Election Trivia...Or Going To The Dogs

Usually when the Red Book (the Secretary of State's election results book) comes out in May or June, I comb through it for interesting data.   Undoubtedly I'll share some of that this spring, but in looking at loose pages of election results (in my attempt to gauge what impact a return of straight ticket voting might have), I encountered something which I thought would make a great trivia question.

Keep in mind that New Hampshire has ten counties.  Keep in mind the make-up of those counties; for example, no Republican would likely carry Cheshire County at the top of the ticket (hint, hint), and see if you can come up with an answer to this without any multiple choice options.  Obviously the answer will be between zero and 20.

Add up the number of New Hamsphire counties won by Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ovide LaMontagne in the November, 2012 election.  What do you get, and if any counties (the answer in fact is NOT zero), which counties?  Of course, you could look up the answer, but since no reward is offered, you can just scroll down to the answer here.

It's three counties.  Ovide lost in all ten counties, but Romney did in fact carry three counties, and if you know much about voting trends in New Hamsphire, you should be able to guess which three.

Obama received 52.0 percent of the statewide total, Romney 46.4 percent with the other 1.6 percent going elsewhere (1.2 percent ot Libertarian Gary Johnson).

The counties Romney carried were:

Carroll by only 230 votes--14,207 to 13,977

Belknap 17,571 to 15,890 and you must have guessed:

Rockingham 87,921 to 80,142.

Which county did Ovide come closest to carrying?

Let's see here...

Both numerically and percentage-wise, it appears to be Belknap.

Hassan 16,756 Ovide 15,702.

He lost Carroll 14,339-12893.

And he lost Rockingham 84,287-77,095.

Did Hassan carry any single county by more than a two to one margin?

Not quite.  She got up to 65.1 percent in Cheshire, winning 25,136-13,488.

For someone with way to much time on his or hands, it might be interestng to see how many places Obama actually got more votes than Hassan; it shouldn't be many since she won by 13.4 percent statewide and Obama won by "only" 5.6 percent.  The answer appears to be zero when it comes to counties; I'm not sure about cities and towns.

This is so much fun I could go on and on but I should write a blog comparing the statements from Seabrook and Rockingham spinners, those who would defend simulcast racing from the brutal state of Florida, to Lance Armstrong.  Caught in misstatement heaped upon msistatement, they, like Armstrong seek to pile on more misstatements and to attempt to change the subject and demonize those who would provide the truth.

That's for another day; suffice it to say here that it's rather strange that a reporter (no names please), in writing such a lengthy column on the bill yesterday, would not even try to contact the bill's sponsor who has reams of data to disprove outrageous claims by the tracks.  Coming soon to this very blog...

DOCUMENTED PROBLEMS AT SANFORD ORLANDO KENNEL CLUB

 

-- The state of Florida conducted a formal investigation in January 2011 after a three-year-old brindle greyhound named Crystal B Disco died after she collided with another dog during a race at SOKC, struck the rail with her forehead, and suffered an open skull fracture.

-- The state of Florida conducted a formal investigation in September 2010 and found that in a single month four greyhounds had been severely injured during races at SOKC and euthanized by track veterinarian Bruce Olson.

 

-- On July 2010 a veterinarian and a track official documented unsanitary conditions in a kennel at SOKC. According to witness statements the kennel had “a strong smell of ammonia” from urine, “indicating that the kennel was not being properly cleaned.” The trainer responsible for the kennel was banned from the facility, but no further action was taken.

 -- The state of Florida conducted an official investigation in November 2008 after a greyhound named Birthday Toy was electrocuted during a race at SOKC.

 

-- In July 2007 a state investigator documented neglect in a kennel at the Sanford Orlando Kennel Club. In his official report, the investigator detailed severe problems:

“When we entered, the outrageous stench of ammonia was overpowering. Its source was from the urine on the carpets that had not been cleaned from the dogs that had not been let out of their cages.”

The investigator spoke to a greyhound trainer who was temporarily taking care of the dogs, who indicated that the dogs were “full of ticks and not well taken care of.” According to the official report the dogs did have ticks and fleas. Upon completion of the report, the investigator took no action, noting that “because we have no rules or statutes covering this kind of animal treatment there is no violation and the case is closed."

 

-- On June 25, 2006 a greyhound named Airborne was seriously injured in a dog fight at SOKC. Despite the obvious injuries the dog had suffered, the trainer responsible for him did not ensure he received veterinary care. Instead, Airborne was “placed in a cage within the kennel and left untreated” for two days.

 

-- In April 2006, an investigation by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation at Sanford Orlando Kennel Club “revealed that eighteen adult greyhounds were cramped into nine crates designed to hold one dog.” The state investigative report indicated that the dogs were perpetually muzzled.

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