Tonight is feeling really good, Kossacks. Earlier today I was surprised to experience a renewed surge of anger and disgust towards George W. Bush and all he has wrought over the past eight years. Sort of like those violent shudders just before a fever breaks, or, as the wise saying has it, when 99% of your journey is complete, you really are only halfway there. it was just one last blast of disgust before the blessed relief of tomorrow.
But right now, I'm feeling really good and mellow. The only thing that would feel better would to be at the Netroots Nation Inaugural Bash in DC tonight, but at least I'm following the Twitter feed (#NNInaug) and watching the Wiffiti screen.
I've also been reliving the glorious campaign with the help of two newly published books. Join me below the fold for a little look...
The two books I've been reading complement each other very nicely. One, A Long Time Coming: The Inspiring, Combative 2008 Campaign and the Historic Election of Barack Obama, by Evan Thomas and the Newsweek staff, is unabashedly gossipy, very favorable to Obama in spite of trying trying to be balanced (and after all, it only reflects reality, given how the two campaigns were run), and a very fun read.
The other book, How Barack Obama Won: A State-by-State Guide to the Historic 2008 Presidential Election, by Chuck Todd and Sheldon Gawiser of NBC News, is a statistic-filled geekfest, with its state-by-state analysis of why and how each candidate won tied to lots of polling and demographic data. It isn't the sort of book you can curl up with and chuckle your way through the memories of the campaign, but it is one that will help harness voter support for Obama's policies and for increasing our gains in the coming elections.
I can't say I learned a whole lot from A Long Time Coming. As someone who reads DailyKos nearly every day, I was well-informed of every up and down of the campaigns over the past couple years. reading the book, I was sometimes disappointed by what was left out. For example, though there was ample coverage of McCain's 'Celebrity' ad that mocked Obama by juxtaposing him with photos of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, there was no mention of Paris Hilton's hilarious response video.
I did learn some background details, particularly of how Obama honed his speaking style over the course of the debates and how he prepared for the debates. For example, I recall the moment in one debate when Obama needled McCain over not even being willing to talk to the King of Spain. As I remember it, Obama's delivery of the line in the debate was pretty off-hand and understated. In the book, we learn of how Obama couldn't keep from giggling each time he delivered the line in debate practice.
That's pretty much how the whole book is. Those of us who followed the campaign closely will find few revelations. Still, we all lived through the campaign as a series of multiple crises and dramas every day, and to now just sit back and read through the whole adventure in this light, gossipy dish is, to my mind, a great pleasure.
What How Barack Obama Won lacks in gossip and narrative flow, it more than makes up in useful information. It begins with a brief general overview of the campaign, but then gets into a state-by-state breakdown filled with polling data and election results broken down demographically.
Here is an example from the section on Colorado, for example:
Turnout was up 2.7 percentage points, to 69.4%, from 2004. Obama won 28 of the 64 counties, flipping six from the GOP slate in 2004. McCain won 38 counties.
The biggest Obama wins were in Arapahoe and Jefferson counties, Denver suburbs that the campaign targeted and where they did well. The two counties are mostly part of the state's 6th Congressional District, the one once held by former conservative Republican Tom Tancredo. And Coors Brewing Company and the conservative Coors family have long been associated with Golden in Jefferson County.
McCain needed big majorities out of Douglas, El Paso (Colorado Springs), and Mesa. He got them, but the majorities shrank substantially from 2004.
One minor item of note: the nation's newest county, Broomfield, carved out of Boulder County in 2001, flipped from Republican in its first ever presidential election in 2004 to Democratic in 2008
OK, that isn't the sort of prose that will make you giggle, like you will reading the other book. But it is useful, especially when followed by polling data breaking the vote in each state down by everything from gender, race and age to whether or not they had been contacted by the campaign and to responses to the question as to which candidate had the most experience or how worried they were about the economy.
In short, this county-by-county, poll-sliced and-diced narrative can provide ample insights for planning our strategies in upcoming elections.
Well, that's all for now. I'm just going to bask in the glow of this good feeling for the rest of the evening. It has truly been a delight and an honor sharing all this with you, my fellow Kossacks, and I look forward to sharing the journey ahead.