Elitism, Youth, and Novices

Obama won in Allen County. Even if the people I know did cross party lines to vote for Hillary, they were thwarted.

This map is also very interesting because it really shows where many of the state's urban centers are. Marion, Lake, Allen, St. Joseph, and Elkhart Counties; which are home to Indianapolis, Gary, Fort Wayne, South Bend, and Elkhart/Goshen respectively, went clearly to Obama. In Vanderburgh County, home to Evansville, Obama lost by just 1,293 votes.

Another interesting fact is that counties with major universities tended to go for Obama. Monroe County, home to IU Bloomington; and Tippecanoe County, home to Purdue both went to Obama.

Speaking of colleges, CNN's exit polls page had some fascinating statistics on how people with college educations voted, showing that people who graduated college favored Obama to Clinton 56% to 44% and those with post graduate education favored Obama 57% to 43%.

For the all-important Youth vote, the voters in the 17-29 demographic favored Obama over Clinton 61% to 39%. The 30-44 demographic (my fellow GenXers) favored Obama 56% to Clinton's 44%. Clinton captured the two-thirds of the votes from those over 60, which is really not a shock.

One thing of note is that neither candidate really got that many inspired new voters, according to the exit polls. Of the respondents, only 7% had never voted before, so it makes me think that a few voters may have been put off by the constant pandering by the candidates. But still, for those who did brave the primary process, 60% went for Obama and only 40% chose Clinton.

So you may wonder how my personal coin toss went. Well, let's just say that I live in an urban area and I am a college graduate. You do the math.

Isn't Panhandling Illegal?

My Gmail is overflowing with entreaties from Bill and Hillary Clinton, Terry McAullife, and Barack Obama.

It's enough to make a person crazy. And like most people would say, for me, that's an extremely short trip.

If I had money to give, I would have given it already. I'm not going to max out my Amex on a primary candidate, especially because I can't decide which one to choose. If you held the proverbial gun to my head right now, I would probably choose Obama. I think he is the stronger candidate for the majority of the vote in November at this point.

So I am not asking for a gun to be pointed at my head, just to be clear. Heaven knows I have enough problems without a death threat.

Whatever the outcome of the primary season, I hope that the candidates give me something more substantive on which to vote in the general campaign. I think McCain may very well be the worst thing for the country, a third GW Bush term. If not for his ideals, then for his scary, terrifying base. But that is not enough of a reason to vote Democratic, I need help people.

You may want money, but I want a platform on which to stake my vote.