Here’s a map that should be more viewed in America, but a map which has been much overlooked in the post-election euphoria, or post-election gloom. It’s the map of electoral college results, still showing Republicans in a Soviet/Maoist red, and Democrats in blue:
Electoral College results from the 2008 presidential election - American Presidency Project
Note especially the blue dot in Nebraska, around Omaha. Nebraska splits its electoral college votes, giving each congressional district’s vote to the elector for the candidate who actually won in that district. Obama won Omaha’s district; Nebraska is officially a red and blue state. Maine also allows a split in electors, but this year did not see a split among the electorate.
America is not so red as some claim, even in the electoral college. More states are surrounded by blue states than surrounded by red states.
Perhaps it’s time to find other ways to color these maps, so that we cannot so easily speak of a red state/blue state split that does not reflect politics, economics, or much of anything else in America.
Dallas students are out on inauguration day. We can hope our government and history students will glue themselves to the television to watch the ceremony, but we know better than to expect it.
Will you discuss the inauguration in your classes, whatever the subject? Here are some sources you could use:
- Bill of Rights Institute lesson plans on the inauguration (free if you download ’em quick, by the end of January 14)
- Inaugural addresses, from the American Presidency Project; Kennedy, FDR’s first, George W. Bush’s first, Lincoln’s first, Reagan’s first, Washington’s first. This is a good site for student projects on history, or government.
- The only oath of office prescribed in the Constitution is that for the president (see Article II)
- Videos on 25 previous inaugurations (not all featuring the president speaking, of course), from HotChalk
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
Hmmm. How does one pledge allegiance to the party of Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Abraham Lincoln, Barry Goldwater, Everett Dirksen and Howard Baker, and then urge the election of Sarah Palin? There is some powerful dissonance there.
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I can see that Mr. Darrell has a unique bias for the democrats, “Republicans in a Soviet/Maoist red.” When I first saw that, I was somewhat surprised, considering that right-wingers are anything but Soviet/Maoist. The only reason I am pointing this out, is because I wish to proclaim my allegiance to the GOP on this website. Thanks Mr. Darrell for letting me use this website to spread conservative propaganda! Oh yeah,and don’t forget to vote Sarah Palin 2012!
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[…] Sources on inaugurating a new president Cross posted, with permission, from Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub. […]
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I found the “Soviet/Maoist red” comment interesting, simply because I remember back to the Reagan era when the news programs always put Democrats in red and Republicans in blue. No way, while the Cold War was still going on, that Republicans would identify so thoroughly with the color red! Maybe no one thinks about it now, but in the 1980’s they still knew what a red flag meant.
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Purple States, by county map:
JJB
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This will be exciting. It is a big event for everyone in the world.
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That’s how my second grade class did it, Michelle. Our teacher, Mrs. Jones, lived two blocks away. We hiked the two blocks in the sun, wind and cold, to watch Robert Frost recite poetry, and to watch John Kennedy take the oath.
It was really magical then. I hope your kids remember it as well as we do. I’ve always loved Mrs. Jones for letting us be witnesses to history like that.
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We are all going to gather at the home of one of my students and watch the inauguration live.
Michelle
http://www.thelivingclassroomwordpress.com
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http://www.politigenomics.com/2008/11/the-real-electoral-map.html
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There was a population weighted map, and the red shrank to insignificance.
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[…] for the stupid insult of the day, check out “Soviet/Maoist” red, would the balanced alternative be Luftwaffe […]
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[…] for the stupid insult of the day, check out “Soviet/Maoist” red, would the balanced alternative be Luftwaffe […]
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