Election: Predict the Results, Win an iPod Nano

I'm running a prediction contest on the Drudge Retort today.

The Cook Political Report, Evans-Novak Political Report and Rothenberg Political Report have made their final predictions. What's yours? Before 3 p.m. EST, predict the total number of Democrats and independents in the House and Senate after today's election. The closest guess wins a 1 GB iPod Nano.

Anyone can join the site and submit an entry. When the contest deadline's over, I'll compile the average prediction so we can judge how closely the entrants are in sync with the actual results.

Politics · 2006/11/07 · 3 COMMENTS · Link

GOP Makes Millions of Obnoxious Robocalls

Liberal bloggers are trying desperately this evening to get the mainstream media to cover a dirty trick of monumental proportions being waged by the Republican National Committee: Millions of obnoxious automated calls are being made that sound like they're coming from Democratic candidates.

On their blog, the Washington bureau of the Chigago Tribune explains the stunt:

I have received a deluge of emails since last night from Democrats complaining about the flood of last-minute phone calls Republicans are making to voters in an effort drive down the Democratic vote tomorrow.

The e-mailers are upset about "robocalls" -- pre-recorded, automated phone calls containing anti-Democratic political messages.

The calls initially sound like they're coming from the Democratic candidates since they mention the Democrat's name right off the bat.

But they're actually being made by Republican organizations like the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Because the calls come in repeatedly to the same voters, Democrats fear the annoyed recipients of the calls, who often hang up before it becomes apparent that the calls are being made by Republicans, will be turned off to their candidates, blaming Democrats for interrupting their dinner or sleep.

Some people who have received these calls say that after they hang up, they're being called back 5-7 more times. New Hampshire has challenged automated calls coming to people on the national do-not-call list.

Joshua Marshall of Talking Points Memo has more on the story, which he describes as an "election subversion operation."

Politics · 2006/11/06 · 33 COMMENTS · Link

Crist Snubs Bushes on Election Eve in Florida

A weird thing happened in Florida today: Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist refused to appear with President Bush and Gov. Jeb Bush at a huge rally in Pensacola.

The Crist campaign is spinning this as a strategic decision to campaign in more competitive parts of the state than the solidly Republican panhandle, but he was scheduled to introduce Bush at the event in material released by the White House. Karl Rove is openly treating this like a snub:

On a tarmac in Texas where the president boarded Air Force One for the trip east, Bush political strategist Karl Rove mockingly questioned what kind of alternate rally Crist could put together that would rival the expected 10,000-person crowd that Bush was expected to draw at the Pensacola Civic Center.

The White House already had distributed schedules saying Crist would introduce Bush at the rally.

The Palm Beach Post quotes an unnamed Crist advisor who said the White House was insistent that Crist attend, but he rejected them anyway.

As of yesterday, only one Republican running statewide in Florida would commit to attending the rally:

Of the five GOP candidates for statewide office in Florida, only one - Senate candidate Katherine Harris - definitely planned to appear with Bush, while three - Charlie Crist, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, and attorney general candidate Bill McCollum - definitely won't attend the Panhandle rally.

Chief financial officer candidate Tom Lee had not decided as of Sunday afternoon, a spokesman said.

Crist, the state's attorney general since 2003, is Jeb Bush's hand-picked successor and has a 6-10 percent lead over Democratic candidate Jim Davis, according to all but one recent poll.

If his campaign thinks it's too risky to be associated with President Bush on the day before the election, the race must be a lot closer than those polls.

Politics · Florida · 2006/11/06 · 5 COMMENTS · Link

Shelley Batts' Weird Science

I recently began reading Retrospectacle, a blog by neuroscience postgraduate student Shelley Batts that digs up interesting and odd science stories like a recent item about grey parrots, whose 100-year lifespan in captivity raises an unusual dilemma for pet owners: Should you raise a pet that's going to outlive you?

Other birds and even other species of parrots don't live near as long as African Greys. Why might this be? According to a study published in the journal Aging in 1999, the rate of mitochondial oxygen radical generation is lower in long-lived birds than in short-lived birds and mammals. We've all heard about the destructive capability of so-called "free-radicals" as reported in the news, and it seems that African Greys may have less free radical production than short-lived birds, and less oxidative damage.

Batts is up for a $5,000 student blogging scholarship that's decided by a public vote ending at midnight Sunday. Su voto es su voz.

Science · 2006/11/04 · 2 COMMENTS · Link

Running an Online Community's Better in Moderation

Robert Sayre has joined my comment moderation crusade:

I try not to delete comments, really. But I don't feel sorry folks who've taken the time to write something like "What the ---- are you talking about?" and left it at that. That sort of thing will be deleted.

A regular part of my life lately has been catching hell from Drudge Retort members who don't like the site's moderation policy, which has shifted over the years from non-existent to lax to capricious to hardass. I feel like it had to evolve to deal with a community that has grown to 4,200 members; others make a good case that I'm a censorious fascist douchebag who'd be more at home in North Korea.

A shirtless redneck philosopher on YouTube filmed a 10-minute video scolding members of that site for believing their First Amendment rights are being infringed when their videos are deleted.

I don't know who this guy is, but he's mastered the parental trick of the lingering, judgmental stare that makes you see the error of your ways. As one person commented, "you lookin into the camera made me feel guilty and I havn't even done anything wrong."

Web Publishing · 2006/11/04 · 9 COMMENTS · Link

Outlook for GOP Looking More Haggard

If you don't know anything about Ted Haggard, the Colorado Springs-based evangelical leader who's accused of sexing a gay prostitute for three years, a recent interview he gave Richard Dawkins provides a glimpse of what he's like.