2006 Election Maps Mashups

John Fitzpatrick writes, "Search Engine Watch has an article on the launch this week of map-based search tools to follow the 2006 Congressional elections, from both Google Earth and the map-based real estate site HotPads.com. The Google Earth Blog notes the release of two election-oriented layers outlining the borders of the congressional districts and linking to Google News articles related to the different races. And HotPads is offering the 2006 Election Edition. From their blog: 'The 435 congressional districts are outlined on HotPads Maps, with red and blue designating the party affiliation of the districts' current Representatives. By clicking on the districts' "I" buttons..., users can view quick facts about the districts including the current Representatives and the candidates in November's contests. By clicking on the quick facts bubble, users can get more detailed information [from] Wikipedia articles with detailed information about the candidates and the close races.'"

Comments

Re:For Slashdotters who haven't been paying attent

[Keebler71]

I am a conservative (always vote Republican) and let me say that I hope you are right. This is going to sound like a troll but it really isn't. I'm serious because, as a conservative, I want to see the Democrats hurt themselves. I think that would be the perfect set up for the Republicans in 2008. Let the Dems have control of the House by a small margin. With a small margin, they won't be able to do any serious damage to the country (again - I am conservative and that's my bias). They will investigate every crazy accusation that has been made in the last 6 years. There will be one of two outcomes: (1) They will find real evidence that the US was complicit in 9/11 -or- that Bush lied about WMD's -or- [fill in blank] or (2) They will find nothing because it was all just conspiracy theory/political cheap-shot to begin with. Keep in mind that I am a conservative and wouldn't be one if I believed (1) was a likely outcome. So, expecting outcome (2) would be priceless.

They will investigate the Bush administration and probably destroy the political future of anyone in his admin which is somewhat moot as I don't think anyone within his admin is running in 2008 (with the possible exception of Rice). Dems being Dems will find out that the "anti-Bush" rhetoric won't get them very far when Bush isn't on the ticket in 2008

The Dems' current strategy seems to be "we aren't Republicans" but if they win the House, they will be forced to advance legislation and those votes will become part of the 2008 political debate. There will be votes on raising the minimum wage, there will be votes on health care, there will be votes on social security. They will effectively have to put their money where their mouth is. And again, as a conservative - I can't wait for them to do so because as someone else in this thread pointed out - they are their own worst enemy.

Bottom line, I would rather have the GOP lose now in 2006 where it will only affect the House of Reps, than for the GOP to maintain control all the way through the next election, when the Executive, House and even more Senate seats are up for grabs. I don't want the Dems to be able to continue to make political leverage without having to make hard legistlative decisions and continue to make accusations without having to back them up. I think this country needs a good dose of memory of what Democrats do when in power.