Aug 29th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Alaska Fun Facts Part II
The following cities have larger populations than the state of Alaska:
– New York, NY
– Los Angeles, CA
– Chicago, IL
– Houston, TX
– Phoenix, AZ
– Philadelphia, PA
– San Antonio, TX
– San Diego, CA
– Dallas, TX
– San Jose, CA
– Detroit, MI
– Jacksonville, FL
– Indianapolis, IN
– San Francisco, CA
– Columbus, OH
– Austin, TX
Austin is fun, but it’s not really a major city.
56 Responses to “Alaska Fun Facts Part II”
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August 29th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
It’s fun to know, but of course it doesn’t matter to the majprity of the oters, Matt.
My first thought was that she is a good choice to help them win, based on her interesting, appealing and not-strictly conservative history. However, I think she is going to fail to excite a great portion of the most conservative-of-conservative voters.
Whatever the case, I expect she will become a media darling, will receive much softer treatment from the media than either Barack or Hillary have, and will be seen to “win over” male media characters (like Chris Matthews) whose anti-Hillary bits had a misogynistic tinge to them.
What I can say with more certainty than all of the above is that this pick is a great object lesson for Democrats on how to play politics, how the Republicans operate, and how seriously they take what they’re doing (the important premise to these points is that a non-smart person can beat a smart person by taking what they’re doing more seriously and working harder). They know that the biggest point of the VP slot, since it is unlikely a VP will get a chance to replace the President, is what the VP does to make the ticket look more appealing in an election. Palin was chosen for how she will make people feel about the ticket. She provides a strong distraction from a lot of McCain’s weaknesses, and she hits with the “sweet spot” against the weakness we created by dropping Hillary. Now the Republicans will get to see how a woman can stir up female conservative support.
Remember, women are 50% of the population, and they are a big part of swing voters! And people always like to help or hire someone they can identify with more than someone they can’t! They’ve already got a white male on their ticket– another white male might not add as much to their voting bloc as this woman can.
A final point: I doubt that her moderate stances are sincere ones, and feel her true stances on the issues will turn out to be much more conservative in the future.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Don’t forget the sprawling metropolis that is Columbus, OH.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Palin + McCain = WTFBBQ. Spread the word.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Alaska has about 300,000 fewer people than Montana, but that’s still a tiny state, but I don’t think any of us would have complained had Brian Schweitzer been the VP pick. And Alaska has 200,000 fewer than the 870K population of Delaware, yet Joe Biden’s the VP pick. And it has more people than Wyoming, and Dick Cheney has been VP for 8 years. Certainly no one can say that we have suffered from Dick Cheney’s crimes because he’s from a low population state, as opposed to his purely malevolent hatred for our Constitution. Careful with this line of argument.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
funny posts and approach, but seriously
First off, Palin is the exact opposite of what McCain’s strengths are. She is a 44 year old Governor with barely any foreign policy experience, prides herself on being a reformer, and her main strengths are really managing. So with this, one might think of her to be a secretary or treasurer rather than a vice president.
This also shocks me in a huge way. Palin’s rumored chances as running mate were rendered by me (as well as many others) as either a joke or a public stunt. McCain loves to tell Obama he isn’t ready to lead, but what if he was elected and — God forbid — anything happened to him because of his old age? Is Sarah Palin ready to lead?
In my opinion, no. I couldn’t imagine Palin leading, obviously not because she is a woman, but because she truly doesn’t have even close to enough experience. I am too worried that if something happens to an elected McCain, Palin wouldn’t be able to keep the country stable, and you can forget bringing the country back from its economic crisis. There is no doubt that she is an impressive person politically and socially, but I can’t help but be against her leading our country in these times.
So as McCain’s huge pep rally (where he appears with Palin for the first time ever) nears to a start in about 15 minutes, one might need to shake the man to his senses a bit, for his running mate is not only his opposite, but she is certainly not a future vice president, and NOT the commander in chief.
pacer521
http://culturedecoded.wordpress.com/
August 29th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I don’t think this was intended to be a line of argument, per se. Just a fun fact.
I think the broader argument that it plays into is the fact that the pick of Palin basically goes directly against the entire argument McCain has been making for his campaign.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Fine, you want to say that Alaska doesn’t count, by all means—but don’t drag Austin into this. I’ll remind you that it was once the capital of its own republic, thank you.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I think I oppose John McCain more than I support Barack Obama. I am terrified of McCain’s judgment. His choice of Palin confirms my opinion. McCain probably sees Obama and Palin as equivalent. He was an Illinois State Senator. She was mayor of Wasilla. He has been a US Senator for less than four years. She has been governor of Alaska for less than two years. Noth are “minorities” – but their are more women than blacks.
