I wanna say goodbye, i can see me packin...

Found this on 538.com.

Maybe Democrats should take Rick Perry up on his idea that Texas should secede from the Union.Consider:



-- If Texas were not in the Union, the Democrats would currently have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate
-- or at least they would once Al Franken gets seated. This is because, in a 98-seat Senate, only 59 votes would be required to break a filibuster.
-- If Texas were not in the Union, the Republicans would operate from a significantly weakened position in the House, since the net 8-vote advantage their congressional delegation gives them in the state (they have 20 seats to the Democrats' 12) is by far their largest.
-- If Texas were not in the Union, George W. Bush would never have become President in 2000
-- not because he'd be constitutionally ineligible (Bush, despite his Texas twang, was born in posh New Haven, Connecticut). Rather, he wouldn't have had enough Electoral Votes to defeat Al Gore.
-- If Texas were not in the Union, Barack Obama would have won the Electoral College 389-147 instead of 365-173 (note that there are two fewer votes total, because there would be two fewer Senators). The vast majority of Texas' electoral votes would be redistributed to lib'rul states like California (which would go from having 55 electoral votes to 59) and New York (34 rather than 31):

California 55 --> 59 (+4)
New York 31 --> 34 (+3)
Florida 27 --> 29 (+2)
Illinois 21 --> 23 (+2)
Michigan 17 --> 19 (+2)
Arizona 10 --> 11 (+1)
Connecticut 7 --> 8 (+1)
Georgia 15 --> 16 (+1)
Indiana 11 --> 12 (+1)
Kentucky 8 --> 9 (+1)
Maryland 10 --> 11 (+1)
Massachusetts 12 --> 13 (+1)
Mississippi 6 --> 7 (+1)
Montana 3 --> 4 (+1)
New Jersey 15 --> 16 (+1)
Ohio 20 --> 21 (+1)
Oklahoma 7 --> 8 (+1)
Oregon 7 --> 8 (+1)
Pennsylvania 21 --> 22 (+1)
S. Carolina 8 --> 9 (+1)
Virginia 13 --> 14 (+1)
Utah 4 --> 5 (+1)
Washington 11 --> 12 (+1)
Wisconsin 10 --> 11 (+1)

-- If Texas were not in the Union, Bush would still have defeated John Kerry 269-267, but Kerry would have an easier go of things, winning the election if he'd won either Iowa or New Mexico; he would not have had to win Ohio or Florida.
-- If Texas were not in the Union, there'd be a good case for making football an Olympic sport, which would sure as hell beat rhythmic gymnastics.

This all sounds like a pretty good deal to me, provided there weren't import duties on Shiner Bock.

For me, it's sounds damn good even if there WERE imports on Shiner Bock. I'd miss the Cowboys football, but for all the benefits that would be gained, I say go for it, Governor Perry!

POLT Listening to "Sunburn" by Muse

The only thing worse than being young and in love is...being NOT-SO-young and in love. - Scott Thompson, The Kids In The Hall