Sound Politics: Kudos To Justin Mayo And The Seattle Times

September 15, 2009

Kudos To Justin Mayo And The Seattle Times

For three useful maps of election results: Bag tax. Seattle mayor's race. King County executive's race.

(You'll want to download the PDF versions of each map, if you are even a little bit of an election geek)

Incidentally, I have long admired the election maps produced by the Seattle Times, but did not know who deserved the credit for making them.

Posted by Jim Miller at September 15, 2009 01:42 PM | Email This

Comments

1. Yes, excellent maps. Enjoyed seeing the KC Exec. race one, in particular.

Posted by: Michele on September 15, 2009 01:52 PM

2. Yes. I love those maps too.

Especially contemplating the careful inspection of them.

In the Mallahan vs. McGinn map I noted with interest that the Seward Park Peninsula is deepest Mallahan blue.

Who lives and votes from Seward Park?

Posted by: Bart Cannon on September 15, 2009 01:59 PM

3. Orthodox Jews vote conservative, and they live in Seward Park and Mercer Island. Ask Medved.

Posted by: Carol on September 15, 2009 02:38 PM

4. One thing this map shows is that it is undemocratic and almost sinful that we do not have City Council members elected to office by district. The same majority that elects the Mayor elects every single Council member. Yet, our neighborhoods are very diverse and deserve to be represented.

As it stands now, Freemont and the surrounding area seem to define who are politicians are. This is why all of these politicians go to the far left in order to get elected.

It really is time for a change to the way the City Council is elected!

Posted by: bananaland on September 15, 2009 02:46 PM

5. What I don't like is that the County Executive race is nonpartisan. One of the candidates (Hutchison) is emphasizing that the race is nonpartisan, which it is. The other candidate (constantine) is trying to make it partisan, which it isn't, in order to benefit his politics. This is all perfectly expected in a political race.

What isn't expected is for the Times to take a side. Maybe it's just me, but coding Hutchison as RED and Constantine as BLUE, they're sending a message? One of the captions of the maps on the Times website described Hutchison's strength on the eastside as a "red tide." Seriously? They're just going to randomly (yeah, right) assign her the color red. But then they're also going to use a metaphor that vividly equates her support in rural areas with a poisonous maritime algal bloom.

I know, I'm a nerd, but subtle stuff like that bothers me. :)

Posted by: AD on September 15, 2009 03:30 PM

6. Excellent points, bananaland and AD.

Posted by: Michele on September 15, 2009 03:36 PM

7. Red is for commies - Blue is for true blue conservatives.

Thank CNN for turning the colors around. They did this in the 80's or 90's to confuse us as to the true nature of the Dems.

Posted by: deadwood on September 15, 2009 03:46 PM

8. Agreed, deadwood. That's why i don't play the political 'color' game. I never refer to anyone or any state as 'blue' or 'red' because to me, Red will always be the color of Communism. Hence, perfect for the Democrat Party. Especially these days.

Posted by: Michele on September 15, 2009 03:55 PM

9. Site needs a redo. When I first saw SP four or five years ago (maybe longer) it was bright, shiny and state of the art.

Today, it feels like I am seeing a DOS page compared to more up-to-date sites.

Sorry, but that's the truth.

Posted by: swatter on September 16, 2009 07:16 AM

10. Swatter,

Personally, I think the site's appearance and function is satisfactory.

Perhaps you are confusing lack of shiny and bright with the inexorable road to ennui that all new things eventually languish on.

We just might be getting tired of replying to the same contributors ideas of what's interesting, and to each other's replies, and to our very selves.

I suggest using the "shiny, new and bright" public blog function of this site.

Maybe one of your peeves or observations will excite me. I'm looking forward to it.

Posted by: Bart Cannon on September 16, 2009 10:45 PM