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Our latest project: Live Election Results for 2010!

November 1st, 2010

That’s right, our latest project turned into a pretty big effort; live election results for the entire US! We’re allowing you to customize which races you want to watch in real-time.

The idea for this project started back in August of 2010 as a simple site to show some local live election results for one county. It was a quick and simple application that worked really well.

In October, we started working on some improvements and decided to expand the scope of the results to cover all U.S. Senate, U.S. House races, and as many states as we could before November 2nd. Oh, and we redesigned the Silverlight UI and added a ton of functionality.

On top of that, the project now includes a mobile web version for the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry devices. And a custom Windows Phone 7 client application with some really advanced features. Not to mention a ton of new really smart high-availability back-end data services.

So, yeah, lots of work and not much sleep. But it’s really awesome and we’re very happy with it. Check it out: Live Election Results for November 2nd 2010.

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Governor Mitt Romney

March 6th, 2007

We were able to see Governor Mitt Romney today. This is the first presidential candidate I have seen in person this cycle. It was an interesting event. The room was medium sized with a small stage at the far end and a buffet line on the right. I would say it was well attended, maybe about 100 people.

The Event – it really had the feel of a fund-raiser, but still a meet and greet. They asked for money on more than one occasion and asked that you encourage family and friends to contribute. The buffet was surprisingly good for a political event.

The People – I was a little surprised by who was (and wasn’t) there. Only a few past and present elected officials and all of them were openly supporting him. Almost all of Jimmy Duncan’s staff was there (including his son). I was a little surprised to see a few high-dollar Bryant contributers.

The Man – perhaps my expectations were too high, but I wasn’t overwhelming impressed. He didn’t have an impressive way about him and yet he didn’t come across as an ordinary guy. Jenny put it best: he’s a business executive. Thats really how he came off to me. It was like meeting the CEO of your company. I just realized that he wasn’t very charismatic and when he was, it was almost like he knew he should be. He was a pretty good speaker. When answering questions, he tended to ramble a bit. That could be his lawyer side coming out. One other thing I noticed: his back and shoulders were rigid when he was speaking (sometimes when he walked, too).
He had a very even pace, not too fast or too slow.

Of Interest – When asked about his record on Pro-Life issues and rather or not he has flip-flopped in the past on it, he gave an interesting answer. He said that he has never flip-flopped on the issues and has always been personally Pro-Life. He said that when he has run for public office his position was that of enforcing the current law (as he said, “effectively pro-choice”). But, he said, that changed about 2 years ago when the issue of cloning was being debated in his state. He told a story about meeting with an expert that didn’t think there wasn’t a moral issue at debate since they would destroy the embryo at 14 days. He said he decided that he had to take a stand for the protection of life and wrote an Op-Ed in the Boston Globe about it and his position. He likened his decision to that of Ronald Regan and George HW Bush, who, he said, had also rethought their position on the issue.

Most Interesting – I would have to say it was a conversation with one of Governor Romney’s senior adviser. According to him, the Haslam’s have been a great help. With Bill Frist out of the presidential race and the Haslam reputation for fund-raising, it could make a big difference who they support.

Last Note – there was one comment I heard over and over: Mitt Romney was elected governor of the liberial state of Massachusetts as a republican. The implication was that he could win over democrats. Is this true? Who knows. It will be interesting to see how the campaigns try to distinguish themselves in the coming months.

Politics

Prediction

August 22nd, 2006

Here is my early prediction on a race I’ve been watching for over a year. That’s right; I’m talking about the Michigan Governors race. This is a super hot contest between a sitting Democrat Governor (Jennifer Granholm) and republican businessman Dick Devos.

State of the Union: Michigan is experiencing a single state recession. People are leaving Michigan in unprecedented numbers. Michigan has lost over 100,000 jobs since Granholm as taken office. Detroit is the motor capital of the world, yet they’re tearing down auto plants and building them in other states. Economically, Michigan is in desperate need of a turn-around.

Michigan may be a presidential blue state, but don’t forget that Granholm’s predecessor was a very popular three-term republican named John Engler, the longest-serving governor in the United States.

I predict that Dick Devos will win this. I doubt there is anyone in Michigan that doesn’t know someone who has lost their job in the last four years. I personally know of many that have lost their job, and some that have left the state. On Election Day, Michigan voters will decide if they want more jobs and people to leave, or if they want to turn their state around with Dick Devos. There are many reasons I could list; his fundraising is incredible in the amount his has raised and how many different contributors he has; his organization; his endorsements; the list goes on and on.

Politics