Tag Archives: 2016 presidential campaign

California is Unusual

Posted on April 22, 2019 by Thomas Mets

There is an underappreciated reason for the arguments about the electoral college: California is so unusual in how partisan it is. If California were not part of the United States, Trump would have won 58,501,018 votes, which is roughly 47.74% … Continue reading →

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Why I’m Not a Democrat (or Independent)

Posted on December 28, 2017 by Thomas Mets

Something I’ve been thinking about for a while is why I’m not a Democrat. I’ve pretty much answered the question before about why I am personally a Republican, but I haven’t specifically addressed the flipside. In some political discussions, this … Continue reading →

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Throwback Thursday: On considering race and gender for political appointments

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Thomas Mets

In his piece about the advantages African-American candidates have in presidential primaries, Ben Smith suggested that “the Romney/ Ryan debacle did probably guarantee one thing: That the Republican Party will never again present a ticket with two white men on … Continue reading →

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The next presidential landslide

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Thomas Mets

It’s been a while since we’ve had a true landslide presidential election. The general definition has been 55% of the popular vote. Clinton’s 1996 reelection comes close, as he did beat Dole by 8.5%, even if he didn’t get a majority … Continue reading →

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Thursday Throwback: Changing Election Laws

Posted on July 20, 2017 by Thomas Mets

Several years ago, there was a brief discussion about whether Republicans might change the law, so that key swing states, the electoral votes would go to the winner of congressional districts. This is the current system for Maine and Nebraska. … Continue reading →

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Florida Voters

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Thomas Mets

A weird thing about Florida. In the 2004, 2008 and 2012 elections, turnout in Florida was higher than in Texas, despite Texas having a much higher population. In 2012, 8,474,179 voters came out in Florida compared to 8,077,795 in Texas. New York … Continue reading →

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Precedent and Presidents

Posted on June 18, 2017 by Thomas Mets

There’s a profile in Politico about Jason Kander, former Secretary of State in Missouri, who lost a close race for Senate. Some people in a political forum I frequent want him to run for President for a strength of that. … Continue reading →

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The Left’s Confederate Flag

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Thomas Mets

Tim Graham of Newsbusters wrote about a topic I’ve been thinking about: how the left opposes confederate flags, while supporting similarly problematic soviet imagery. Two years ago, a Kevin Williamson piece on Bernie Sanders got some angry responses from the left, … Continue reading →

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Best Presidential Launching Pads

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Thomas Mets

An interesting question was posed in a political debate: What is the best launching pad for the presidency? What is the best public office to hold if you want that job? In the 2016 election the Republicans nominated a reality … Continue reading →

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Senators and Vice-Presidents

Posted on July 16, 2016 by Thomas Mets

Donald Trump’s selection of Mike Pence as his running mate shows an interesting difference between Republicans and Democrats. The Democrats will almost always pick Senators for Veep. Republicans are most apt to pick Governors, like Pence is now; leading members of the House … Continue reading →

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