24 States Later

Five hours after I decided to live blog Super Tuesday, I am much more comfortable in my decision to support Barack Obama this Saturday at Washington State's caucus. As I alluded to earlier, I could have gotten behind any of the three leading candidates on the blue side. While I was waiting for returns to come back, I considered in detail some differences between the Obama and Clinton health care plans, and I side with the senator from Illinois. Clinton is better prepared to keep the US on the scientific cutting edge. I bet in the end, the two will end up with really similar policy...

It is strange for me, but a lot of my decision here originates in my gut. I like Obama's approach better. I'd rather have a chat with him than Hillary (though both are in my current top ten!)

Am I glad I did this live blogging thing? Yes. I prefer knowing that I spent 5 hours watching politics than a football game. I did miss out on some quality time for studying topics like HIV disease, and I could have been touching up some comments for reviewers on that paper. But I made this choice. And I don't regret it. It will, however be a while before I live blog. And next time, perhaps I'll just re-edit the same post so that I don't back up my (5) loyal readers' site feeders!

And if for some reason, you missed it live and want to experience my unique perspectives on each state as various major media outlets called them, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to read my reviews as the polls closed.

Nuevo Mexico

This is the last state for me in my little live blogging adventure. While 30% of the precincts have Clinton winning 51% of the vote, the exit polls break pretty hard for Obama. So, without any press agency calls, I'll dispense with that part of my entry and skip straight to the nostalgia. For that, I have one word: Philmont.

California

Hillary Clinton has scored big in California. I bet Alameda County (Oakland) pulls Obama closer, but without San Francisco, LA and San Diego (Obama has done the best in cities), there is no way that he could win. It also looks like 10 % of voters sent in their absentee ballot indicating John Edwards as their choice... Sheesh. That's why you want to wait in the primary season. Anyway, the way the delegates are split up kindof favors the loser versus the popular vote in each district. If a district has 4 delegates, for example, the winner would have to get more than 68% of the popular vote to get 3 of those 4. Otherwise, the two delegate split them 2/2. Methinks it will take weeks for this to get figured out.


Cali has lots of memories now that my folks moved there. Favorite science memories include trips to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium and my very first scientific conference: the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs in San Diego circa 1999.

Red Earth

Obama and Romney in the West. It's a broken record. They've got Colorado. What of my exposure to science there? As a kid, I was fascinated by the cog wheel tram that ascends Pike's Peak. But not fascinated enough for me to track down a picture for this post.

Alaska

As the results come in by dog sled from Alaska, it seems as though Obama has picked up another giant Western state. Now that I am clearly rooting for Obama, I guess I can dispense with the attempts as objectivity. If only he could do better in that giant western state called California!

Coolest part about AK for me involve watching the marine mammals from the deck of the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry on a poor man's cruise between Juneau, AK and Bellingham, WA. If you stay tuned, you'll start hearing tales from a Fairbanks delivery room come this May.

Fun In The tucSon

My favorite memory in Arizona is visiting my great aunt and uncle in Tuscon for Thanksgiving about 5 years ago. I also met up with a good friend from high school who was studying galactic gravitational lensing for an astronomy PhD at the University of Arizona. Sure the Grand Canyon is cool, but I had a better time with friends & family.

Oh yeah. Arizona. Clinton won. McCain won.

Utah

Guess who won Utah for the Republicans? Mitt!

It hardly matters that Obama is projected to win here, what with 6% of the electorate registered as Democrats... At this point, it looks like Clinton has been successful in the states that matter most. At 9:00 PM tonight, I can safely say that my vote in Washington will matter (should I be able to get back over the passes this weekend.)

I can hit the visit and the science in one swoop: I presented my research at a Keystone Symposium on tissue engineering and developmental biology at the Snowbird ski resort last March.

Kootenai County Comes Through

Just across the Washington-Idaho border from where I live right now is Kootenai County. What a cool name for a county! According to the NYTimes interactive map, Idaho Democrats (all 10,000 of them) voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. Unfortunately for him, it does not look so peachy keen for him in California. Clinton is cleaning house there.

Mitt Catches Montana

Looks like Mitt Romney is doing well in the West. He got Montana.
I highly recommend floating the wild and scenic upper Missouri River on a canoe if you ever have a chance. It is largely as Lewis and Clark saw it 200 years ago. Email me if you want some tips or suggestions about this gem of a trip.

