The NY Times has an excellent analysis page on the 2008 election. Not only is there a chart broken down by various demographic categories, you can compare the results, category by category, to previous elections going back to Reagan.
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/exit-polls.html
Perhaps the most important lesson candidates might learn from this election is that the old notion that you begin with a base of white voters, then add minorities to bolster your totals, is no longer necessary. A successful presidential candidate can build a base of African-American, Latino, and Asian voters, and use white voters to supplement that.
This should lead to a greater emphasis on inclusive elections and policies. If the Republicans continue to focus on rural, white fundamentalists, they will fail to adapt to the demographic realities of this country. That 'base' is not large enough to win a national election, and because their beliefs are so narrow and rigid you cannot build an inclusive platform around them.
It may get ugly in the South, as this group of voters feel their power threatened, but Obama's election should provide an impetus to move our country forward into an era of tolerance, accommodation and emphasis on shared goals.
As for this blog - I spoke with Ralph yesterday, and we have decided to cut back our posting. We will post on every Monday. Of course, we also leave open the option of posting more frequently, as the urge to spout off hits us. And if anyone feels the need to comment on something we haven't discussed, notify us by talking about it in a comment to the most recent post and we will respond.
But for now, look for our new posts to appear weekly, on Mondays.
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1 comment:
I would just add to Richard's note about reduced posting that this has been fun, an outlet for our highly charged reactions to the election campaign.
Neither of us wanted it to become a chore, something we had to do each day. So we'll see how it goes on a weekly basis.
Thanks to all of you who have told us that you enjoy reading it. As we move into the next phase, we'll need to know, from your ccasional comments to our posts, whether it's still of interest.
I may post a few "aftermath" comments over the weekend, as I sort through and try to articulate what I'm taking away from this historic election.
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