FiveThirtyEight.com is now including district breakdowns for Nebraska (and Maine) due to the national attention on the second district electoral vote. I got a kick out of this line explaining the political breakdown of Nebraska’s geography:
If John McCain has a nervous breakdown and replaces himself on the ticket with Jack Abramoff, Obama might win 537 electoral votes — with Western Nebraska being the holdout.
Absolutely true Neal. I’m sure a similar scenario would unfold if Bush were running for a 3rd term. I used to think there were a lot of cows in western Nebraska. Now I know it’s pretty much all sheep.
I think it sheds some light on how truly awful Adrian Smith must have been as a candidate for Kleeb to have come that close out there.
With so much love from the ‘easties’, it’s no small wonder that the citizens of western Nebraska feel like another state unto themselves.
Poor western Nebraska.
Yes, save us from our agrarian nature, O benevolent cosmopolitans…into your hands we humbly submit, lest we lose our way among such treacherous terrain, and in fumbling lockstep, vote Republican with nary a blink…lo, we do not seek true and honest and even courageous representation from our leaders, or so you tell us…as you have deemed we are simple, we nod and agree, and accept your ridicule with the dull grin of the lobotomized…and we thank you, our social and moral betters, for such words of wisdom that should fly from your gilded districts represented by such exemplary and gifted leaders of men as Lee Terry and Jeff Fortenberry…
Baa.
Would you prefer pity over mockery? I’m not sure what else will be accomplished by this victim act. If you like what your district is doing, take pride in it, but this self-loathing is just sad. Hiding behind sarcastic deference just makes you seem embarrassed of yourself and devoid of any actual defense for your district’s voting habits.
Nate Silver is from Chicago by way of Michigan. He is quite well known for his vast understanding of national election history and statistics. That’s the perspective from which his quote originates. He has no “eastern third” grudge. I have no idea who “Some Guy” is. My comment actually gave the third district credit for breaking from longstanding partisan tradition when the Republicans propped up a very unremarkable candidate.
I was actually reminded of NE-3 in ‘06 when reading Alan Guebert’s recent column about farmers abandoning McCain. In it, he quoted Fred Yoder, lifelong Republican and former president of the National Corn Growers Association, who asked “Is my party supposed to represent me, or am I supposed to represent my party?”
Okay, so I laid my sarcasm on a bit thick there, and it hid my intent, which was to say that not everyone who lives in the Third District chokes down every drop of Nebraska Republican Party rhetoric. There are, indeed, a large and vocal number who see through it and want better leadership, just as there are those in the Omaha and Lincoln areas who hunger for someone besides Terry and Fortenberry, but find themselves shot down on election day.
I just think that we in the western reaches are seen as being hive-minded, and it’s simply not true – which I also believe that you know, Neal.
Perhaps I could have just said that. Clarity and hindsight are wonderful things.
Hi MLFP,
I don’t think I disagree with a single word you just wrote.
Thanks for stopping by. 
