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The Town that Built the Tanks and Bombs that Won This Country’s Wars

Posted May 07, 2011 in Pennsylvania

I’m driving cross-country in a couple of weeks and I feel compelled to visit Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, home of such great Americans as Mike Ditka and Gust Avrakotos.
I was planning on picking up a Primanti Brothers sandwich and eating it in the grandstands of Aliquippa High School Stadium — aka The Pit.
What else do I need [...]

Can Obama Win Warren Buffett’s Hometown Again?

Posted February 27, 2011 in Nebraska, Obama

I’m washing down a $9.95 New York Strip with a root beer float on the outskirts of Omaha. The restaurant is on the other side of the Union Pacific tracks and looks like it was built in the Ford administration. It could be any other family restaurant in Middle America.
The only exception is that [...]

Where Does the South Begin?

Posted January 24, 2011 in South

The Post had an interesting article last weekend about how the Washington, D.C. region has lost most of its southern identity in recent decades as northerners move in and the federal capital’s culture, food, and dialect became more standardized.  The article raised the inevitable question — Was D.C. ever a southern city?  And it so, [...]

Testaments to Better Times Still Stand Solid in Pittsburgh

Posted January 12, 2011 in Uncategorized

PITTSBURGH — As a Washington sports fan, I’ve never had much nice to say about Pittsburgh, but on a recent visit to the city for the Winter Classic I was impressed by the solidness of it.  As I sat in Heinz Field watching the Caps handily dismantle the Pens 3-1 in front of 68,000 fans, [...]

How Solid was the South for Democrats?

Posted January 10, 2011 in Democrats, South

I was browsing the 1982 Almanac of American Politics and came across a fascinating chart detailing the control of state legislatures.  We all know that the South used to be solidly Democratic for generations post-Appomattox, but did you have any idea it was this solid?
State Legislature Split in 1982, measured D-R
State Upper Lower Gov.
Alabama       35-0 [...]

83% of Congressional Districts Trended Republican in 2010

Posted November 23, 2010 in Electoral Map, Google Maps, House, Map of the Day, Obama

Two years after Barack Obama and Democrats reached their electoral high point, the political pendulum swung quickly and definitively back to Republicans in 2010. It was a political “whiplash” of sorts — a swift refudiation of the way the country was moving.
Republicans reclaimed congressional districts from the New Hampshire coast to the swamps of [...]

Republicans Roll from the Eastern Shore to the Western Slope

Posted November 03, 2010 in Uncategorized

It was a well-rounded rout, from the Eastern Shore of Maryland to the Western Slope of Colorodo.  The map went red last night from the mountains of Idaho to the swamps of Louisiana, from New England to Las Vegas, from the Orlando burbs to the Dakota prairies.  Freshman like Tom Perriello and committee chairman like [...]

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