Image of the Day

[Ed Jones]

[Ian Carmichael]

How great is graphic information!! I'm swinging into some GIS work next year, so my students can represent their data their way, as well as enjoy the feeds from others. Kudos to NYTimes for theirs (although why wouldn't you include the electoral college votes at (or near) the top map layer)
It is indeed scary information too, showing the depth of work and potential division which need careful addression.

[Ed Jones]

Wow, Laura, thanks! The interactive is going on my main blog.

Here us the map Laura referenced. This is even more fascinating than I thought! While I had known of the 2000 and 2004 results, take a look at the even earlier ones...compared to 2008.

This is the '92 election, where Ross Perot threw a monkey wrench in the works and took 19% of the vote from the major candidates, leaving Clinton with only 43%. Yet look at how much bluer the map is than today!
On the surface this makes no sense. Yet, if you compare Clinton's record and promises to Obama's, look at Clintons experience as a governor, time with the National Governors Association, and promises to "end Welfare as we know it", its a lot easier to understand why middle America would lean Democrat in '92, but not '08.

On the other hand, this doesn't bode well for those (including the President elect) who hope for a coming together.

Ian, your population overlay is also there - the source I had did one of those stretch out the map things I dislike. I tell you what I'd like to see - a similar map of Europe if there were some way to do it! (of course Europe has been electing what we call conservatives lately).

Anyway, Laura, I live in just such a mixed up area, too! McCain, Palin, and Obama spoke within 100 miles of me almost ten times in the last week. (They didn't bring Joe-Bob anywhere near here, of course.) Its nice to be wanted. :-)

[Laura Gibbs]

Whoops - I guess I should say north-west of Raleigh on the Virginia border, since they have not marked Durham on the map. :-)

It is a very mixed up area, as you can see - dark blue, medium blue, sky blue, pink, salmon and red. I enjoyed living in a hodgepodge state for this round of elections.

[Laura Gibbs]

Here's the county-by-county map from NYTimes that I thought was so interesting to look at (click on image for larger view):

I live in the salmon-colored county that is north-west of Durham on the Virginia border. :-)

[Ian Carmichael]

And then an overlay of population density?