Salon.com > Election Day

The Obamas talk iconic Election Day “hug” photo

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 21:37:00 +0000

In an interview with Barbara Walters set to air tonight, Barack and Michelle Obama discussed the iconic "hug" photo that went viral on Election Night, after the President won re-election.

The picture was taken while they were campaigning in Iowa, Barack Obama said. Michelle Obama added: "Also, I hadn’t seen him in a while. You know, when you're campaigning, they have, we're two ships passing in the night, and the first time I saw him was when I walked on stage to greet him. And that’s my honey giving me a hug."

Watch:

Obama on turkey pardon: “Nate Silver completely nailed it”

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 19:40:00 +0000

Upholding the presidential Thanksgiving tradition, President Obama has today pardoned Cobbler and Gobbler, two 40-pound turkeys from Virginia.

This year, however, Americans voted on which turkeys would receive the pardon, giving the president the perfect opportunity to crack a joke about Nate Silver, the New York Times polling wizard who accurately predicted the Election Day results.

"Once again, Nate Silver completely nailed it," Obama said. "The guy's amazing. He predicted these guys would win."

Weird news: Zero voter turnout for one Minneapolis precinct

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 22:59:00 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS — Not one voter cast a ballot in one Minneapolis precinct on Election Day. That's because the only living species in Ward 10, Precinct 3B, is of the aquatic variety.

A newly redistricted precinct map shows 3B is located entirely in the eastern half of Lake Calhoun - the biggest lake in Minneapolis. City Clerk Casey Carl says the watery precinct is the "unintentional result of a programming error" made in drawing new ward boundary lines.

Charter Commission chairman Barry Clegg tells the Star Tribune that the mapping software couldn't draw a line around the edge of the lake without putting a census block in the wrong ward. Clegg says it was supposed to be cleaned up for the final map, but never was.

5 newscasters who humiliated themselves on-air

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Was ABC's Diane Sawyer drunk on election night? Unsurprisingly, her reps say no. “Diane’s fine, she’s exhausted,” said a spokesperson. “Diane's been up for days and she's had many sleepless nights. She was covering the hurricane and then preparing for the election broadcast.” Reasonable explanation, though "exhausted" is often a PR code for snoggered. Fix readers took a snap poll and were highly skeptical—with 59% deeming that the anchor was indeed under the influence. Whatever the cause, her slurred request for ABC's election theme song when President “Orama” won Minnesota has earned Sawyer an eternal spot in the pantheon of (alleged) boozecasters.

Dumb tweet of the day: Home improvement

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 22:01:00 +0000

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Election Day in pictures

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:00:00 +0000

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Election Day pictures

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 10:30:00 +0000

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Must-see morning clip

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 14:00:00 +0000

In another edition of Jimmy Kimmel's "Lie Witness News," the crew asks people about their polling experiences--one day before polls in the area opened up.

Another major storm may hit Northeast on Election Day

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:17:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) — Just what New York and New Jersey need after the devastation of Superstorm Sandy: more high winds.

The National Weather Service predicted Sunday that a Nor'easter that could include gusts of up to 55 mph is likely to reach the area by Wednesday and could compound the havoc brought by last week's violent weather.

"Prepare for more outages," advised weather service meteorologist Joe Pollina. "Stay indoors. Stock up again."

He said the new storm wouldn't be nearly as strong as Sandy, but could pack winds "stronger than usual, even strong for a Nor'easter."

Meanwhile, cold temperatures streamed in and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that means "tens of thousands" of people whose homes were damaged by the superstorm will need other places to live.

"It's going to become increasingly clear" that homes without heat are uninhabitable, the governor said. He said residents who have been reluctant to leave their homes will be forced to and will need housing.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said 20,000 people in the city could need housing help.

Pollina said the strongest winds from the new storm would likely be seen on eastern Long Island. The highest gusts in New York City would probably be 40 mph. Meteorologist Adrienne Liptich said Atlantic City, N.J., could see gusts up to 45 mph.