Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. Here’s a by-the-numbers look ahead at this historic event.{ 1 } Obama will be the first president born in Hawaii. (Small surprise: Hawaii didn’t become a state until 1959. Obama was born in 1961.) { 77 } Days until Obama’s inauguration on 20 January 2009.
All national networks are now reporting that Barack Obama has defeated John McCain and will be the next president of the United States.[Update: Here’s the transcript of his speech.]
Election Day also happens to be the birthday of Laura Bush. She’s 62 on this, her final birthday as First Lady.Mrs. Bush shares a birth year with Patty Duke, Dolly Parton and Gilda Radner.
Google Maps has a swell tool to help you find your polling place today.They’ll also tell you if state law permits you time off to vote. (Wyoming residents get one paid hour; Kentuckians get four!)
Barack Obama’s grandmother has died of cancer in Hawaii. Madelyn Dunham was 86. Details from The Honolulu Advertiser and The Chicago Tribune.
Polls continue to show a sizable lead for Barack Obama over John McCain. Now pundits are wondering about a replay of the “Dewey defeats Truman” scenario from 1948. For those unfamiliar, here’s a quick recap of that swell old story.
FiveThirtyEight.com has already been widely covered this election season. But in case you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a look in this final pre-election weekend.The site aggregates national political polls, with further analysis and commentary by Nate Silver. He’s an analyst for the stats-crunching site Baseball Prospectus, and he applies those same skills to competing polls.
Quite a story from the Austin American-Statesman.”Jones’ father herded sheep as a slave until he was 12, according to the family… Jones says she cast her first presidential vote for Franklin Roosevelt, but she doesn’t recall which of his four terms that was. When she did vote, she paid a poll tax, her daughters said.”And yes, she says she’s voting Obama.
Porter’s legs were crushed by a horse in a riding accident in 1937. He named his injured legs “Josephine” (left) and “Geraldine” (right), and for the rest of his life got around with canes and braces. His right leg, Geraldine, was amputated in 1958.From our new profile of songwriter Cole Porter.
Britain’s Daily Telegraph has a funny slide show of George W. Bush looking silly.Perhaps The Telegraph has forgotten that they endorsed him four years ago.