Lois Lowry shares her thoughts on a prequel to The Giver, and Donald Trump

Lois Lowry recently wrote an opinion piece on how the society in The Giver came to be the way it was. She also answers the question as to whether she will ever write a prequel to The Giver. You can read her piece here.

Democratic Debate #5

Here is the full video for Democratic Debate #5 from Atlanta, Geogia:

Gerrymandering

This map is an example of gerrymandering. Gerrymandering occurs when one political party draws political boundaries to help members of their party win elections.

On Saturday, November 16, Louisiana held its run-off election for Governor. Democrat John Bel Edwards won by 2.7%. However, he only actually had a majority of votes in one of Louisiana's six Congressional Districts. How is this possible? Gerrymandering.

All states are required by the Constitution to re-draw their Congressional District boundaries following the release of the U.S. Census every 10 years. Louisiana is a red state which voted for Trump by about 30% over Hillary Clinton. In 2011, Republicans drew the boundaries of Congressional District 2 to include as much of the urban, predominantly African American populations of New Orleans and Baton Rouge as possible. This is called a Vote Sink. By attempting to place as many Democratic-leaning voters as possible in one district, it made the other 5 districts reliably safe for Republicans.

In 2021 Louisiana and all other states will once again go through the redistricting process. However, because of the result of the gubernatorial election, Louisiana will this time have a Democratic governor with the ability to veto unfair gerrymandered maps produced by the Republican legislature.

The above map was created by J. Miles Coleman of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. You can find his original map here.

I have written previous blog entries about gerrymandering here and here.

For an interactive map of Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District, click here.

For the New York Times Louisiana election page and a map of the vote by precinct, click here.

Primaries & Caucuses

2020 Presidential Election Calendar is here.

Political Ideology

The Circus season 4 episode 15: "Field of Dreams"

Democratic Debate #5

Democratic Debate #5 will be held Wednesday, November 20, in Atlanta, Georgia.

So far, 9 candidates have qualified:

• Joe Biden
• Elizabeth Warren
• Bernie Sanders
• Pete Buttigieg
• Kamala Harris
• Cory Booker
• Andrew Yang
• Tom Steyer
• Amy Klobuchar

To learn the rules for qualifying for the fifth debate, and to see how close the other Democratic candidates are to qualifying, check out this Washington Post article.

Democratic Debate #4

The link to the debate is here.

The three-hour debate is broken up into four parts:

Part I: impeachment, healthcare, and jobs

Part II: taxes, Syria, and Russia

Part III: gun violence, opioid epidemic, age of candidates, tech companies

Part IV: reproductive rights, Democratic visions, surprising friendships

The moderators did not ask a single question about the climate crisis.

FiveThirtyEight analysis of polling data on "Who Won the Fourth Democratic Debate?" is here.

Presidential Candidate Links

Business Insider: Everyone who is Running for President
New York Times: Who's Running For President?
CNN: Presidential Candidates Fast Facts
Quartz: Democratic Candidates
CBS News: Democratic Contenders

Real Clear Politics: Democratic Candidates Polling Average

LGBTQ Forum, October 10, 4:00--8:30, CNN
4:00 Tom Steyer
4:30 Cory Booker
5:00 Joe Biden
5:30 Kamala Harris
6:00 Elizabeth Warren
6:30 Pete Buttigieg
7:00 Beto O'Rourke
7:30 Amy Klobuchar
8:00 Julian Castro

Politics Links

FiveThirtyEight's Senate Forecast
FiveThirtyEight's House Forecast
FiveThirtyEight's Governors Forecast

New York Times' House and Senate Live Polls

New York Times, Oct. 26: "Stacey Abrams, a Daughter of the South, Asks Georgia to Change"
Washington Post: "In Deep Red Tennessee, Republicans are anxious about the U.S. Senate race"
Washington Post: "Trump ties, Supreme Court fight, loom over North Dakota race"

Gerrymandering

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court created a new Congressional map for Pennsylvania. This map erases the extreme gerrymanders from the previous map and makes several districts more competitive. You can read about the new map here.

The New York Times has a fascinating interactive map feature which compares the old Pennsylvania districts with the new ones. Check it out here.

Finally, here is some interesting analysis from The New York Times about what the new map means for Democrats and Republicans.

Battleground Map

Mr. Gacek created this map using the website 270toWin.com. Click on the map below to create your prognostication for the 2016 United States Presidential Election.

Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com

Gerrymandering Explained

The Washington Post's Christopher Ingraham wrote an excellent article about gerrymandering and how it will affect the 435 elections for the House of Representatives on November 8. Watch the video first and then read the article here.