Connect A Cut

Obama takes a squeaker and McCain continues his northeastern state sweep (minus Massachusetts, of course). An alternative spring break trip took me to Bridgeport, Connecticut in college. We stayed in a church that had duckpin bowling in the basement. That was awesome. During the day, I worked demolition along-side some ex-prisoners living in halfway houses. I learned a lot about prison rehab. It was the beginning of my eyes opening to much that is broken with the criminal justice system - especially applied to inner city Black men.

Battleground For Evolution

It seems like the kind of people that fight creationism in Kansas (probably Democrats) also prefer Obama over Clinton. In truth, Obama's victory probably has more to do with the KS governor's endorsement of him and his mother's family ties to the state than anything else. Oh, and only 25,000 people showed up to caucus. I wonder if there was some cold weather there or something... Or maybe that's as many Democrats as live in the state.


This topographical map clearlyshows that Kansas is not flat. I believe this is your best bet for amber waves of grain, too... Or is that Nebraska? South Dakota? Hmmm...

You Betcha, Obama!

Thanks no doubt to the work put forth by Tangled Up in Blue Guy at his caucus, Obama has taken the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Looks like Romney's got the red part of the state, which is surprising to me given Minnesota's tendency to elect independents. If you have been to this particular lake, you should immediately recognize its significance. A couple of posts ago, I mentioned I drove through North Dakota en route to Seattle. This is why.

Not Much There

By 'there,' I mean in my memory. I don't mean to speak badly about Alabama. There's a good medical school there and that's where space camp is. As a matter of fact, the only memory I have from Alabama is at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. My family stopped there on the way to Disney World one year. Obama won Alabama, and Huckabee seems to have the upper hand on the other side.

Bison bison

Obama won North Dakota! I drove through North Dakota when I moved to Seattle! My PhD advisor is from North Dakota! The latin name for buffalo is Bison bison! That's redundant!

The Other Thanksgiving

Before I ended up in college in Pennsylvania, if my family traveled for Turkey Day, it was to St. Louis to visit my Dad's mom and sisters. Favorite November activities included the St. Louis Science Center and playing Rummikub. I traveled back to MO for a med school interview and for the 2006 AAAS meeting. Both times I was privileged to be able to hang out with my aunt and uncle again. What was the point of this post? Oh yeah - it looks like Clinton's got it for the Dems. The Reps are in a three-way heat, however.

Update 9:15 PST: Obama has pulled ahead by a hair in MO.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving get-togethers at Bridgewater, NJ. Several cousins with careers in the sciences. Psychiatry. Metallurgy. Medicine. Bioengineering. Conversations about politics that the older (more political diverse) generation avoided... Advice about medical school. Delicious turkey.

Clinton and McCain nab the Garden State according to everyone except the NYTimes.

Going to Mass

They're not Catholic, but Clinton and Romney collected the offering that state had to offer.

This live blogging business is hard. Must stay focused. Maybe I'll try a checklist.

My time in Massachusetts: Staying in the Boston youth hostel to visit my sister at Northeastern.
Science in Massachusetts: Ripping my pants at the Whitehead Institute when I toured MIT as a prospective undergraduate.

Hmmm... I'll strike the checklist. How many states do I have left? 15!!!?!?!?!!! Yikes!

Delaware

Delaware = Obama according to CNN
I built castles of sand at Rehoboth.
Now I'm an engineer. Kindof.

Arkansas

The former first lady has AR on the blue side, and the former governor won on the red. The two were never married, however. That would be interesting, wouldn't it. When I was in high school, I went on a church mission trip to Benton, Arkansas where we did home repair a la Habitat for Humanity. On our day off, we all went river canoeing. When one canoe wedged between the current and a rock, I helped free it. In the process, I smashed a finger. For that, I got a splint and some Tylenol-3. Arkansas ERs look similar to those elsewhere. When I grow up, I might be an ER doctor. I probably will not work in Arkansas, however.

New York!

I got engaged in New York City. It was an elaborate scavenger hunt featuring lions and bears and an awesome sister who took an overnight Greyhound trip from Boston to help stage it. Anyway, the papers seem to think Clinton one this one. She'd be in trouble if she didn't.