One PPI Review
I’m starting to get a little feedback on the Parlor Political Index that we released yesterday. (I don’t say “we” loosely; several people were very helpful in helping me think it through.)
A GOP campaign consultant emailed me to say, “I thought your PPI was pretty good with one flaw….Clay County….that is coming out more Republican than it is because Riley is from there. I would say it was truly a lean Dem County.” It’s nice to hear from a professional who thinks about these issues more than most of us.
And I can’t argue with what he says about Clay County. Republican Bob Riley won his home county by 20 percentage points in 2002. In the 2006 Lt. Governor’s race, Democrat Jim Folsom beat Republican Luther Strange in Clay County by 4 percentage points.
Related Articles:
Danny - I also think your index is an excellent piece of work. Good job.
One interesting fact that won’t please too many people at State Democratic Party HQ: The two top growth counties in the state - bt far - are Shelby and Baldwin. By the index, they are also the most Republican counties in the state.
And the most Democratic counties? Those counties such as Greene, Sumter, Bullock, etc. are all LOSING population.
Comment by Anonymous — January 25, 2008 @ 1:38 pm
Danny - when are we going to see the list of the most influential non-elected Alabamians?
Comment by Anonymous — January 25, 2008 @ 2:07 pm
Anonymous in #2, that’s an entirely reasonable question. The answer in my mind is the same that it has been for several weeks, “I hope it’s out by the end of next week.” No one is more frustrated by the delay than I. Some rather large personal issues have slowed me up, and unfortunately working on these blog matters is not my paying job either. I squeak out things here and there as I can, and I still very much hope it’s out by the end of next week.
PPI was an interim project that was fun, and I tackled it when I was so otherwise busy because I had been thinking about it for a long time and it took much less time than most other things stacked up in the queue, including the Most Influential List.
We’ll get there. I’m glad you are interested.
Comment by Danny — January 27, 2008 @ 1:06 am
Interesting point, Anonymous in 1. I went back to look at the counties by votes cast in the 02 and 06 races that PPI uses. Six of the top nine counties (by # of votes cast) were Republican-leaning in PPI, including the three with the biggest Republican PPI (Shelby, Baldwin and St. Clair).
Comment by Danny — January 27, 2008 @ 1:58 am