Daily Digest
Roy Blunt, GOP’s 2 House Leader,
Steps Down
WASHINGTON mdash; Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt,
the No. 2 Republican in the House, announced Thurs-
day that he is stepping aside after Democrats added
to their numbers in Congress and captured the White
House.
Blunt said he had long ago decided that if Repub-
licans did not reclaim the majority in Tuesday’s elec-
tions, he would step down from the difficult job of shep-
herding votes. ”Ten years of asking people to do some
things they don’t want to do is a long time,” Blunt, 58,
told reporters Thursday morning. ”I can tell you more
problems about more members of Congress than you’ll
ever want to hear; I can tell you more reasons not to
do something than you’ll ever want to hear.”
Blunt was elevated into leadership by former whip
and majority leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and was
schooled in the hardball tactics employed when DeLay
was a driving force in running the House.
Blunt’s move avoids a difficult intraparty battle with
protege Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican who’s al-
ready campaigning for the job of Republican whip.
Blunt says it’s time for a new generation of Repub-
licans to assume leadership roles. Cantor is 45.
”We’re in a totally new environment now,” Blunt
said. ”We need to find a new way forward.”
Blunt also said he was impressed with the campaign
of Barack Obama and that it would be a mistake for Re-
publicans to assume that Democrats would overreach
now that they will control both the White House and
Congress for the first time in 16 years.
Meanwhile, conservative Indiana Rep. Mike Pence
has been recruited by GOP Leader John Boehner of
Ohio to serve as chairman of the Republican confer-
ence, the No. 3 leadership post vacated by Florida Rep.
Adam Putnam on election night.
Boehner will remain as GOP leader despite the dis-
appointing results on Election Day. He is also expected
on Thursday to endorse Texas Rep. Pete Sessions to
take over the GOP’s House campaign operation.
Associated Press Writer Laurie Kellman contributed
to this report.
Obama Victory Sparks Baby Naming
Frenzy (PHOTOS)
1
The U.S. election has triggered a new generation of
mini Barack Obamas with parents in Kenya and the
United States naming their newborns after the new
president-elect.
At the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital in Kisumu,
western Kenya, Barack’s ancestral homeland, several
mothers were naming their babies after the U.S.’s first
African-American president.
The mothers told Reuters Television that they wanted
their babies to grow up to have the same successful
traits as Obama.
”I would like that by the time he is in his 40s he be-
comes the president of this country,” said Nancy Otieno
proudly of her newborn son Barack Obama.
Another new mother, Millicent Akoth, named her
new daughter Michelle Obama after the soon-to-be first
lady.
....South Florida couple Patrick and Sasha Hall were
reported on Wednesday to be among the first since
the election to bestow the name Obama on their child,
Obama Hall, according to the Miami Herald.
Keep reading.
PHOTOS:
An unidentified relative to Nancy Kijana, right, holds
her newborn son, Barack Obama at New Nyanza Prov-
invincial Hospital in Kisumu, Kenya. More than half
of the babies born in a Kisumu Hospital on the day af-
ter the election were named either Barack or Michelle
Obama. (AP)
Lilian Osano, holds her newborn son, Barrack Jeremy
Obama, at New Nyanza Provinvincial Hospital in Kisumu,
Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008. (AP)
Carolyn Anyano holds her newborn son, Barack Obama,
at New Nyanza Provinvincial Hospital in Kisumu, Kenya.
(AP)
Two baby girls named Michelle. (AFP)
-OR-
Read about the Tennessee man who, without his
wife’s permission, named his newborn daughter Sarah
McCain Palin.
-OR-
See a slideshow of Obama holding babies or see
other Obama slideshows.
More on Barack Obama
Obama Presidency’s Chicago Impact
 IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Tourism: The Land of Lincoln will enjoy another
”presidential halo effect” on its tourism industry, ob-
servers say. The Chicago Convention and Tourism Bu-
reau predicts increased interest in South Side areas tied
to Obama and in Springfield, where he announced his
candidacy. European tourist agencies are already mak-
ing inquiries, said Mark Theis, executive vice president
of the bureau. Still, the tourism bump may be smaller
than it was for other recent presidents, said hospitality
expert Bjorn Hanson of New York University’s Tisch
Center. ”When President Bush Sr. went to Maine it
had a significant boost to tourism because of scenes of
him in his boat, fishing,” he said. ”I don’t foresee too
much of Barack Obama water-skiing behind a boat on
the lake.”
