Michael Barone says that an Obama/McCain match in November could radically change the red vs. blue map of 2000 and 2004. The Boston Phoenix’s Steven Stark is more skeptical that […]
Who can change the Electoral College map?
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Six more weeks of pointless arguing?
You can’t open a browser this morning without stumbling onto some election analysis, so I won’t go over the minutiae from the exit polls from Ohio and Texas. But it […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Completely unsubstantiated VP speculation
There’s chatter about Clinton and Obama (presented here in alphabetical order) forming a unity ticket to bring this interminable Democratic primary campaign to a close, the problem being that both […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Disasters on the horizon?
Slate.com’s Daniel Gross discusses the high number of natural disasters — that is, snowstorms, tornados, and the like that are declared disasters by the federal government — during presidential election […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
As the Bay State crumbles
Governing magazine and the Pew Center for the States give Massachusetts a "C" in their annual Management Report Card. Only New Hampshire and Rhode Island got lower grades for how […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Gaming the casino job numbers
Today’s Boston Sunday Globe features a front-page story by Sean Murphy questioning the Patrick administration’s claim that 30,000 construction jobs would be created if the governor’s proposal for three casinos […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
Pioneer Institute: Spend more on public colleges!
Well, maybe that’s not exactly their point. UPDATE: Steve@Pioneer claims in our Comments section that Pioneer was actually trying to point out that Massachusetts has a heavy public debt, not […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Lay of the land: Ohio Democratic primary
Though Ohio isn’t quite as kaleidoscopic as Wisconsin, its voting patterns in Democratic presidential primaries is pretty colorful. And, as in Wisconsin, the political diversity of its major cities often […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Happy Town Eating Day!
Norwich, Vermont, is trying to increase attendence at its daylong series of public meetings this Saturday by providing snacks and lunch: "We only ask that you sit with someone you […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Obama’s Massachusetts problem
When he first uttered it in an earlier debate, it could be passed off as slip of the tongue. But after last night’s debate, it became hard to ignore: Barack […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
New Mexico: Land of Enchantment for businesswomen?
March is Women’s History Month, and the Census Bureau is marking the occasion by bundling data on gender differences in education, job earnings, voting participation and the like. One report […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Pew’s Religious Census
In other demographic news, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life today released its massive U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, which is based on 35,000 respondents from every conceivable affiliation. […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Stupid spending: Everybody does it?
Elizabeth Kolbert writes in The New Yorker about all the ways we don’t behave as rational consumers. According to "behavioral economists" (as opposed to the old-fashioned economists who believe that […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Baby boomers may be knocking off too early
USA Today’s Sandra Block writes that Baby Boomers may be making a big mistake by retiring at 62, the first year they’re eligible for Social Security benefits:…millions of the oldest […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
How easy is it to move on up?
The Pew Charitable Trusts just released a top-to-bottom study on income inequality, titled Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Economic Mobility in America. (Read the press release here or a PDF […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Nickle and diming your way to the top
While we’re on the subject of economic mobility, author Adam Shepard has written kind of a rebuttal to one of the most popular works on how hard it is to […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Obama wins red states and blue counties
Brendan Nyhan has some nice graphs plotting Barack Obama’s support in primaries and caucuses by several variables, including education levels and the number of white Southern Baptists in a state. […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Nice and easy in Pennsylvania
Ballot Access News reports that only 49 percent of state House seats in Pennsylvania are being contested by both the Democratic and Republican primaries — even though the Democrats control […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Romney as the logical choice?
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 David Eisenthal has already come up with the theory that this year’s presidential election will follow the storyline of The West Wing. Now Peter Porcupine sees […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Montana left standing in housing collapse
The number of new housing units built in the US was down by one quarter from the year before, according to recent data from the Census Bureau, depicted on the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Boulder lets Cambridge do the heavy (symbolic) lifting
Colorado’s Daily Camera reports that the Boulder City Council is unlikely to pass a resolution calling for Congress to consider the impeachment of President George Bush. Says one councilor: "I […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, The Download
Housing slump brings together Detroit and Las Vegas
USA Today has charts on the slump in housing sales and prices. We think we have it bad in Massachusetts, but the number of home sales fell by a relatively […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
Could the subprime mortgage crisis cause more potholes and college dropouts?
Stateline.org’s Daniel Vock explains how the subprime mortgage crisis could ensnare state governments:…cities and states that issue tax-exempt bonds to raise money for such projects as road and bridge work […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Just who are these superdelegates anyway?
The Washinton Post has an easy-to-read list here, but it doesn’t include any suggestion of how they’re leaning. All Democratic congressmen and governors are included; the category "distinguished party leaders," […]