Battleground States Buzz Countdown: New Mexico and West Virginia
by Vera H-C ChanOct 30, 2008
West Virginia and New Mexico have five electoral votes apiece, and John McCain (R) and Barack Obama (D) are determined none go to waste ... or at least, to the other. Wednesday, we covered candidate searches from Montana and New Hampshire residents 17 and older. Here is day two of the Buzz Log countdown.
• Troop Activity: McCain's queries (+6%) holds steady among New Mexicans. Also on the rise are Obama searches, which range from lookups for his birth certificate and his socialistic tendencies to his "website." In total, the Democrat makes up 80% of the combined searches for the two candidates.
• Final Offensives: The Cactus State has been a family affair: McCain, his veep pick Sarah Palin, and wife Cindy McCain barnstormed the area, while Michelle Obama followed two days after her husband's Oct. 26 visit. Also, Arizona senator Jon Kyl stumped for McCain on Wednesday.
• Insider View: The bimonthly New Mexico Sun News apparently didn't want to disrupt its printing schedule. The paper went ahead and risked a Dewey headline by declaring a Democratic win. Meanwhile, a University of New Mexico paper basks in the attention and thanks the Electoral College.
• Troop Activity: Both contenders are seeing a rise in searches: The Republican is up 47%, while the Democrat pumped up another 60%. Combined, Obama's searches comprise 75% of lookups, but a significant number may indicate continued unease with his background ("barack obama birth certificate," "barack obama biography," and "michelle obama"). Research into "obama tax calculator" is still strong, despite a 66% drop over the past week.
• Final Offensives: McCain runs strong here, but former president Bill Clinton will follow up vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden's Oct. 24 visit with a Nov. 1 swing through the Mountain State.
• Insider View: Reports of the state's glitches with voting machines had apparently played out on "The Simpsons," according to Techdirt blog. A Jackson County clerk however disputes the video evidence—filmed by a Berkeley group—in the Charleston Gazette. In other news, a bookstore has sold twice as many Obama life-size cutouts, but the manager says she doesn't know what people do with those cutouts in the privacy of their own home.
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scenes from West Virginia and Montana