Interesting statistics--and something to feel good about

[ginnyinWI]

From, of all people, George Will today in his column in my local paper. He was talking about how the Republicans will have an uphill battle this election. Dem affiliation now stands at 50% v.s. 36% for Repubs. Independents favor Dems by 18%. And to bolster his argument further, he talks about how close the last election was. I paraphrase:

Bush's 2.4 point margin of victory was the third-smallest in history for a re-elected president. (Woodrow Wilson and Bill Clinton's were smaller.) By contrast, the average margin of victory of the last 12 presidents was 12.9 points.

John Kerry's 48.3% was the largest ever against a sitting president. None had gotten over 46.1% before, and nine got less than 45%.

He also points out that Iowa turned red last time, but only by .67%--meaning that no Republican candidate can assume it will stay red, so they must be able to turn another now-blue state red to win as many states as Bush got--and that's a tall order given the attitude of voters now about how the country is doing.

Given these facts, the argument that JK is a big-time total loser like some on DU like to say just doesn't wash. Of course the bitter ones won't ever admit it, and will persist, even three years later, on repeating their grievances over and over in an endless loop. But here's a conservative who is willing to speak the truth about JK. Kind of interesting.