Able Archer tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1357486 2008-11-06T01:08:52-05:00 Written and edited by Douglas Carlucci TypePad TheAbleArcherhttp://feedburner.google.com Mapmaker's colors tag:typepad.com,2003:post-58103282 2008-11-06T01:08:52-05:00 2008-11-06T01:08:52-05:00 Enlightening election maps from physics professor Mark Newman at the University of Michigan. Didn't know physics professors cared about the same stuff I did. Anyway, the point of the maps: all that land colored red looks good on TV, but... Doug Carlucci

Enlightening election maps from physics professor Mark Newman at the University of Michigan. Didn't know physics professors cared about the same stuff I did.

Anyway, the point of the maps: all that land colored red looks good on TV, but the problem is, not too many people live on it.

A cartogram of county-by-county results, in which the space each county takes on the map is adjusted according to its population size:

Countycartredblue1024

Why did Obama win? In most parts of the country, the counties that are growing are also becoming more liberal. And so Obama wins in unlikely states such as Indiana and North Carolina.

See the rest of the maps here.

--Douglas Carlucci

 The worst night tag:typepad.com,2003:post-58084444 2008-11-05T15:38:06-05:00 2008-11-05T15:38:06-05:00 Sarah Palin had the worst night. From Newsweek: NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as... Doug Carlucci

Sarah Palin had the worst night.

From Newsweek:

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

A Palin aide said: "Governor Palin was not directing staffers to put anything on their personal credit cards, and anything that staffers put on their credit cards has been reimbursed, like an expense. Nasty and false accusations following a defeat say more about the person who made them than they do about Governor Palin."

McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request. [Emphasis mine.]


Many things ended last night, but I think Palinism ended most definitely. There’s simply no way, if these allegations are true—and notice that the Palin aide only denied that the Governor had staffers pay for the clothes—that Sarah Palin can win the Republican primary next time around. Who is going to give her money? And that could very well be the least of her problems.

There’s no need to pile on here, but it’s ok to smile at her comeuppance. It’s back to watchin’ for Russians for Governor Palin.

—Douglas Carlucci

 Back again. tag:typepad.com,2003:post-58083902 2008-11-05T15:27:50-05:00 2008-11-05T15:27:50-05:00 So I’m going to start writing here again. It’s been a really long time since I last wrote here, as you can plainly see by scrolling down to the next post, which is dated April 28. I know it’s counterintuitive.... Doug Carlucci

So I’m going to start writing here again.

It’s been a really long time since I last wrote here, as you can plainly see by scrolling down to the next post, which is dated April 28.

I know it’s counterintuitive. I write mostly about politics, and wrote nothing about the presidential campaign. Then the day after it ends I start writing again.

The truth is, I got sidetracked last spring, and then I just couldn’t bring myself to add another voice yelling over the horserace. I had a lot to say, but I felt like someone else would say it anyway, so why bother? I still think I was right. I probably would have gone apoplectic writing about the Palin freak-show and watching a once-respectable senator do a lousy imitation of circa-1950 Richard Nixon. So that was that.

But now it’s over. The world starts anew. It’s a brand new era in American politics, as stark a change as 1932 or 1980. I want to analyze how we got here and where we are going.

I don’t intend Able Archer to last very long. I don’t see myself as a first-person blogger, and I think in the media there’s way too much talking and not enough listening. By that I mean it’s time to get out there and report. For now, however, I’m just going to write what I think and let that be.

—Douglas Carlucci