Tag: us presidential elections

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The Washington Times published a well-sourced and humorous report headlined Universities help students cope with Trump win with canceled classes, milk and cookies. We wind through stories of canceled classes, quizzes not being counted, and even therapy animals. However, I was most curious about one part of the headline:

Meanwhile, Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy provided a ‘Self-Care Suite’ that included ‘Milk and Cookies,’ ‘a Legos Station’ and ‘Coloring and Mindfulness Exercises,’ according to a memo obtained by The Free Press.

I voted for John McCain in 2008 and went to class (Brooklyn College) the day after his heavily foreshadowed landslide defeat was confirmed by election results. I did not think to run around wailing or tell my professors about my feelings. The former would have been unseemly and the latter deeply weird. But had someone offered me a cookie, I would have taken the cookie. I read this now and think that there should have been cookies. I would have settled for Dunkin Donuts. If people today with outstanding student loan debt can demand that the majority of Americans with no such debt pay their debt, I think I can demand retroactive cookies from Brooklyn College. I am not picky but white chocolate macadamia, ginger, or oatmeal raisin would be very welcome.

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On October 20, 2024, I wrote an article about presidential runner-ups with the most recent birth dates. My article was inspired by the fact that prior to the 2024 presidential election, Al Gore, who lost in 2000, was the youngest person to finish runner-up in a presidential election.  I went through all the runners-up to see if Mr. Gore had the longest streak, and learned that he was the record holder.  Mr. Gore had appeared slated to extend his mark prior to July 2024 since both of the presumptive major party nominees were older than him.  However, the presumptive Democratic nominee, now-outgoing President Joe Biden, withdrew the race and was replaced by the Vice President, Kamala Harris, who is just more than 18 and one-half years younger than Mr. Gore. I noted the possibility that Mr. Gore’s streak would end and indeed it has. As Donald Trump prepares to join Grover Cleveland as the only men to serve two non-consecutive terms as president, Ms. Harris replaces Mr. Gore as the presidential runner-up with the most recent birth date. This is admittedly a very niche record, but Mr. Gore’s holding the mark for six elections is a fun oddity, especially in light of the fact that he was not an exceptionally young major party nominee in 2000. I will add a few small updates to my research article in the coming days.