Comments on: Your RNC / DNC Convention Reduced to a Word Cloud http://www.boxofdata.com/2008/09/05/your-rnc-dnc-convention-reduced-to-a-word-cloud/ eat. drink. sleep. data. Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:54:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Box of Data » Gas Fluctuations, Prices and Presidential Elections http://www.boxofdata.com/2008/09/05/your-rnc-dnc-convention-reduced-to-a-word-cloud/comment-page-1/#comment-8 Box of Data » Gas Fluctuations, Prices and Presidential Elections Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:52:04 +0000 http://www.boxofdata.com/?p=7#comment-8 [...] Jamie and Rich v’s comments on another post got me looking at gas price trends before Presidential elections.  I’ve heard comments that gas prices go down prior to an election, and even suspected there may be some manipulation at work. [...]<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('8','Box of Data » Gas Fluctuations, Prices and Presidential Elections'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('8','Box of Data » Gas Fluctuations, Prices and Presidential Elections','[...] Jamie and Rich v’s comments on another post got me looking at gas price trends before Presidential elections.  I’ve heard comments that gas prices go down prior to an election, and even suspected there may be some manipulation at work. [...]'); return false;">Quote</a></div> [...] Jamie and Rich v’s comments on another post got me looking at gas price trends before Presidential elections.  I’ve heard comments that gas prices go down prior to an election, and even suspected there may be some manipulation at work. [...]
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]]> By: Rich v http://www.boxofdata.com/2008/09/05/your-rnc-dnc-convention-reduced-to-a-word-cloud/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Rich v Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:43:53 +0000 http://www.boxofdata.com/?p=7#comment-7 Jamie - you make an excellent point re: the use of "My Opponent" instead of "Barack Obama" (or, for that matter, "John McCain"). I"d also be interested to see the gas price thing, although I think that in the case of 2004 and 2006, correlation doesn't necessarily indicate causation. IIRC, historically, gas prices tend to be higher in the summer and the pressure starts to ease a bit after the Labor Day holiday when demand sags. I'd like to know what happened in off-election falls. Sounds like we've given frets a homework assignment!<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('7','Rich v'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('7','Rich v','Jamie - you make an excellent point re: the use of \"My Opponent\" instead of \"Barack Obama\" (or, for that matter, \"John McCain\"). I\"d also be interested to see the gas price thing, although I think that in the case of 2004 and 2006, correlation doesn\'t necessarily indicate causation. IIRC, historically, gas prices tend to be higher in the summer and the pressure starts to ease a bit after the Labor Day holiday when demand sags. I\'d like to know what happened in off-election falls.\r\nSounds like we\'ve given frets a homework assignment!'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Jamie – you make an excellent point re: the use of “My Opponent” instead of “Barack Obama” (or, for that matter, “John McCain”). I”d also be interested to see the gas price thing, although I think that in the case of 2004 and 2006, correlation doesn’t necessarily indicate causation. IIRC, historically, gas prices tend to be higher in the summer and the pressure starts to ease a bit after the Labor Day holiday when demand sags. I’d like to know what happened in off-election falls.
Sounds like we’ve given frets a homework assignment!
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]]> By: frets http://www.boxofdata.com/2008/09/05/your-rnc-dnc-convention-reduced-to-a-word-cloud/comment-page-1/#comment-6 frets Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:16:06 +0000 http://www.boxofdata.com/?p=7#comment-6 Hi Jamie, thanks for the great suggestion. I'm already working on some gas-related data for my next post, so this will be a good fit.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('6','frets'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('6','frets','Hi Jamie, thanks for the great suggestion. I\'m already working on some gas-related data for my next post, so this will be a good fit.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Hi Jamie, thanks for the great suggestion. I’m already working on some gas-related data for my next post, so this will be a good fit.
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]]> By: Jamie http://www.boxofdata.com/2008/09/05/your-rnc-dnc-convention-reduced-to-a-word-cloud/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Jamie Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:39:43 +0000 http://www.boxofdata.com/?p=7#comment-5 Rich...someone mentioned an interesting correlation during the last elections. They noted that the closer we got to the general elections the lower the gas prices became (i.e., let's keep those voters happy). I'm wondering if there is a source of data you could use to look at the gas prices in blue and red states in 2004 and now in 2008 to see if there are correlations to the elections and dominant GOP and Dem states (plus the swing states). I know AAA and gasbuddy.com have gas prices by zipcode and they might have some historical data. If you detect a correlation, it would be interesting to see some type of graphical representation of the change in prices as the election neared in 2004 and now in 2008 by state.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('5','Jamie'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('5','Jamie','Rich...someone mentioned an interesting correlation during the last elections. They noted that the closer we got to the general elections the lower the gas prices became (i.e., let\'s keep those voters happy). I\'m wondering if there is a source of data you could use to look at the gas prices in blue and red states in 2004 and now in 2008 to see if there are correlations to the elections and dominant GOP and Dem states (plus the swing states). I know AAA and gasbuddy.com have gas prices by zipcode and they might have some historical data. If you detect a correlation, it would be interesting to see some type of graphical representation of the change in prices as the election neared in 2004 and now in 2008 by state.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Rich…someone mentioned an interesting correlation during the last elections. They noted that the closer we got to the general elections the lower the gas prices became (i.e., let’s keep those voters happy). I’m wondering if there is a source of data you could use to look at the gas prices in blue and red states in 2004 and now in 2008 to see if there are correlations to the elections and dominant GOP and Dem states (plus the swing states). I know AAA and gasbuddy.com have gas prices by zipcode and they might have some historical data. If you detect a correlation, it would be interesting to see some type of graphical representation of the change in prices as the election neared in 2004 and now in 2008 by state.
