March 20th, 2008, 9 Comments »
My Dad told me about this the other day, but I had to see it to believe it. There’s not one, but two billboards supporting Barack Obama on the Pat Bay Highway outside of Victoria. I snapped a photo of one as we passed by:
Bizarre, eh? Apparently this one went up earlier in the month:
The full-size billboard was paid for by Dean Park residents Reg and Karen Mooney with the dual purpose of provoking family debate and putting in a personal push to get troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Reg Mooney, 75, a management consultant and former president of Goodwill Bottling, is a supporter of Democratic candidate Barack Obama and recently attended one of his rallies in Las Vegas.
The second one, which also has a message for Prime Minister Harper, just went up the other day. Apparently it costs about CAN $1250 a month to run a billboard along this stretch of highway (it’s reserve land, and the billboards generate revenue for the local band).
The first billboard’s owner has strong ties to the States, but this has reasonably practical applications as well. Victoria has millions of visitors each year (I couldn’t find a reliable number, but when I worked there it had the busiest info centre in the country), and many of them are Americans. Of course, only a minority of them are entering the city via this highway, but it might be enough to justify this surprisingly low cost.
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February 6th, 2008, 1 Comment »
I imagine most Americans have heard of this phenomenon, but this Canadian had no idea. From a CBC article on Super Tuesday results:
But overwhelming support from African-American and young voters helped propel Obama to 13 wins of his own, including the bellwether state of Missouri, which in presidential elections has predicted every presidential contest except one in the past 100 years.
Apparently Missouri is in the middle of the country, both geographically and philosophically. There’s more information on Missouri’s bellwether status in Wikipedia.
I was encouraged to hear that there was a record turnout for Super Tuesday yesterday. Does that reflect a boon of viable candidates, or dissatisfaction with the current administration? Both, maybe.
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January 28th, 2008, 8 Comments »
It seems like everybody is declaring their support for somebody, so I figured I’d better wade in better it became old news. Never mind that I’m Canadian and therefore can’t, you know, vote.
From my reading, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of policy difference between Clinton and Obama. I’m rooting for Obama because he seems like more of a visionary and an agent of change. He’s also the superior orator. That may not make him a better president, but I might have to listen to one of them for the next four or eight years, so I’m going with the better public speaker. Plus, I’m not a fan of dynasty presidents. After all, how’s the current one working out?
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