Jason Clarke

The Bangor Daily News, my hometown paper, released the results of a poll today for the Maine senate race between Senator Susan Collins and Representative Tom Allen. If you’re not from Maine, you may vaguely know the race started off generating a ton of interest by out-of-state organizations such as MoveOn.org, but it has since been relegated to the lower tiers of watched races, as poll after poll have shown a large lead by Sen. Collins over her challenger, Rep. Allen.

Today’s poll completely supports the entire vibe (and the several other polls) in the race so far, this time with Collins leading Allen by 55-39 in a poll of 675 “likely voters” by the Daily News and local news stations WCSH and WLBZ.

In a textbook attempt to respond to these poll numbers (or actually, not respond to them), Allen spokesperson Carol Andrews told the Bangor Daily News that:

“Reliable polling conducted internally [by the Allen campaign] shows this race to be very much in play and far closer than those margins.”

Of course, no specifics were included with her comment. Possibly because Andrews is mis-representing her campaign’s polling in order to try and de-emphasize the media report. If that’s the case, it’s an unfortunate example of posturing on behalf of Allen’s campaign. If the internal polling is true, why not release the numbers in an effort to try and boost Represenative Allen’s standing in the race?

To try and resolve this question, I reached out to Andrews and the Allen campaign and see if they want to qualify their claims that internal polls show Rep. Allen much closer to Sen. Collins in the race.

In response to Andrews’ claim, here’s the email I sent to the Allen campaign’s press department today:

Dear press dept:

In today’s Bangor Daily News, Allen For Senate campaign spokesperson Carol Andrews stated that “Reliable polling conducted internally shows this race to be very much in play and far closer than those margins.”

Please send me specific results from the poll(s) referenced by Andrews, along with dates and sample. I will be happy to publish this data on my blog so that the people of Maine can see what Andrews is claiming about the race.

Thank you for your consideration.

Best,
Jason

I’ll post an update here if I receive any response.

It’s this time of year in Maine. What time of year is it where you live?

I’m still undecided on the bailout (though I’m 98% opposed to it), but I do like Jeff Jarvis’ perspective on the $700 billion. Among a list of national initiatives which would cost less than $700 billion, he highlights:

• We could be spending a lot less to get a lot more. A national wi-max buildout would cost between $5 billion and $14.5 billion.
• We could provide broadband access to every one of those homes for about $300 a year.
• We could buy 3.5 billion One Laptop Per Child machines.
• Or we could give 4.4 million Americans free college educations at private institutions.
• we could more than triple total annual R&D spending in the U.S. I can’t find total R&D on alternative energy but with this money we could multiply what Google.org is spending by a factor of 35,000.

Of course, I’d be almost sure to oppose any kind of government-based distribution of $700 billion (especially assuming that’s taxpayer funded), but Jarvis’ ideas definitely pique my continuing interest in large-scale private, action-based wealth distribution plans and how they might shape our world.

At the beginning of the summer, I unsubscribed from Andy Baio’s Waxy.org, one of my favorite all-time blogs, because he linked twice to a blog which continues to push at times lame, and other times outrageous, ageism (scroll down to May 16th) aimed at Senator McCain.

It’s been four months since Baio linked the site twice (the second time defending ageism as a tactic against McCain), and since Senator McCain nominated Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate last month, I thought I’d pop in on Baio’s site, Waxy.org, and see if the liberal (and thus supposedly tolerant) Baio had decided sexism might be an acceptable tact against Governor Palin.

Gratefully, my non-scientific search of Baio’s blog archives, as well as his Links Archive, turns up not a single mention of Palin, suggesting Baio feels ageism is acceptable but sexism is not.

To test my suspicions, I dug through Baio’s Link archives since the ageism began, looking at June, July, August and September (as of 9/15), for any mention of the word “McCain”. I found 9 links total, one of which took aim at McCain’s age, this time with an entirely unfunny and decidedly lame joke (perhaps worse, it was a link to Daily Kos).

I am disappointed that somebody as smart and as respected as Andy thinks its appropriate- not to mention funny- to attack a person based on their age. I hope Andy can recognize that thoughtful people can disagree on why the person they support is better suited to the job of President, without resorting to any -ism, no matter how fashionable it might be.

UPDATE: Please see the comments for two thoughtful responses to my post, including one from Waxy.org’s Andy Baio.

The Android logo

Google’s Android mobile platform will be released soon, and just in time for my mobile phone contract to expire in a few short weeks. Though my desire (and self-justifications) for an iPhone have been increasing steadily since the launch of the 3G model in July, I’ve recently become more and more excited at the prospect of Android, especially since it’s so close to launch.

It doesn’t take a mobile analyst to speculate that the stagnant, innovation-free U.S. mobile device market– despite the success of the iPhone– is still sorely in need of a shake-up in terms of software, hardware, and perhaps most pressingly, pricing structure.

Though there isn’t a definitive reason to think Google’s entry into mobile software could create such a tectonic shift, they certainly have a reasonable chance.

Sad news out of Pulaski, Tennessee: Author Gregory McDonald passed away September 7th at 71. McDonald’s Fletch series of books have been a huge influence on my interests in mystery writing and dry humor; in fact I just finished re-reading (for the third or fourth time) Fletch’s Fortune last week.

If you’ve seen the classic Chevy Chase flick Fletch, you’ve had a brief introduction to the character; though the books are decidedly darker, more insightful, and less forgiving. Check out the absolutely overlooked classic Fletch Forever, which includes three of the best, funniest, and most entertaining mystery novels ever written.

CORRECTION: My original version of this post noted Mr. McDonald passed away on September 14th. The correct date, according to multiple media reports, is September 7th. I regret the error.