Having read Matt Welch’s “McCain: The Myth of a Maverick”, I believe that McCain’s judgment is that superficial. He cannot distinguish at all between substance and appearance. To him, Obama an Palin are the same. On his ticket, the lesser person is running for VP. On the Democratic ticket, he is running for president.
This choice terrifies me – it makes me fear what would happen if McCain is elected in November.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Yes, but do any of those cities have their entire Republican delegation in Congress under investigation for one thing or another?
August 29th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Also, Alaska is 23 years younger than John McCain.
John McCain: born August 29, 1936
Alaska: Admission to Union – January 3, 1959
August 29th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Why are the TV pundits saying Palin is going to help in the West? Alaska is a fishing and oil based community. What does that have to do with Colorado?
August 29th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
… not to mention Brooklyn. Where are our two Senators?
August 29th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Did you have a bunch of “fun facts” ready about everyone on McCain’s shortlist?
August 29th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I’m a Democrat, but I think we would all be wise to avoid the mockery of Alaska. (Mock away at Palin’s credentials – or lack thereof.) But Dems have a good chance of picking up a Senate seat up there, and making fun of the small town, small population stuff can only alienate small towners from all over the country.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
This is stupid. Matt, please stop.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Why are the TV pundits saying Palin is going to help in the West?
Alaska is by far the westernmost state. It is also the easternmost since it has an island on the other side of the international date line. (as long as we are talking about fun facts…)
August 29th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Mondale did, apparently.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Does anyone know the population of the Illinois state Senate district Obama represented? It has to be something like 200-300K.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
You know, I think this is a serious point.
Metro-Nashville has twice the population of Alaska, roughly. Let me tell you – a Metro-Nashville politician would have effectively zero credibility, trying to say that governing there made them an experienced executive.
Apparently, Sarah Palin should have half of that zero.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I think it would be wise to avoid mockery, period.
This is a pick made from weakness. It is a pick made for short term electoral advantage (e.g., courting disaffected Clinton voters and women and reducing O’s bounce). It is a pick to please the base. Her positions are decidedly conservative. It shows how decidedly unserious McCain is.
But given the available choices it is a *tactically* shrewd pick. The press will love her. She will play well on the stump. From what I have seen, she is a confident, clear, and appealing speaker. And her bio will have an appeal to many voters that is easy to spin.
There are a few traps here. Mockery is one. The other is using McCain’s “not ready” argument against her directly, which at worst will backfire and at best will be not succeed because it is seen as just scuffling (or hypocritical). The Obama camp’s spokesman has already fallen into this trap.
The key to using this and countering the pick, I think, is to affect the perceptions. For example, instead of using McCain’s argument explain — over and over again — how this pick undermines that argument, the central premise of his campaign so far.
Overall, this puts McCain in a weak position, but some care is needed to deal with it properly.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
The Bronx borough president, Adolfo Carrion, presides over a constituency twice as large as Sarah Palin’s.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Its a dumb partisan political point for a Democrat to be making. The last Democratic President was governor of Arkansas. Arkansas has a smaller population than the city of Chicago, its population is about the same as Brooklyn’s. No one has seriously proposed that we elect one of the Mayors of Chicago or the Brooklyn borough president to the White House.
If you don’t like that, many people supported Howard Dean when he ran for President, and his state has almost as small a population as Alaska’s! Or you can point to the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1984, though to be fair Ferraro represented a district which had a larger population at that time than Alaska and had slightly more political experience than Sarah Palin. But the two female VP selections are remarkably similar.
It seems to be an ingrained tendency to treat states as being equivalent, even though they aren’t. I happen to think we would benefit by a convention that gives less political weight to small state and microstate governors and Senators (I would put the cutoff at 1% of the national population), but I don’t think we will see that in our lifetime.
If the Democratics are going to pursue this line of attack, I think the “look! Alaska is really weird” meme is more promising. Even then you will have the Republicans repeatedly bring up the fact that Obama was born in Hawaii, but the latter is a more typical American state than Alaska in most respects.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Matt,
You are already falling headlong into the trap.
Why are you determined to be the very model of the supercilious, smartass punk city-slicker and cultural snob that has done so much to deliver Democratic presidential victories over the past few decades.
Must you be so utterly clueless?
Republican operatives are probably already trolling the Democratic blogs to gather choice quotes illustrating the kneejerk, boneheaded bigotry of the callow, shallow cosmopolitans and witless wits that Republicans have been so successful at turning into the face of our party.
Nice move, dick.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
A good response form Obama/Biden:
“We send our congratulations to Governor Sarah Palin and her family on her designation as the republican nominee for Vice President. It is yet another encouraging sign that old barriers are falling in our politics. While we obviously have differences over how best to lead this country forward Governor Palin is an admirable person and will add a compelling new voice to this campaign.”
