Obama win a boon for gun sales

08 Nov 2008, Posted by Zachary Tracer in election 2008, News, 2 Comments

The specter of an Obama presidency has led to good business for one retail category: gun shops.  As the (Raleigh) News & Observer reports, people have been flocking to gun shops to purchase assault rifles, high capacity magazines and other items they think the Democrats might ban.

As Jay Price reports:

Barack Obama said he would improve the economy. Turns out he already has, at least in one retail niche: gun sales.

Starting in the days before the election, gun shops across the state have been mobbed by buyers who fear that Obama and a larger Democratic majority in Congress will restrict firearm sales.

Many were stocking up on things such as assault rifles, high-capacity magazines and handguns that they think would be the most likely targets of new laws, though practically everything related to shooting has been selling more quickly.

“It’s been an absolute madhouse,” said Trey Pugh, a manager at Jim’s Pawn Shop in Fayetteville, which is selling 15 to 20 AR-15 assault rifles a day. “I’m getting guys come in and say I always wanted that gun, and give me that one too and that one and, oh, I need a gun safe, too.”

 

Click here to read the full story on the N&O’s website.

Youth vote key to Obama’s N.C. win

07 Nov 2008, Posted by Zachary Tracer in election 2008, News, 1 Comments

As Naureen Khan reported in today’s Chronicle, Barack Obama won North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes by the slimmest of margins.  

Before the election, The Chronicle’s Chrissy DiNicola wrote about the likely effects of the youth vote on the presidential race.  Now, as reporters analyze the polling data, it has become clear that the youth vote proved decisive in several swing states this election. 

Andy Kroll, a Youth Vote correspondent for The Washington Post/CBS, reports in the YouthVote blog that in North Carolina and several other swing states, the votes of 18-29 year olds flipped those states from red to blue: 

According to CNN exit polls, young white voters, 54 percent of whom backed Democrat Barack Obama, comprised 11 percent of all voters. Young blacks, 95 percent of them voting for Obama, made up 3 percent of the electorate. And young Latinos, 76 percent of whom voted for Obama, were 3 percent of the electorate.

As it turned out, Obama’s decisive majorities among young people were crucial to his win on Tuesday.

As The Next Right’s Patrick Ruffini recently pointed out, “Had the Democratic 18-29 vote stayed the same as 2004′s already impressive percentage, Obama would have won by about 2 points, and would not have won 73 electoral votes from Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, or Indiana.”

Roy Cooper gets most votes statewide

05 Nov 2008, Posted by Zachary Tracer in election 2008, News, 0 Comments

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper is officially the most popular Democrat in North Carolina. Cooper picked up 2.5 million votes, or 61% of the electorate in the Nov. 4 election, more than any other candidate.

In April 2007, it was Cooper who officially ended the case against the three Duke Lacrosse players falsely accused of rape. As Naureen Khan reported in The Chronicle, Cooper ran an ad based on his role in the case. In the ad, Cooper emphasizes his use of DNA testing to prove whether people are guilty of the crimes they are being charged with committing. See the ad below:

NC counties that flipped from red to blue

05 Nov 2008, Posted by Zachary Tracer in election 2008, News, 0 Comments

Filed at 2:29 p.m.

2008 Electoral Map - CNN

2004 Electoral Map - CNN

CNN changed their coloring techniques between elections, but these maps should give you an idea of the changes in the North Carolina political landscape.

While we wait for the final word as to who will capture North Carolina’s electoral votes, let’s take a look at the 12 North Carolina counties that changed from red to blue in this election. Yadkin and Durham counties retained their statuses as the most conservative and liberal counties in North Carolina, respectively.

List of flipped counties:

Alamance County

Buncombe County

Caswell County

Cumberland County

Forsyth County

Granville County

Hyde County

Jackson County

Pitt County

Wake County

Watauga County

Wilson County

Headlines from around the world

05 Nov 2008, Posted by Zachary Tracer in election 2008, News, 0 Comments

Filed at 1:54 p.m.

A Syrian Newspaper

Photos of president-elect Sen. Barack Obama covered the fronts of major newspapers throughout the world, from Prague to Panama, from Recife to Dubai. Though I can’t translate the language of every headline, and I can’t even begin to pronounce some of them, I’ll try to give you a sense of what people are writing around the globe. Readers, if you speak a foreign language, post some headlines in the comments.

LUZ NA AMERICA – Diario de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil

BAM! – The Ottawa Sun, Ottawa, Canada

OBAMA: CHANGE HAS COME TO AMERICA – Haaretz, Jerusalem, Israel (English Edition)

Obama slibil revoluci… McCain veril v zazrak – Mladá Fronta DNES, Prague, Czech Republic

La lunga notte di Obama – Corriere Della Sera, Milano, Italy

YES! HE DID. OBAMA MAKES HISTORY – The Gleaner, Kingston, Jamaica

Historico – Critica, Panama, Panama

Si, Pudo! – Correo – Piura, Piura, Peru

OBAMA JUZ BLISKO – Gazeta Wyborzca, Warzsawa, Poland

SiYAH DEVRiM – Sabah, Istanbul, Turkey

LONG WAIT FOR CHANGE – Gulf News, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (English-language newspaper)

Un negro en la Casa Blanca – Ultimas Noticias, Caracas, Venezuela

Thanks to the Newseum’s collection of newspaper front pages.