Posted on 06/08/2003 11:38:30 PM PDT by LdSentinal
I'm sorry it took me so long to reply. I got sidetracked yesterday and never got back!
There was a blurb on the news a little while back that showed flagmakers busy at work trying to fill the orders for the new flag. Our illustrious governor seemed to have lit a fire under those that mattered to get this transitioned ASAP.
I'm not a native (from FL), so I really can't get all fired up over the issue. To me, the only flag that really matters is Old Glory.
While my preference would have been never to have changed to begin with, I have to admit the new design looked remarkably good in a stiff breeze.
Now you've got my curiosity up. I'll have to pay more attention.
Thanks for the ping!
I wish it also had the primary totals as well, along with any info on special elections. It's too bad they don't have data going back to the first elections in 1789. It would be interesting to see how many voters sent some of our most historically famous people to Congress. I think I read somewhere that TN's 1st Congressman (that being Andrew Jackson) received something like only a few hundred votes from the whole state (minus the areas that were still tribal reservations) in the 1796 election.
"I got to get me the latest Almanac of American Politics. Through some kind of glich I was able to puruse their website for free for a time, but not anymore. :( :)"
Yeah, they did have it up for awhile. The '04 Almanac is coming out soon, though I don't often buy it right out of the chute (at over $60, it's rather pricey, but I'm at a loss without it, especially not having maps of the redrawn lines at my fingertips). I have a complete set of them going back to the first 1972 edition (the earliest ones are very hard to come by). It's very interesting to see how Barone was dead on the money with so many political prognostications (imagine discussing a given member of Congress's long-term career in the early '70s and where they'd be by the '90s, and he nailed it in many instances. Utterly remarkable, this guy is brilliant).
They thought the time was right to jump (critical mass), especially after the defeat of the Marshal Tito of GA politics, Speaker Murphy, and there were expectations that there would be even more defections in the Senate and mass-scale defections in the House. The latter never materialized, of course. I believe they also expected they would able to redo the grotesque lines and protect themselves, but also they similarly believed that the districts they represented would accept their reasonings for jumping (since, after all, even in 'Rat-leaning seats, a lot of those are Conservative). Had they remained 'Rats, they would've been obligated to keep Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor strongly empowered to shoot down Perdue's legislation (and that was simply a no-go). We shall see if their constituents stick with them or if they go with other 'Rats. Obviously, at least a few will, but will it be enough for us to keep the majority ? Unless there is a huge backlash against Perdue, I think we'll keep the Senate. It seems like a similar scenario in KY when the GOP got the Senate there when some 'Rats switched in 'Rat seats, but we still held on after judgment day came, and are building on the majority.
Who ? Taylor ?
"This site http://www.ncec.org/redistricting/ has decent maps of the news cong districts and the prez election totals in them. Careful though it's a "progressive" site."
Yeah, I think I've seen that. I like to look at my 'Rat drawn TN lines for laughs, and then I cry. These guys are the natural heirs to old Moscow.
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