Arnold Schwarzenegger on CNN:

JOHN KING: So, then, what do you say to some conservatives, who after this election have come together and say, “our problem is that we lost our way and we need to go back to the basics,” which is fiscal conservatism, but also social conservatism. And whether that’s opposition to abortion or opposition to same-sex marriage, what do you say to those people?

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, remember one thing that Eisenhower said, that politics is like the road to center, you can drive, and the left and the right is the gutter. And I think that’s exactly what is true. Where the action is, is in the middle. And this is what I’m trying to do, and this is why we have been successful trying to bring Democrats and Republicans together in the center.

Well, since Schwarzenegger is quoting Eisenhower, and since Eisenhower’s quote revolves around driving, and since Eisenhower is best remembered for the interstate highway system, it’s only fitting to dedicate I-270 to another non-conservative Republican …

The carnage that is the Republican Party in New England has been well-documented.

In addition to the absence of any GOP members of the House from New England, we’re also struck by the fact that since 1992, the Republican presidential nominee has won only one New England state one time — in 2000 New Hampshire went Republican.  That’s it.

So it’s hard to disagree with this assessment in today’s Washington Post:

“I’m a Northeasterner. I grew up in New York City,” said Christopher Healy, chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party. “The evangelical members of the party have their issues, and their issues are important to them.” But here, he said, “the Northeastern brand of Republican philosophy . . . is based on smaller government and less taxes. We’re not interested in what’s going on in the bedroom.”

And that’s from a state that even boasts Joe Lieberman.

Great historical catch by the Washington Post’s Jay Mathews today in his column about whether Barack Obama’s kids should go to public school or private school:

The last president to send a child to a D.C. public school was Jimmy Carter. He was so hot on the subject that he had a line in his 1976 Democratic convention acceptance speech about the political and economic elite who “when the public schools are inferior or torn by strife” send their children “to exclusive private schools.” Amy Carter did fine at Thaddeus Stevens Elementary and Hardy Middle schools, but education experts think it’s better to focus on training teachers to raise achievement rather than tweaking famous parents about their school choices.

Amy Carter did fine, and apparently so did the photographers.  This shot was taken on Jan. 24, 1977, her first day of classes.

Sure hope Brit reporters cover Barack Obama’s inauguration.  We’d love to see journalists like this guy stumbling around town.  We might even buy him a pint … of Advil.

Explanation from Times Online:

Sometimes, you wake up following a drunken night out and realise you have sent an inappropriate text to an ex-girlfriend or your boss.

And sometimes you realise you have drunkenly admitted to plagiarism to camera, and spectacularly resigned from your job, shouting “F**k you’ to your boss.

This is what happened to Birmingham Mail reporter Adam Smith on Wednesday morning, as footage appeared on YouTube of him writing a report on the US election, slumped on a Miami pavement, and barely able to speak.

Mr Smith, who also calls himself Steve Zacharanda in the hit video which was viewed almost 20,000 times in 48 hours, had taken a week’s holiday to go to Miami to volunteer for the Barack Obama election campaign.

After the victory, and very much the worse for wear and drink, Smith was caught flopped against a set of railings, a laptop on his lap, filing an article about Mr Obama’s victory for the Mail.

The maker of the video, a Dutch amateur journalist from Couscous Global, had stumbled across Smith by the roadside, and asked him what he was doing.

“I jumped on a plane on Friday to volunteer for the Barack Obama campaign,” Mr Smith explained in a strong, if rather slurred, Brummie accent. “As an ill-advised promise, I’ve decided to say to my paper back home that I’d write about the American election.

“I wanted to be here because I’m here for history. The trouble is, the readers of the Birmingham Mail are going to get my version of history. And I’m just a little bit pissed…”

Howard Dean at the National Press Club Wednesday:

“We can predict with 85 percent accuracy how you’re going to vote based on your credit card data without bothering to see what party you’re in.”

We like what Aaron Barnhart proposes …

I remember exactly where I was in 1980 when a TV network called the presidential election for Ronald Reagan. I was listening to the radio.

Daddy and I were driving to Butte, where I would spend a week with him during his research sabbatical at Montana Tech. I was too young to vote but not too young to care, and as we drove across the state in early-winter darkness, we were riveted to the historic moment unfolding over the airwaves. One thing I recall is that the radio people were reluctant to declare Reagan the victor. That’s because they did not have access to what John Chancellor at NBC had: exit polling, which was being used for the very first time by a television network, that showed the Gipper running away with the election.

Well, you know the rest — Carter told his press aide Jody Powell that it was “ridiculous” not to concede right away, so he did, before polls on the West Coast had closed. The combined effect of early projection and concession was one of those watershed moments in modern media history that led to the custom, to this day, of the networks not projecting winners in a state until its polls had closed.

This election isn’t quite like 1980, because there weren’t a bevy of polls and number-crunchers confidently predicting Reagan’s election, the way they are with Barack Obama. However, the scenario on Election Night could well repeat itself. The networks could be ready to call this thing early. The way things are looking right now, 1980 is about to repeat itself. And if so, the media policy formed in 1980 is about to become obsolete.

Read Aaron Barnhart’s whole piece here.

Alas, we couldn’t find NBC’s 1980 coverage on YouTube.  So CBS will have to do…