to educate the populace.
43
No one is in any doubt about what has shaped the re alignment of American politics since the early 60's although one of the two major parties spends most of the time denying it. Mehlman was the rare exception. It's the major factor that has kept Republicans competitive nationally and turned the South into a Republican one party state just as under different labelling it was once a Democratic one party state. There was a brief clip on yesterday's news of Trump claiming that Republican party was the party of Abraham Lincoln. This is as divorced from reality as all his other hogwash. The Republican party in one of the most bizarre reversals in US history has become the party of Dixie; of Calhoun's states rights, anti federalism and secession. What could be further from the beliefs of the man who in his greatest speech dedicated the dead of Gettysburg to the national government, the federal government, that saved the union and is saving people to this day, including in places like LA in the South, where probably 20 billion of federal aid will be needed to repair flood damage.
114
The current GOP is the party of Strom Thurmond.
5