War Governor
Photo by O Caritas.

Tomorrow's election is shaping up to be one of the most intensely watched midterm elections since 1994.

Everybody is concentrating on what key races to watch when the votes start coming in tomorrow night. But I'll bet you a donut that there will be some surprises somewhere in races that aren't on anybody's list.

And political careers will begin tonight in Michigan and across the nation in other races barely noticed by the media.

The mother of all upsets happened in 1948, when Harry Truman's overwhelming defeat was so certain the Detroit Free Press said in an editorial that he should appoint his rival as successor and resign immediately after the election to save time. But Truman won -- fairly easily. What happened?

Extensive studies found that newspapers and pollsters filtered out information indicating Truman was going to win, thinking it had to be flawed. After all, everybody just knew he was going to lose.

The statue is of Austin Blair: "He was a known as a strong opponent of slavery and secession and also [sic] championed human rights by leading the effort to ban capital punishment and supporting efforts to give women and black citizens the right to vote."

# posted by Tami @ 9:05 AM