dr. elsewhere here
Two years ago, I was such a poll junky I could hardly sleep. I combed the net several times a day to find the best presentation of national polls. None were terribly satisfying, shown generally as numbers, state by state; I just can't keep that kind of information in my head and make sense of them over that many datapoints. I needed a good visual.
And then I found him. VOTEMASTER!.
In case you are one of the few poll junkies who did not know about Votemaster in '04, he is an American professor teaching computer science in a Dutch university. He kept his identity secret until right before election day, and guessing who he was became something of a sideshow pasttime. His site became the most visited poll-watching site during that campaign, and then after it was over, he vanished. So it is just great to see him return.
And his site is incredible, just incredible. It's visually accessible; you can see at a glance how the Senate races are going. It's complete; click on a state and get the latest poll results. And he updates almost daily! It's so cool.
The House races do not lend themselves to such visual graphics, unfortunately. But he lists each and every race in each and every state, and you can learn about each and every candidate; and he actually calls each and every race (lots of tossups, just how Rove likes 'em).
If you study the site, you'll come away with some hope of taking Congress back. I'm considering visiting a swing state to help, like I did two years ago. Maybe you'll be inspired to do something like that, too.
Meanwhile, bet you get as addicted to Votemaster as I did!
6 comments:
I confess to having been a 2004 addict. So, what do we have, Senate-wise?
Tennessee is placed in the Dem camp, but other polls paint it a faint shade of red. The other incredibly close races are Missouri and New Jersey.
If we can get focused on those three races -- if we can put the kind of energy into those campaigns that we've put into the Lamont/Lieberman match -- we might, might, MIGHT just WIN THE SENATE.
The importance of these races cannot be overstressed. We all know that W plans to hit Iran. We all know that the deficit is much worse than we've been told. Many thousands will die -- and this nation will sink into banana republic status -- if we don't have a congress that stands ready to impeach.
I was totally Votemastered myself, very happy to see him back! In 2004 I even emailed him a few times to get some numbers shown differently. He was happy to help. The guy is as nice as he is thorough!
Miss P.
joe, i thoroughly agree. that's why i'm hoping to be in TN for that race, both prior to and on election day. not sure what difference it will make, even if i can actually manage the trip.
the prospects in the house look much better, though. and i am still - perhaps foolishly - optimistic that the more rove pushes his tactics to the hilt, the nastier the campaigns get and the more blatant their lies, the public will just scoff and vote against them. it's happened before.
miss p, i know, the guy is really nice. i also had several exchanges with him, but then almost overnight he became so hot he had to back off the email and issue a request to restrict correspondence to the numbers and tech issues. it was a cool ride, though. i was also impressed with his reporting integrity.
joe, i thoroughly agree. that's why i'm hoping to be in TN for that race, both prior to and on election day. not sure what difference it will make, even if i can actually manage the trip.
the prospects in the house look much better, though. and i am still - perhaps foolishly - optimistic that the more rove pushes his tactics to the hilt, the nastier the campaigns get and the more blatant their lies, the public will just scoff and vote against them. it's happened before.
miss p, i know, the guy is really nice. i also had several exchanges with him, but then almost overnight he became so hot he had to back off the email and issue a request to restrict correspondence to the numbers and tech issues. it was a cool ride, though. i was also impressed with his reporting integrity.
I agree, the nastier they get the better for normal people it is. My dream is to have them blathering evil while we ignore and move on issues.
Be sure to check out Votemaster's "News" link - especially the part about Superguru's and Lesserguru's.
When I contacted VM I asked for data in Excel - a product he is apparently continuing with!!!!
Miss P.
I too was a Votemaster addict in '04 and even traveled to nearby New Hampshire to help get out the vote in the only swing state here in the Northeast. Based on the Votemaster and then on the exit polls I was convinced that we had narrowly pulled out the election. Then I saw, as many did, that none of this mattered since the election was stolen.
Much as I admire the Votemaster, and all that he stands for, the central issue is corrupt elections not close elections. Continuing to play the horserace game is to support the fantasy that our democracy is functioning. Obviously this plays into the Republicans' hands and cements their hold on power. This time around my contribution will be to spread the word about the dire state of our elections.
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