Category: NewMexiKen Polls

Doldrums

Maybe part of it is just August — last year I had a poll on your least favorite month and August edged out January. I see that FunctionalAmbivalent is taking some time off to reconsider his blog.

Maybe an exciting new NewMexiKen poll would help.

At Saturday’s Saddleback Forum (NewMexiKen and family lived just down the road for 10 years), Senators Obama and McCain were asked to define “rich” with a number. They were asked the question in the context of taxes and so answered with an income number (though one could argue that rich is defined by net worth and includes much more than income).

Granted then, that like so much of our discourse, this is too simple to be very meaningful, but —

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Exciting new NewMexiKen poll

From an article at Salon — Who will Obama choose as veep? Nope, you’re wrong:

Almost half the time over the last 40 years, in fact, the vice president has been a national embarrassment — or worse. For the last seven and a half years, we have had a power-hungry megalomaniac, radiating visible contempt for democratic norms, as our vice president. Throw in Mr. Potato Head (Quayle) and Spiro Our Hero and you end up with quite a rogues’ gallery. The losers take some explaining as well, from Tom Eagleton (who was driven from the 1972 Democratic ticket when it was discovered that he had received electroshock treatments as a mental patient) to Geraldine Ferraro (who embarrassed Walter Mondale by not revealing her husband’s shady real-estate dealings before she was named as his 1984 V.P. choice). And with each passing day, Joe Lieberman seems to have been an increasingly incongruous running mate for Al Gore in 2000.

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Oscars 2008 — Best Picture

Today is the last of NewMexiKen’s five polls leading up to Sunday’s Oscar presentations. This poll will run until the awards program begins Sunday evening.

You are asked which film you think will win. You do not have to have seen the movies to vote.

Sunday I’ll have the results of all the polls and my picks — and ask for yours.

[POLLS REMOVED. BEING CONSOLIDATED ON ONE PAGE.]

Oscars 2008 — Best Supporting Actor

NewMexiKen is going to run a series of polls this week on the Oscars. Each will run for about 24 hours — the last for best picture will run a little longer. Not sure we can expect many votes in these polls, so yours will count all the more.

I’m a little uncertain how to phrase the poll. Part of me wants to ask “Who do you think should win?” But I’m going to start with “Who do you think will win?”

We’ll start with Best Actor in a Supporting Role. You do NOT have to have seen the films to vote. (I’ve seen just two of these performances.)

[POLL REMOVED. BEING CONSOLIDATED ON ONE PAGE.]

I will post the results as each poll gives way to the next. Sunday I will post all the results and my own picks — and invite you to post yours. The Oscars are awarded Sunday evening.

What’s your favorite sport?

We’re in those terrible February doldrums between the Super Bowl and March Madness. Even spring training games haven’t begun, and basketball is still just routine regular season match ups.

That makes it a good time to ask — what is your favorite sport to watch? If asked during the NFL playoffs or bowls or during March Madness or the World Series, your emotions might rule your answer. Right now it’s difficult to even have any emotions about sports (other than to despise Fox broadcaster Joe Buck, which if I were czar would be THE national pastime).

So, here’s the latest NewMexiKen poll. I’ve limited it to nine ten choices, knowing that I may have overlooked your personal favorite. But hey, too many choices and the poll becomes meaningless. [Belatedly I added NHL (pro hockey) in case I had a Canadian reader.]

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How many books do you have?

NewMexiKen always looks around whenever I visit a home for the first time to see where the books are, what they are, and how many there are. I try not to judge books by their cover, but I often — though certainly not always — judge people by their books. (By “judge” I simply mean, get an impression.)

Not counting cookbooks, I have books in five bookcases in four rooms, around 700 altogether I believe.

How about you?

{democracy:23}

Polling the Democrats Christmas ads

Here are the Christmas ads that the folks in Iowa and New Hampshire are seeing. Take a look (30 seconds each) and then select your favorite. You’re voting for the ad, not the candidate (if you can make the distinction).

Bill Richardson is either a Grinch or thinks the war is serious. He gets NewMexiKen’s vote either way.

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This week’s game of the year

This week’s NFL game of the year actually is the game of the year — it’s the first time two undefeated teams have met this late in the season. The Patriots are 8-0; the Colts 7-0. The game is in Indianapolis.

Pick ’em. Brady or Manning?

{democracy:20}

An exciting new NewMexiKen poll

This poll was suggested by a NewMexiKen reader, who wonders how often people clean their bathrooms. Coincidentally, NewMexiKen saw an Oprah rerun about this very topic recently — it was the only Oprah I’ve ever watched — no, really.

Oprah’s producers had found this woman who had 30-year-old pillows and a disgusting kitchen sponge and just yuck everywhere. Surprisingly, the woman was very put together. I mean it was Oprah, not Jerry Springer.

Anyway, Oprah had some expert there to tell the woman and the audience how and when to clean. I was amazed — aghast — at some of what he said — do you vacuum your mattresses? — but gave it no more thought until the idea for a poll came along.

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AFTER you answer the poll, here’s An Easy Guide to a Sparkling Bathroom.

New NewMexiKen Poll

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Background from the Los Angeles Times:

Paris Hilton, her long blond hair tied back in a ponytail and oversized sunglasses shading her eyes, pulled up to L.A. traffic court near downtown Friday more than 15 minutes late for her probation violation hearing.

It was perhaps a moment when being prompt would have proved more fashionable.

Two hours later, Hilton departed with a 45-day jail sentence and a verbal comeuppance from the judge, who told her the time had come to take responsibility for her own actions. She has until June 5 to report to Century Regional Detention Center in Lynwood to serve her time or risk a total of 90 days behind bars.

On the stand, the socialite blamed her handlers for her being caught behind the wheel twice while her driver’s license was suspended for a drunk-driving conviction.

Asked whether she had understood the terms of the drunk-driving plea that she agreed to Jan. 22, Hilton, 26, said: “I just sign what people tell me to sign…. I’m a very busy person.”

At one point, her attorney, Howard L. Weitzman — calling his client someone with “unique issues and needs” who simply made a mistake — tried to shoulder some of the fault Hilton was placing on others.

Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer saw it otherwise.

“She disregarded everything and continued to drive,” Sauer said.

Which are we, Pottersville or Bedford Falls?

In It’s A Wonderful Life George Bailey learns that if he’d never been born his hometown would have turned from Bedford Falls into Pottersville.

So what has America become in the 60 years since the Frank Capra movie?

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You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money! Well, it doesn’t, Mister Potter! In the—in the whole vast configuration of things, I’d say, you were nothing but a scurvy little spider!

NewMexiKen poll update

“Carbon copy” was the clear winner over “courtesy copy” 24-6 despite the fact that there’s no evidence I can see for carbon in email. I suppose horseless carriage would win out over automobile with this crowd, too.

Dog is the true favorite for a friend. If you include the one vote for small (aka faux) dog, dogs beat cats 13-5. However, with the 10 votes rung up by duck and goat tied together, buffalo (aka bison) and fish, we may need a runoff election. Or let the Supreme Court decide, what the hell.

As for the look of the site, those votes keep trickling in. At the moment “old look” is leading “awesome” 35-34, with 4 for “nice.” Five voters cast their vote for Ralph Nader (“what new look”) and can’t really be considered. Those five are probably people who read the RSS feed, which remains unchanged and boring. There is some talk that “nice” will broker a deal with “awesome” so that the new look will win. But Fox News hasn’t reported yet, so who knows? And we still haven’t heard from Chicago.