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]]> By: Jamie http://www.boxofdata.com/2008/09/05/your-rnc-dnc-convention-reduced-to-a-word-cloud/comment-page-1/#comment-4 Jamie Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:25:54 +0000 http://www.boxofdata.com/?p=7#comment-4 Now that you mention it... I do not remember the GOP speakers using Barak's name. They were careful to say "my opponent" or something that indicated "the other guy" without promoting his name. I think the Dems could learn from this one.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('4','Jamie'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('4','Jamie','Now that you mention it... I do not remember the GOP speakers using Barak\'s name. They were careful to say \"my opponent\" or something that indicated \"the other guy\" without promoting his name. I think the Dems could learn from this one.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Now that you mention it… I do not remember the GOP speakers using Barak’s name. They were careful to say “my opponent” or something that indicated “the other guy” without promoting his name. I think the Dems could learn from this one.
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]]> By: frets http://www.boxofdata.com/2008/09/05/your-rnc-dnc-convention-reduced-to-a-word-cloud/comment-page-1/#comment-3 frets Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:30:02 +0000 http://www.boxofdata.com/?p=7#comment-3 Thanks for commenting, Rich. Though I caution against reading too much into the data here, I must admin that I expected more balance with those two stats. It is unfortunate that the Rs didn't post all of the speeches (The First Lady's speech is not posted, for instance), which would have helped even things out. Using ratios seems to be a relatively safe way to compare things. Excellent suggestion, if I can find a way to do that without pouring through those speeches again, I'll post a follow-up.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('3','frets'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('3','frets','Thanks for commenting, Rich. Though I caution against reading too much into the data here, I must admin that I expected more balance with those two stats. It is unfortunate that the Rs didn\'t post all of the speeches (The First Lady\'s speech is not posted, for instance), which would have helped even things out. Using ratios seems to be a relatively safe way to compare things. Excellent suggestion, if I can find a way to do that without pouring through those speeches again, I\'ll post a follow-up.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Thanks for commenting, Rich. Though I caution against reading too much into the data here, I must admin that I expected more balance with those two stats. It is unfortunate that the Rs didn’t post all of the speeches (The First Lady’s speech is not posted, for instance), which would have helped even things out. Using ratios seems to be a relatively safe way to compare things. Excellent suggestion, if I can find a way to do that without pouring through those speeches again, I’ll post a follow-up.
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]]> By: Rich v http://www.boxofdata.com/2008/09/05/your-rnc-dnc-convention-reduced-to-a-word-cloud/comment-page-1/#comment-2 Rich v Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:45:53 +0000 http://www.boxofdata.com/?p=7#comment-2 Very interesting. The first two numbers in your grid suggest to me that the Democrats are far more concerned about Mr. McCain than the Republicans are about Mr. Obama. If I were a political strategist (which, thankfully, I am not), I would be sitting down with Mr. Obama's people in an attempt to get them to talk more about their own man. What I would be interested to know, although I think it would be fiendishly hard to ascertain, would be how many times the Dems mentioned Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush in the same sentence.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('2','Rich v'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('2','Rich v','Very interesting. The first two numbers in your grid suggest to me that the Democrats are far more concerned about Mr. McCain than the Republicans are about Mr. Obama. If I were a political strategist (which, thankfully, I am not), I would be sitting down with Mr. Obama\'s people in an attempt to get them to talk more about their own man.\r\nWhat I would be interested to know, although I think it would be fiendishly hard to ascertain, would be how many times the Dems mentioned Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush in the same sentence.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Very interesting. The first two numbers in your grid suggest to me that the Democrats are far more concerned about Mr. McCain than the Republicans are about Mr. Obama. If I were a political strategist (which, thankfully, I am not), I would be sitting down with Mr. Obama’s people in an attempt to get them to talk more about their own man.
What I would be interested to know, although I think it would be fiendishly hard to ascertain, would be how many times the Dems mentioned Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush in the same sentence.
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