- #176
LowlyPion
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lisab said:I'm so happy, so proud. I'm looking at the pictures of the crowd in Chicago - I wish I was there!
...have I mentioned I'm happy and proud...?
It's this century's Woodstock.
lisab said:I'm so happy, so proud. I'm looking at the pictures of the crowd in Chicago - I wish I was there!
...have I mentioned I'm happy and proud...?
Ivan Seeking said:CNN just projected Obama the winner!
Topher925 said:... This country is so screwed.
jimmysnyder said:It's Obama by the thinnest of margins. Apparently he was able to garner no more than 350 electoral votes even though there were a total 535 he could have gotten. I expect he will let us know his positions on the issues sometime in the next 4 years. As for me, I'm going to tell my boss that I don't want that raise. I can't afford it.
Heh, we'll see what the final tally was, but according to CNN this minute, he won by about as much popular vote as Bush in 2004: 51-48%.jimmysnyder said:It's Obama by the thinnest of margins. Apparently he was able to garner no more than 350 electoral votes even though there were a total 535 he could have gotten.
Previous two, yes. Clinton won 370 and 376. Bush I, 476. And before that was Reagan...G01 said:350 is a sizable margin compared to the previous few elections.
russ_watters said:Heh, we'll see what the final tally was, but according to CNN this minute, he won by about as much popular vote as Bush in 2004: 51-48%.
It's what I expected, which is why I'm not too upset. Like Topher said: nervous is the word.
Yeah, you're probably right - CNN isn't real clear about that. And he does get the distinction of being the first Democrat since 1976 to get a majority of the popular vote (Carter got 50.1%).chasely said:That doesn't include the west coast, where about 40 million votes will be cast, with a good percentage for Obama.
Winning by more than two of the closest in history is how you define a landslide? Ok...OrbitalPower said:This is not a narrow victory, it is a near landslide. He's won by a greater electoral vote than the past few presidential elections.
russ_watters said:Yeah, you're probably right - CNN isn't real clear about that. And he does get the distinction of being the first Democrat since 1976 to get a majority of the popular vote (Carter got 50.1%).
russ_watters said:Winning by more than two of the closest in history is how you define a landslide? Ok...
russ_watters said:Wiki lists 6 since 1900, with the smallest being an 18% popular vote gap.
OrbitalPower said:"Majority" means they won the greatest part of the votes cast, so in that sense Clinton did win the majority, both times.
Ben Niehoff said:Actually, it doesn't. "Majority" means greater than 50% of the votes cast.
OrbitalPower said:1. The greater part or larger number.
OrbitalPower said:Wrong. According to my "Webster's New World Diction", a majority is defined as 1. (therefore the most common definition) 1. The greater part or larger number.
jimmysnyder said:I'll help you pack.
Though there are multiple definitions and that one isn't clear (it doesn't say greater than what: wiki expands on it and makes it cleaer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plurality_(voting ) ), when applied to politics, in the US in particular, there is only one definition that applies, and that ain't it. It's spelled out explicitly in Article II, sect I of the Constituion.OrbitalPower said:It's not out of context. The same definition is also given as part of 3c at:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/majority
"the greater quantity or share" - it does NOT have that addendum you added.
The 1960 was "closest" in popular vote in that one candidate only had .1% more than the other, but in 2000, the candidate with more popular vote didn't win. Either way, that makes it an extremely close election. Here's a list where they combine popular and electoral votes to rank the closest elections (2000 is listed as the closest for obvious reasons): http://historylist.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/closest-us-presidential-elections/There have been numerous close elections in US history and the last two weren't even the closest in terms of the popular vote.
I'm not convinced of that and I'd very much like to see what the exit polls have to say.wildman said:Today the country has judged President-Elect Obama by the content of his character not by the color of his skin.