rbhindepmo

As a baseball nerd (Go Royals!) and a politics/elections nerd, Thank you for doing an AMA.

One of the manifestations of my political nerddom involves me finding and entering election results on a website. Really. Seeing as you're someone who has had some success with the idea of using actual election-related data to shape an idea of what could happen in the future, I've got a question to ask you:

”Is there a reasonable opening for a baseball-reference equivalent for the world of campaigns and elections and such? Are there enough solid facts that can be cataloged for such an effort?”

To add extra notes if this helps you answer or understand the question:

I say solid facts since a lot of the ratings that get associated with politics have their flaws. Some are blatantly cherry picked (Interest Group scores), some could be a bit inadequate (National Journal) and on the other extreme, some could just be too much like Earnshaw Cook to really sink in with people.

The basic information about who got so many votes in such and such election is out there, although it's a bit dispersed in a sense. Some of it is in books, some is in databases (ICPSR). Some states with interesting electoral histories have a lot of results out there (West Virginia, Louisiana), and some with interesting histories don't have a lot of their results online (Michigan, Mississippi)

I could probably write way way too long on the topic of what's out there state-by-state but your post isn't titled “I am Nate Silver, I predicted the freaking election, what's YOUR line?”

I just find it quirky (in a way) that we have box scores online for every major league baseball game from 1918. But the same really can't be said for elections held in 1918. That difference might reflect a difference between people who do political science and people who research baseball.

I'm sure you've had your fun going out to find the electoral data that is necessary to figure out the future and such, so if you could add some insight about if the data can be disseminated to more people, that'd be really cool.

And go Royals too.

Hey Bill!

1) do you think the NCAA should switch to a 30 second shot clock to improve the pace of games?

2) do you think Pac12 refs call fouls constantly because they want to hang out with you for longer?

1) As a Congressman who is of half-Syrian American descent, do you think that there's something significant and realistic that can be done by this country (and/or any other country) in regards to the Syrian conflict/uprising and the Assad regime? Significant, not just the "Assad must step down" talk that 3/5ths of the Veto-wielding UNSC members mention every few weeks.

2) Seeing as we're about to experience a campaign season with the highest levels of spending in history, are you supportive or considering of any ideas to reign in (or adapt to) the realities of the Citizens United decision?

3) At the risk of getting you primaried in 2014, what is your favorite thing about President Obama?

Receipts. Lots of receipts. Of course

David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar?