Court Jesting

According to a recent AP poll, six out of ten Americans favor retirement requirements for Supreme Court justices.

Of course, when asked what job William H. Rehnquist held on the court , 59 percent of those polled didn't know. I mean, come on people. Everyone knows he is the Supreme Court Jester. Like, duh. Actually, thats not so far from the...well, I won't go there.

But seriously, he is the Chief Justice. And the fact that people don't even know who the Chief Justice is sort of makes me hope nobody starts clamoring for amendments to the consitution about this whole age thing...

Poll Approval

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll. Me, I'll be spending it sleeping.

But if you happen to be awake, check out this article from CNN - it seems that Bush's job approval ratings have taken a slight increase since the election.

Exit Polled

Well, it looks like some of the ramifications from the exit poll debacle are starting to roll in.

The consortium that conducts the poll has voted to release the numbers a few hours early to prevent the sort of leaking we saw this year.

Then again, doesn't the fact that the numbers were leaked sort of preclude any attempt they might make to hold them in? what are they gonna do, wait to count the numbers till the next month?

Maybe.

We are not alone...

You might think that we in the States are the only ones with polling problems.

Then again, you might think alot of things if you boarded yourself into your apartment and only left for water and to chase away the nieghbors.

But for your edutainment, check out these following examples of polling problems:

From Nambia

From Ireland

From Hong Kong

So lots of countries have polling problems, and a pretty wide variety of them too.

See! I'm innocent!

It's midterm season part two over here for me, but just so ya'll know: us bloggers are innocent.

That only exit poll thing, the election - we just report the leaks and anything else that falls short of real news.

Anyway, there was an article on CNN about a blogging conference - say what you will about us, we are becoming more prevalent.

And you can't do anything about it! Short of destroying the world!

But please don't.

Moral Kombat

Well, it seems that the exit polling articles are coming a-tricklin' in.

Last week I got my hands on a new article about the inner workings of the exit polls, and how certain options influenced voters' answers to the poll.

It seems that the phrase "moral values" was the key issue for voters, above even the economy and Iraq. Except, if "moral issues" was replaced with specific topics, they fell behind Iraq and the economy.

So what exactly does moral issues mean? To me, it seems that American voters are being bogged down daily in deep meditation on the nature of Kant's kingdom of ends. I can understand.

Seriously, though, its a shame that such a phrase could be used - its incredibly vague and doesn't, in itself, really mean anything. Even Iraq and the economy can be moral issues.

So, I propose that for the next exit poll in 2008, they go all the way and if they think moral issues in the country are "headed in the right direction".

Where have all the pollsters gone?

Thats a good question. We have a little thing called an election, and a few of their numbers are way off, and the pollsters hide under a rock. All we're left with is a poll or two on lip sinking.

There certainly was a bit of a backlash, and a number of these pollsters seem to be laying low following the results.
Sure, they can blame us blogsters all they want, but we got those faulty numbers from you guys, kiddos.
The Slate article linked to above is a good compendium of why the pollster's justification for the exit polls just doesn't cut it, and I'm compelled to agree.

But don't worry. I'll be here. And even if my posts aren't quite as frequent and as chock full of faulty exit poll data as before, you can bet they'll be as full of faulty irreverent humor as ever.

And speaking of being full of it, did anyone hear that Hugh Grant is going give up acting and become a brilliant scriptwriter?

Moving on...

It wasn't just enough to have all those exit polls. I think we need polls on the exit polls of the actual polls. How totally post-modern would that be?

While your chewing on that one, it seems that voters are, for the most part, relieved by the decisive election. Not that it was a landslide by any means, but for most people a repeat of 2000 would have been bad news.

And finally, remember all those pundits complaining that the youth didn't come out to vote?
Well, I've got news for them: they did!

Actually, we. I did my part! Did you?

Election Redux

Well, it looks like we finally are starting to get some answers as far as what happened with all those exit polls. Good NYT article, but what I like is the title "Report Says Problems Led to Skewed Surveying Data". Gee, and here I thought the thing that had lead to the skewed survey data was...uhhh....something without problems.

But its ok, because all those polls really didn't effect the election anyway. Of course they didn't. Polls are in newspapers, and nobody reads anymore. I mean, come on! We get all our news through that occipital jack, right? And I didn't see any polling news there.

At any rate, problems with the actual polling machines are worth noting. 2006 will be a test of whether or not we can work out the kinks. Honestly, I'm still skeptical - its kind of too bad we have to sacrifice accountability for technology - theres just something about those nice big levers in the upstate voting machines I've come to love.

And it seems that voting over the internet is still a long way off. Which is ok, since I'll just wait for the singularity, when voting will be like...sooo...2004. We'll vote with our minds.

