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March 18, 2004
Fuzzy Math

From Howie Kurtz's on-line column today:

The Weekly Standard's Terry Eastland looks at the electoral math:

In 2000, Al Gore lost every one of the 11 states that formed the Old Confederacy ... And yet he narrowly lost to Bush in the Electoral College, 274 to 264 votes.

From The Weekly Standard column Howie is talking about:

Al Gore lost every one of the 11 states that formed the Old Confederacy. Indeed, he lost the entire "Greater South"--those 11 plus culturally kindred Kentucky, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. And yet he narrowly lost to Bush in the Electoral College, 271 to 266...

The second one is right (hard right, actually). I don't see any note about a correction. So whose typo is this?


Posted by billmon at March 18, 2004 02:04 PM | TrackBack
Comments

I don't know, but I think Howie just created his very own congressional district, Howie-AL, lost somewhere out in the Indian Ocean.

Posted by: emptywheel at March 18, 2004 02:14 PM

At least he's not plagiarizing, right?

Posted by: mattw at March 18, 2004 02:15 PM

Maybe he's using the new electoral votes, updated because of the census? Which could be relevant, if he's talking about electoral strategy for '04, but it's pretty clear from context that that's not what he's doing.

Anyway, it should have been 271-267, but as I recall one of Gore's electors abstained in protest.

Posted by: Mike Russo at March 18, 2004 02:33 PM

"who's typo"?

Posted by: rilkefan at March 18, 2004 02:38 PM

"who's typo"?

My typo, in this case.

Posted by: Billmon at March 18, 2004 02:40 PM

I is typo!

Posted by: richard at March 18, 2004 03:18 PM

What I'm curious about is the meaning of this litte article - it seems to be a sign of deep unease on the right.

Because nobody puts anything in the Weakly Standard without a purpose. It's likely an attempt to talk the Republican Party into moving back towards the middle - "The Dems can win without the South, so you better stop acting like the Old Confederacy."

But that doesn't square with the last few years of triumphalism, where their way was supposedly America's way and therefore would continue to inevitably take hold everywhere except maybe on those evil coasts.

I'm wondering if their audience is the DEMS- telling them to ignore the South. Because if Kerry's campaign, even in losing those 11 states, finally fires up some suspicions among Southerners that they have been sold a real bill of goods with the Republican Party, then that's bad, bad news for the elephants.

Posted by: doesn't matter at March 18, 2004 03:51 PM

C'mon. There's no "I" in typo.

Posted by: jlw at March 18, 2004 04:17 PM

No, I am typo!

Posted by: John B. at March 18, 2004 04:53 PM

Anyone who thinks West Virginia is "culturally kindred" to the Old South, KY and OK knows nothing of WV's cultural, or the Old South, and has learned nothing from the last election. Kerry, on the other hand, was here the other night, invoking the other JFK and WV's significance in that election

Posted by: Mary N. at March 18, 2004 05:39 PM

Is this an attempt to demonstrate the new electoral division ???

That might explain a discrepancy

The same Statewide result as 2000 would yield a new outcome, ya know

Posted by: free patriot at March 18, 2004 06:11 PM

For not so fuzzy...and kinda scary math....A must read book..A must listen to interview....

Taxes - 17 March
Guest host Jon Beaupre talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times tax reporter David Cay Johnston about his new book Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich and Cheat Everyone Else.

http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/

Posted by: jillian at March 18, 2004 08:56 PM
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