United Liberty

In analyzing the data from the latest polls coming from Massachusetts with regard to the upcoming special election on January 19th, I have some things to note.

• Rasmussen polled 500 likely voters on January 4, releasing their results the following day.
• The Boston Globe polled 554 likely voters January 2-6, releasing their results this morning.
• Public Policy Polling polled 744 likely voters January 7-9, releasing their results last night. (full .pdf of the results available there)

Beginning linearly with the commencement of the polls, the Boston Globe began first, though it concluded on the 6th. It was not released until this morning, but I think that its results were not influenced by Rasmussen’s numbers, as Rasmussen conducted their poll in the midst, releasing the results toward the end.  They also included Joe Kennedy as an option, whereas neither of the other polls did.  Who knows why it took the Globe four days to release their results, but I think for the time their polling spanned, it is likely accurate.

United Liberty will be live-blogging election returns for races with national implications beginning at 6:30pm.

On this Constitution Day, Peter Schiff made a major announcement as some of you know. He officially announced his intentions to run for Senator of Connecticut.

I have personally been following Schiff since last Spring. I read both of his books, and agreed entirely with his investment thesis. As a finance and political science double major one could easily see how I would naturally gravitate to someone like Schiff. A man who owns a stock brokerage that takes into account how government affects investments who is now running for Senate - It doesn’t get much better than that.

Though it can’t be called an automatic win for Republicans, it is more likely than not that whoever wins the Republican nomination in Connecticut will take out Chris Dodd in the general election. Dodd’s ratings are tanking in Connecticut; he’s simply not popular anymore. This likely outcome of the general election is good for Republicans, obviously, but has created a crowded field of candidates.

As I write this, I am in a dorm room on the campus of California State University, in Hayward, California. There is cheering, chanting, yelling, cars honking and even fireworks. There is a heavy black population here, and I can imagine that for them there is much elation in the predictable and yet also surprising election of Barack Obama as president.

The possibility of a collective African American uplift puts a smile on my face. I grew up with the spectre of racism, attending the Seattle Public Schools during a period of enforced racial quotas and weathered racial anger at a heavily black middle school. To be able to point and say that we have finally fully broken open the race barrier is amazing. Maybe we’re finally fulfilling Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.