August 29th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Alaska: A corrupt petro-state of our very own!
Sorry to be so glib, but seriously: two years of governing a 650000 mi^2 midsized city does not prepare you for being one frail 72-year-old man away from leadership of the free world. This is absurd.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
As a followup to my earlier comment (20), I wanted to mention a few examples of how Palin might help in the campaign. Palin can genuinely claim a reform stance based on her work in Alaska, and thus genuinely supports McCain’s image (if not reality). She also did win a tightly contested election and remains very popular there. And there’s a danger that Biden will reign himself in — and thus be ineffective — for fear of seeming too harsh (which I think would be a mistake).
Again, I think these strengths can be countered, but it is best not to underestimate an opponent, especially with the media we have.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
It’s not that Alaska’s small or that Palin’s been governor for less than two years. It’s that she’s a complete non-entity. You can rationalize the pick by drawing historical comparisons, but it just doesn’t pass the laugh test. Remember when Qualye tried to say he’d been in Congress as long as Kennedy?
August 29th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
And Alaska has 200,000 fewer than the 870K population of Delaware, yet Joe Biden’s the VP pick.
Oh, come on. A US Senator from Wyoming and a US Senator from California both have the same job, and the opportunity to gather the same kinds of experience. Biden has been in the US Senate for 35 years – it’s totally irrelevant what state he’s from. Palin has been governor of a very small state for a year and a half. That’s a very different proposition.
At any rate, I don’t think Democrats really need to go after Palin too much on experience – the real value of the pick for Democrats is that it neutralizes McCain’s attack on Obama’s experience.
For an alternate view, though, my Republican friend contends that a presidential candidate and a vice presidential candidate are such distinct things that not only does Palin not in the least weaken McCain’s attacks on Obama’s experience, Palin herself will be able to attack Obama on experience by being self-deprecating. This seems incredibly unlikely to me, but perhaps I’m living in a bubble.
Ed – I don’t think too many people would defend the Ferraro pick at this point. It was obviously a terrible choice – it didn’t cost Mondale the election, but it was cheap and obvious and didn’t help him.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Arkansas, while considerably larger than Alaska, is hardly a colossus that serves as great preparation for the Federal Bureaucracy. However, I seem to remember a Governor of Arkansas that seemed to do pretty well in Washington despite that handicap.
August 29th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
MHD, as governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton was nationally recognized as an education reformer who vastly improved the state’s finances after generations of Orval Faubus.
Palin being a ridiculous choice for VP has nothing to with the state she governs, her gender, or even the length of time she was in charge. It has to do with the fact that there is nothing whatsoever interesting about Palin. The same can be said for Pawlenty, but Pawlenty’s not a pathetic, desparate selection. Both only underscore McCain’s age — he’s 72, cancerous, and has signs of clear mental decline.
I mean, a guy like Dennis Kucinich is admirable, and on the issues, might well be better than Obama. But he’s just not a plausible president. The same is true of Palin. (Conversely, Kay Bailey Hutchinson would have been a sensible pick, but I think she’s pro-choice, whereas Palin wouldn’t even permit abortions in the case of RAPE.)
August 29th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
You do realize that Delaware only has 200,000 more people than Alaska?
August 29th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Can’t it be stated with complete certainty that Palin would never have been selected if she were not a woman? Can that be said without rousing accusations of sexism?
August 29th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I’d like to see a list of all cities with a population greater than that of Wasilla, Alaska…
August 29th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
If McCain had made a serious choice it would merit a totally serious response.
August 29th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
You forgot Charlotte, NC, Nashville, TN, Atlanta, GA and St. Louis, MO
August 29th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Columbus, Jacksonville and Indianapolis aren’t really major cities either.
You have however forgotten:
Atlanta
Charlotte
St. Louis
Kansas City
Minneapolis
Denver
Seattle
Las Vegas
Miami
Washington, DC
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
Boston
… and probably several others, all of which have more people than Alaska.
August 29th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
For that matter, I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama’s Illinois state senate district had more people than Alaska.
Probably not, assuming districts are roughly equal in population (with 59 state senators in Illinois, this would make his district about 1/3 the population of Alaska). But then he was from an urban district, and urban areas tend to have less per capita political representation at every level of government.
August 29th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
To be anal, we really should throw Honolulu into that list. The municipality/county includes the entire island of Oahu:
Honolulu: 909863
Alaska: 670000
August 29th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Can’t it be stated with complete certainty that Palin would never have been selected if she were not a woman? Can that be said without rousing accusations of sexism?
