Apt. 11D

27 Votes

Nate Silver reports that Al Franken will win the recount by 27 votes. OMG!

Obama on 60 Minutes

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Last night's Obama interview on 60 minutes was fascinating. Obama avoids questions about his cabinet. He does talk a bit about the bailout. He and Michelle discuss the kids in the White House and how they're going to balance things.

Open Thread - Transition

What do you think about Hillary for Sec of State? Will Bill make it through the vetting process? And Larry Summers. I actually it's good for business for Larry Summers to be around. I want more foot in mouth moments from him. Obama says that there will be a Republican in the White House. Who will it be?

Palin's Post-Game Bounce, Part 2

Some CNN dude - "64% of Republicans want Palin to run again 2012."
Paul Begala - "... and 100% of Democrats."

Funny piece from Dick Cavett on the Palin's use of the English language.

The first item on the Insider last week was a shot of Palin in a bathing suit at the Republican Governors Convention. Here it is at TMZ. Is this what happens when voting turnout increases?

Cory Booker on Obama

One of the many bizarre things about New Jersey is that our state doesn't have a major newspaper or news station. We are an after thought in the New York and the Philadelphia coverage areas. The lack of media attention goes a long way to explaining the monkey business that goes on in state and local politics around here. New Jersey political bloggers have done much to fill that void.

Blue New Jersey points me to a touching blog post by the mayor of Newark, Cory Booker. Booker writes that the election of Obama was an important first step, but there's still much to do.

In church today, we prayed for Barack Obama and the team he will eventually bring with him to Washington. His is a sacred task; to lead our nation through crisis to prosperity. But beyond Obama, we must also recommit ourselves to our righteous work in cities, towns and neighborhoods all across America.

Dr. King said, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.” Certainly Obama’s election does not mean our nation will inevitably manifest the best of our collective ideals. It will take continuous, collective struggle and sacrifice. As Ghandi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” We cannot simply hope that Obama is that change.

Well said.

Palin's Post-Game Bounce

This morning, before class, I took a quick surf of the blogosphere and saw one post after another on Palin. Did Palin help or hurt McCain? Let's talk about Palin making mooseburgers. Is Piper really wearing high heels? What happened with Palin at the Republican Governors convention? Will she be the sacrificial lamb of 2012? Will she make a ton with a book deal? These stories were on both sides of the blogosphere.

Why so many Palin stories?

Bloggentrepreneurs

One of the fantastic things about blogging is that it allows talent to bubble to the top extremely quickly. Everyone -- faculty, students, neighbors, random dude on the street -- has been talking about 538 for months. If you missed it, read this profile of Nate Silver in the Times. I love that there's a facebook group called,  "There’s a 97.3 Percent Chance That Nate Silver Is Totally My Boyfriend."

Save Your Paper

Bloomberg is reporting that the "Obama Wins" New York Times is attracting bids of $100 on eBay.

Palin Didn't Know Africa Was a Continent

Best of Arm Chair Punditry

Ramesh Ponnuru says that this win wasn't about Obama's win wasn't about his charisma. It was about the rejection of Republicans. "... the vulnerability of the Republicans to these shocks surely has something to do with the unattractiveness of the party's domestic program. What we have seen over the last two election cycles, it should be emphasized, was not the rejection of one or another faction of the Republican party, but of the party itself." Yeah, it's the Corner.

I'm loving all the commentary about how Obama's campaign used technology in this election. One guy on CNN today guessed that Obama would continue to these methods in the post-election period to gain support for measures. This article discusses the use of the less flashy technology.  "What we're talking about is a very sophisticated, very elaborate database that allowed the Obama campaign to microtarget all of its efforts online and offline," she said. "They used emails to communicate with people with messages relevant to their districts and relevant to the issues that they cared about and to organize and mobilize get-out-the-vote efforts," Germany said.

Maps from the New York Times, CNN, Fox, MSNBC

You decide what was dorkier: the Today Show's map of the country on the ice rink or CNN's hologram.

Vote for the big winner in this election: Tina Fey, Katie Couric, 538, Joe the Plumber, Will i am, Sarah Palin.

The youth vote happened. "Early reports are indicating that the youngest members of the country's electorate voted Tuesday in higher numbers than in the last presidential election — and they voted more Democratic. Youth turnout appears to be exceeding 2004 levels, which was itself a year with a big surge in voters ages 18 to 29."

(This is going on as I'm surfing... Jonah: Mom, I'm supposed to be do a book report on realistic fiction, and I don't think this book counts. Me: Why not? Jonah: Because the boy in the book is watching TV and he only has two channels.)

Palin's clothes may have cost more than was earlier reported.

 

Great gossip from Newsweek.