Of course, I'm sure Diebold would still find a way too...well, I'll keep my mouth shut.

It's my fault.

Just wanted you to know. Apparently, blogs are to blame for all those exit poll problems.
Nevermind that the exit poll was actually, and remains, incorrect in several states.

Why was it correct in some states and wrong in others? There are questions that need answering, and looking merely towards bloggers isn't going to solve anything. The consortium that makes those exits polls needs to take a long, hard look at their methodology - or this will keep happening every four years.

And if the exit polls don't tell you anything, you can always decide the election via card tricks.

Four More Years

But only a few more days for me to assess these crazy polls. I'm looking for more information on what exactly happened with those crazy exit polls, and if anyone has some please feel free to email me (you can find the contact info on the left side of this page).

I hate to say it, but I was right. Actually, I don't hate to say it. Zogby, and several others, were way off this time. But those exit polls are paid for by a whole consortium of groups.
And something is up, for sure. So you can expect more articles on that from me soon.

Something else of interest were the way the New York vote spread out (even though it comes out very democratic, Bush leads in many precincts).

Finally, if any of you actually did write in candidates, or was wondering whether or not that little strip of paper in your booth was supposed to be used as a tissue in this crazy flu season, check here.

Its over.......

...and boy do we have alot to talk about. Especially exit polls. Excpect some in depth coverage right here over the next few days.

Bedtime for Me...

In case you want to know who's leading, check here!

Watch the Coverage Live!

You know you want to.

So many states too close to call...

Pretty Polling Maps For You

From:

BBC

New York Times

CNN

No surprises so far.

More more more!!!

All right. Now guys, as numbers start to flow in, are the list of sites you need to be looking at.

First, a whole bunch of election night blogs from all dem legitimate news sources.

Second, the fun stuff. These sites will be updating as results roll in, and are not legitimate, or something. I'm sure you're familiar with most of them, but just in case you aren't:

Left Leaning
electoral-vote.com
dailykos

Right Leaning
the corner
The Drudge Report
Free Republic

And the list of election bloggers being most linked to by election bloggers like myself: Here.

The Game Begins

All right. You want leaked info. I've got leaked info. Looks like early information has Kerry ahead in some key battlegrounds, Bush ahead in a few others.

Says Slate:

FL: 50/49 - KERRY
OH: 52/47 - KERRY
MI: 51/48 - KERRY
PA: 58/42 - KERRY
IA: 50/48 - KERRY
WI: 53/47 - KERRY
MN: 57/42 - KERRY
NH: 58/41 - KERRY
ME: 55/44 - KERRY
NM: 49/49 - TIE
NV: 48/49 - BUSH
CO: 49/50 - BUSH
AR: 45/54 - BUSH
NC: 47/53 - BUSH

This doesn't mean you should believe these numbers. Anybody remember the exit polls from 1984? This guy does.
Also, take a look at those Penn. numbers. Look outta wack? Jonah Goldberg agrees.

What else that looks fresh...How about Zogby calling the race: Guess who?

Plus, remember those betters who were going for Bush, the ones I posted about a week or so ago? Well, they've changed their tunes today.

Wow, all of this looks like we're starting to see a winner develope. But I'm not going to call it. I'm just the messenger. Though, by all means, shoot me. Just in case you're like me and you're going to wait until all those so called legitimate news sources report in, check out these:

CNN Info Sites:

President
Legislative
Exit Polls
Electoral Votes

If you don't trust CNN I'll be back with a larger range of election sources later on.

Update Before Class

If any of you have been wondering, I will be making frantic updates tonight as all those leaked exit poll numbers come in. Certain news organizations and blogs have promised not to call any thing too early.

I, however, will be calling everything early, and often, and otherwise running around like a chicken with its head cut off. But not just any chicken with its head cut off, I'm talking about Mike, this miracle chicken.

Should be a fun time, so stick around.

The End at Last

Today, ladies and gentlemen, it ends at last. Go vote. If you aren't sure where to vote, check here. They're good people, I met them when I worked their event at Columbia Law School.

Perhaps Bush is ahead. Perhaps Kerry is ahead. Perhaps all the polls are wrong.

Tonight, we will know. I promise you. There may be law suits, there may be challenges. But this is not the year 2000, as much as the pundits think they're going to see a repeat. This time, there will be a winner, despite the polls. There may be problems with the polling machines. There may be too few polling volunteers. But there will be a winner.

And if things don't seem to work out, if there is trouble today, do not think that just because it could be worse that makes it ok. We are experiencing a paradigm shift, ladies and gentlemen, in both the socio-political and technological realms. Lets hope it goes smoothly.

It's been a great ride, ladies and gentlemen, and I'm not going to get off at this stop. I'll see you up ahead.