Abso-freakin-lutely. It’s like with Mondale. McCain has a campaign he knows he needed to put a spark into, and has every chance of getting hammered if he doesn’t go for the hail mary pass. He’s praying that that Clinton supporters who wanted a woman, a conservative woman even better, will flock to his banner.
August 29th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
More Alaska Fun Facts:
Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage, has nearly half of the state’s population.
Alaska’s state capital, Juneau, is only accessible via ferry or plane.
Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage, is geographically larger than two states (Rhode Island and Delaware).
Just some more interesting stuff on the Last Frontier for you to chew on Matt.
August 29th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
What’s your definition of a “major city?”
Austin is huge and growing huger every day. It lacks professionl sports only because a professional sports team would fail to draw more than the mighty University of Texas.
Austin is more than “fun.” It’s the intellectual and creative capital of the world.
And the Horns rule!
August 29th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Matt, this is an excellent theme for the national party: Let’s adopt a caste-system mindset that designates small-population states and their leaders as inherently second-class. This speaks to the highest ideals of both the country and our party.
As a corollary, let’s explain that governors of big-population states like California and New York — you know, the ones with sterling records of fiscal management — receive preference for higher office.
I’m sure that Joe Biden will have thoughts about this theme. Bill Clinton too. And Howard Dean.
Which reminds me: An ad campaign using this theme will do wonders for party-building in assembling new coalitions around the country as part of the DNC’s 50-state strategy.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Same cities also have a population larger than Delaware, which has one-three-hundredth Alaska’s area, and whose income comes from providing a flag of convenience for a lot of dicey corporations which, unaccountably, don’t want to incorporate where they actually do business. Hmmm. Course Biden hasn’t been running Delaware. Or anything else, really. On the other hand, he and Obama are both lawyers, and I’m sure that’s something folks can cozy up to.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
What Siva(41) said. Austin IS a major city, at least in conceptual space, as judged by the number of people who know exactly what you mean when you just say “Austin”. The fact that it’s getting huge is nowhere near as important as the fact that it’s remaining a wonderful place to live in spite of the fact that it’s getting huge.
August 29th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
While I’m surprised to see San Francisco as bigger than all of Alaska (in population, of course – the city and county of San Francisco land area is VERY small), I’d agree that it’s not wise to be mocking the whole state of Alaska – even though Rhode Island always gets kicked around as well.
Mock the candidate, not the state. It would show a bit more maturity than you usually get from Matt.
August 30th, 2008 at 1:16 am
You don´t expect experience from the VP. In fact, having a very experienced VP with a unexperienced president is something of a dangerous situation because you can have a vice-president that´s more powerful than it needs to be. Dick Cheney anyone?
Being a state senator is not a serious political experience for being president. And c´mon, even with inexperienced governor of small state you have hints about what to expect. Not with senator.
And at least Palin didn´t ignite a legislation that made America to have a larger proportion of its population under prision than the Soviet Union. Neither she tried to affect the way that we use E-mule.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:15 am
You left out Fairfax County
Whose population is twice that of Alaska, and actually has to deal with the problem of taxing its citizens for the public services they need, as opposed to paying them off with negative taxation in the form of a cut of the oil and gas severance tax haul. Despite that, I suspect that Obama did not have Gerry Connolly, the outgoing chairman of our Board of Supervisors, on even his long list for VP. Gerry, of course, has probably never even been runner-up at a beauty pageant, so I guess he lacks that qualification.
August 31st, 2008 at 1:26 pm
You left out King County Washington (Seattle, Bellevue and all those lying in between) and for that matter probably Seattle itself.
August 31st, 2008 at 1:35 pm
On my way home on the ferry Friday afternoon I was screamed at by a male republican who claimed I was being sexist because my friend Suzanne and I said the Sarah Palin pick is a blatant attempt to get female voters who supported Hillay Rodham Clinton. I said to her, women aren’t that dumb, she and I were speaking only to each other, when Mark started screaming at us that we were sexist. He knew John McCain picked her because she was very qualified for the job. We were dumbfounded and listened to him rant and rave all the way to the dock, (35 minutes) he went on and on and on, and told me basically I couldn’t shake my head at him, because he was right and he knew what he was talking about. It was as if he was my father and giving me some sort of lecture, I laughed at him and told him off. But I have a feeling now this election is going to a miserable, miserable angry election just like the year 2000. Those conservative nuts are spun up beyond belief. They are spitting angry, I think they know McCain has a great chance of loosing this election, I think they will do anything and say anything to win. I hope the American people are smarter than that, but after living through two terms of current lunatic holding the most important office maybe on the face of the earth, I am simply not so sure. The last time I had big confrontations on the ferry like this it was the year 2000. I have to say I am worried, very very worried.
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