Close Encounters of the Electoral Kind
Ending the week on a light note: once upon a time we used to watch election returns in the form of animated graphics. That is until John King gave us all a new form of tech-envy with his giant lite-brite touch-screen.
The good folks at 23/6 have taken John King's Super-sized iPhone map and synchronized it with footage from Stephen Speilberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It's all starting to make sense now...
Have a good weekend.
That's very cool! Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: suekzoo | May 16, 2008 at 02:30 PM
The board John King uses is made by Perceptive Pixel, it's a brilliant piece of technology showcased in this video they made: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9zGDNFpOMcA
Posted by: Obama Independent | May 16, 2008 at 02:59 PM
Nails it. It shows that even with all the computational and visual power of CNN, they still can't tell you how the actual delegate count is going until much later. The DNC is an unknown alien that even its own kind don't fully understand.
Posted by: Truth | May 16, 2008 at 05:46 PM
LOL! I love John King's big board! I haven't missed one primary just because I love watching that darned board!
And tying it to Stephen Spielburg's Close Encounters is just hilarious!
Posted by: Beth | May 16, 2008 at 06:10 PM
Mind you, this is just a second-hand report, but it seems that Hillary lost another delegate because her supporters didn't show up in Nevada?
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/early-voting-shows-modest-rise-in-oregon-and-kentucky/
Read the comment which says:
"I have just returned home from the Nevada Democratic Convention in Reno. Hundreds of Hlliary delegates did not bother to show up. Because of that, Barack increased his delegation to the DNC convention from 13-12 to 14-11.
Bill showed up to give his pitch for the Mrs., but resigned himself to talking about party unity and only mentioned “electabillity” once and “Hilliary” twice. He looked saddend, expecting that “the lady” will soon sing.
There is a need for Hillary fans to soon get over it and work on stopping John McCain from extending the Bush years to 2012.
— Posted by Fongdh"
Can you verify that, Mr. Super?
Posted by: Joe | May 18, 2008 at 04:58 PM
Joe, it is true. The winner of the NV caucus at 51% to 45% received a 44% to 56% split of the delegates. But those 11 delegates will probably switch their votes to Obama as well. The Democrats will have to change their name after this Primary.
John King can play with his board all he wants, but we now need a footnote on the bottom that states "this is all meaningless because votes really don't matter".
Posted by: Truth | May 18, 2008 at 11:05 PM
I haven't seen it reported in the media, though. Have there been any confirmation stories?
I'd rather not see Obama win like this (and I doubt he has much control over whether or not people show up), but I guess that means everything will be over soon.
Posted by: Joe | May 19, 2008 at 11:17 AM
I was at the Nevada State convention and yes, Obama picked up another delegate here's an article giving the actual #'s http://blogs.rgj.com/inside-nevada-politics/2008/05/how-did-obama-do-it-delegate-primer.html
The interesting thing about the Nevada Convention was, Obama delegates paid for all of their own expenses, Clinton Delegates were provided a free box lunch, and more than a few Clinton delegates told me their transportation and hotel room were paid for as well. At the recent Colorado state convention Obama delegates paid for their own food, Clinton delegates were given an unlimited supply of $5 food and beverage vouchers.
Posted by: Lynne B | May 21, 2008 at 12:58 PM