Daily Archives: June 3, 2008

McCain’s Crowd

I’m watching McCain’s speech on CNN right now. What really strikes me is the crowd. It’s a small crowd, as opposed to the huge crowds you see for Obama. The crowd consists of old, white people; Obama’s crowds are diverse.

There’s something symbolic about it.

How Close is Obama?

Obama’s close to clinching this, counting delegates and superdelegates. After the Michigan and Florida issue was resolved (barring anything bizarre from Clinton), the new magic number is 2,118.

It’s almost 1PM Pacific time right now. According to the Obama campaign, they are 30.5 delegates away. A bunch of superdelegates are declaring for Obama today, and Montana and South Dakota should push him over the top. There are 16 pledged delegates up for grabs in Montana, and 15 pledged delegates from South Dakota. The last polls close at 10PM Eastern time.

It is important to note that Michigan and Florida superdelegates only get half a vote.

The Obama HQ Blog is probably the best place to get the updates on the superdelegates.

UPDATE – 4:13PM – Obama’s campaign puts him 10 away from clinching, and MSNBC puts him 11 away. That means Obama will clinch tonight, even if he loses both South Dakota and Montana. As I said above, there’s 31 pledges delegates up for grabs and there’s no way he’s losing by the margins staggering enough to deny him the win tonight. Besides, there’s still a few hours left for a few more superdelegates.

Note: NBC says they don’t count commitments until they’re public. I wonder if they counted Carter yet.

UPDATE – 5:06PM – CNN says Obama is only 5 delegates away from winning. That means Obama will win with the delegates from just one state.

Other Signs of Being a Political Junkie

People might think I’m informed. We had lunch with my aunt and uncle the other day, and I was calmly able to destroy all of the arguments Clinton has put forth for her nomination. I’m able to recite numbers from the primaries and caucuses. Yes, I have this specialized knowledge, but it’s not because I’m smart, but because I’m an addict.

At my niece’s birthday party, I was going absolutely nuts. I had no access to the internet. I knew Clinton had won Puerto Rico, but I needed to know the margin of victory. I needed to know the exact numbers. Geeze.

Meeting with Our Enemies

McCain thinks Obama is naive and lacks judgment because Obama is willing to negotiate with our enemies.

Of course, then there’s this from Gallup:

Large majorities of Democrats and independents, and even about half of Republicans, believe the president of the United States should meet with the leaders of countries that are considered enemies of the United States. Overall, 67% of Americans say this kind of diplomacy is a good idea.

Go ahead and make that argument, Mr. McCain. Also, keep saying you want to keep the troops in Iraq. Try and paint Obama as weak because of that. The American people think otherwise.

My Professor in the NY Times

I took a class, at Johns Hopkins University, last semester called Stars and the Universe. I’ve enthusiastically recommended very few classes to my friends, and this was one of them. He’s a great professor who makes the material understandable and entertaining — and even inspiring, at times. I was constantly impressed by his ability to use analogies to help you understand. If you take the class, you’ll learn a lot about astronomy, and you can learn it even if you aren’t a science person (so says the philosophy major). Some of the things you learn about are mindboggling, such as the existence of dark matter.

The professor, Adam Riess, was actually involved in the discovery of dark energy. His thesis involved getting more accurate measurements for the distance to Type Ia supernovae by correcting for dust. He was a member of one of those groups mentioned in this NY Times article about dark matter, which won the Shaw Prize.

Anyway, here’s the part where they quote my professor:

Nor is there any solid evidence yet that dark energy is or is not varying with time — if it is not constant, it cannot be Einstein’s constant. Adam Riess of the Johns Hopkins space telescope institute, a key member of Dr. Schmidt’s team, said, “The biggest thing we could learn is by ruling that out.”

He added, “We have a suspect, but we’re not ready to convict anyone yet.”

Not a huge quote, but cool, nonetheless.