Voting and Statistics

Here is an amazing site and a true testament to the interest of the Presidential race in the United States plus a sign that I cut my teeth doing political blogging.

You can find here the breakdown for the number of voters who have already voted for the 2008 General Election in the United States. These numbers are simply mindboggling! My home state of North Carolina, for instance, already has over 2 Million citizens who have voted with the last day for early voting ending tonight. In the last Presidential race in 2004, around 3.5 million people voted and that was considered a strong turnout.

Many of the political science experts wondered what effect Obama would have on turnout. At the school I teach at, in a very CONSERVATIVE part of the state, Obama lost the student election this past week. That in and of itself was not a shock... when my Honors kids ran the vote in 2000, Gore was smashed by GW. The astonishing thing was the magain of victory for McCain was less than 5% (51-48 with 3% for "other"... the statictistics teacher apparently didn't know about Bob). For a county that used to have a sign up welcoming people to the "Home of the KKK" as recently as the late 1970's, we've come a long way.

Now I don't know if Obama will actually carry North Carolina... certainly some of the recent polls look good for the Democrats, but that doesn't mean anything right now. The odd thing is that the split ticket voting that NC is infamous for make take place in reverse this year... namely NC voters electing Obama the Democrat and McCrory the Republican for Governor. Apparently the Republicans finally figured out why they haven't been able to win the Governor's race for the last 16 years... they kept selecting candidates from their base who were nuttier than a Planter's Factory, and trust me that's saying something. Even Balentine the Boy Wonder (tm) couldn't defeat Easley last year. Aside from running against Brown People (illegal immigrants), McCrory has come across as a moderate Republican as the Mayor of Charlotte, though he really isn't that moderate.

The current Lt. Gov., Beverly Purdue, is running for the Democrats and has run a horrible campaign... if I didn't know better I'd swear Erskin Bowles and Rufus Edmunsten were in charge of it. She's been incoherent and has really ticked off her base by insulting their intelligence with her rallies. I would not be shocked if she lost and I know a lot of people who refuse to vote for her.

Then there is the Senate race.... good old carpetbagger Lizzie Dole has been reminding North Carolinians that she once lived here and, in theory, still does. Sorry, but that song and dance isn't going to work this time. Likewise she recently declared that her opponent, Kay Hagan, apparently traded her soul for 30 pieces of silver or campaign contributions from a group of atheists. Sadly for Liddy, Hagan is an Elder in her Presbyterian Church and I'm really curious to hear if the reactions at my Presbyterian Church are as angry as everyone else is. Of course, the seat in question was previously held by the late Senator Helms.

Still, going back to the numbers, I've read that some 80-90 thousand of those early voters are new voters which is really exciting. Of course, we don't know if they are NEW as in, just lost their virginity, or if they are some of the many transplants that are making this state so interesting. I can't wait to see what Tuesday brings.

And please, if you are registered.... GO VOTE!!! Thanks.

UPDATE 1:

John Marshall has some interesting polling data on how early voting is shaping up. I think I'm going to need a lot of *ahem* inspiration on Tuesday night/Wednesday Morning.