More on Barack Obama
Rebecca Romijn On Pregnancy: ”I’m A
Beached Whale!”
In this week’s Page Six Magazine - Rebecca Romijn,
pregnant with twin daughters on the way, opens up
about fertility drugs, maternity sex appeal and her split
from ex-husband John Stamos.
On using medical intervention to get pregnant:
”We did not do IVF... A year ago, we tried [the
fertility drug] Clomid for a couple of months unsuc-
cessfully. But by the second month, I was like, ’Ahhh!
I hate this!’ I think when you start messing with your
own hormones, it’s crazy-making.”
On her body during pregnancy:
”I can’t move anymore...I’m a beached whale! ...I
have not been without a bra this entire pregnancy. I
refuse. I’m not taking any chances. I’m determined to
keep the puppies up!”
On speculation that the cause of her 2004 divorce
was that she did not want children:
”There is absolutely no truth to that. That [story]
was completely made up. I desperately wanted kids.
I was never a girl who dreamed about what her wed-
ding day would be like, but I’ve always dreamed about
decorating my baby’s nursery.”
On husband Jerry O’Connell’s fathering skills:
I knew early on he would be a fantastic dad. He’s
a pragmatic, smart, savvy, enthusiastic person. He re-
ally lives his life with tremendous integrity, and he’s a
healthy person in every single way.”
On parenting:
”I’ve just surrendered to the fact that [parenting]
will be the hardest thing I’ll ever do. I know my life
will never be the same - but in the best way possible.”
Reese Schonfeld: Final Poll of Cable
Television News Viewers – Comparison
to Actual Results
To start with the positive, the Cable Television News
Viewer Poll (CTNVP) predicted all the results accu-
rately, both overall and in all demographic groups.
To state the negative, the poll predicted that Obama
would do better than he did in every category.
In the final overall vote, cable news viewers favored
Obama by 11, he won by 6. The previous week, we had
Obama ahead by 6, and would’ve been dead on, but last
week’s numbers jumped. I did cover my butt by saying
that the final numbers might’ve been a statistical fluke,
and there were.
In the demos, my comparisons are with the CNN
”Vote by Age” statistics and their demos do not match
the Nielsen demos, so the comparisons are not exact.
Nevertheless, here it goes:
CTNVP predictions
18-34s- 75 Obama–25 McCain 18-49s- 66 Obama–
34 McCain 25-54s- 64 Obama–36 McCain Fogies for
McCain–Over 50
CNN actuals 18-29s- 66 Obama–32 McCain 30-44s-
52 Obama–46 McCain 45-64s- 49 Obama–49 McCain
Over 64- 49 Obama–53 McCain
What have I learned from all this: Cable news view-
ing is at least indicative, if not perfectly predictive, of
the way Americans will vote on Election Day. The com-
parisons between viewing and voting among 18-34s and
55s and over were reliable. It seems that the 35-54
year-olds watching cable news are not representative of
the general population. Those voters split almost 50-50
between Republicans and Democrats, while the viewers
were overwhelmingly Democratic. Maybe conservative
35-54s have given up the media, especially TV, entirely.
They’re not angry enough to watch Fox, but too fed up
with the prattle to watch either CNN or MSNBC. Four
years from now, I’ll keep this in mind and try again.
As for myself, I am satisfied with the results of the
2008 election – one candidate had, during his campaign,
clearly forfeited any claim to the Presidency; and while
the other has yet to establish his claim; it’s time to give
”change” a chance.
More on Election Results
iPhone Transformed into Robot Thanks
to Arduino Hack [IPhone]
What is this? A video of a self-propelled iPhone
robot that uses a small electrical engine and a Arduino
board that is not tuned to Flight of the Conchords ”The
Humans are Dead”? For shame. [Air-Nifty via Cult of
Mac]