The Presidential Election Disaster

Angelika America still does not have a new president. In Germany, you are surely observing this election thriller while shaking your head and perhaps with a bit of schadenfreude, because it is indeed fascinating that a country that always prides itself on being a leader in this and that cannot manage to count votes accurately. Although the German press has reported extensively on the presidential election, I would still like to add a few details, as some classic American phenomena are emerging.

First of all, there is the highly complicated and yet quite old-fashioned seeming election process. The American President is not elected directly by the people, but by a body of electors known as the "Electoral College." Each American state sends electors to this body. A candidate needs at least 270 out of a total of 538 electoral votes to become President. However, not every state is allocated the same number of electors. The more populous the state, the more electors it sends. For example, California is one of the most populous states and therefore sends 54 electors, whereas Hawaii sends only 4. The election on November 7th was therefore intended to determine the composition of the group of electors. Generally, the candidate who wins in a particular state (known as the "popular vote") receives all of that state's electoral votes. Winning at this stage does not require an absolute majority; even a lead of a handful of votes is enough to secure all the electoral votes. This is why Florida is currently the deciding factor. Without Florida's electoral votes, neither Bush nor Gore can achieve an absolute majority in the Electoral College. The electors are usually long-standing, loyal party members to ensure they do not vote against the will of the people. What seems bizarre about this system is that a candidate can have more total votes nationwide than their opponent but still receive fewer electoral votes. This is already the case in this election, as Al Gore has secured the "popular vote" (votes cast nationwide). Nevertheless, Bush is likely to become President.

The Electoral College is set to convene on December 18 to elect the president. The official inauguration will then take place on January 20. By the way, the Electoral College system dates back to 1787 and was intended, among other things, to ensure that the states have sufficient say. Numerous attempts have been made to modify the Electoral College system, but so far without success. We can only hope that after this election disaster, something will finally happen. Some critics already suggest that it might not be necessary to change the electoral system, but that it might help to acquire more modern counting machines. In Germany, you might wonder how it is possible that not every state uses the same technology in a presidential election. This is again due to the principle that each state has extensive decision-making freedom. For example, not only is the death penalty present in some states in America and not in others, but there are also different technologies for counting votes and different ballots. These can vary not only from state to state but also from district to district. As a result, some Americans make crosses, others draw black lines in a designated field, and still others punch holes. For this, the ballots are clamped into a device, and you receive a pen-like tool to punch out a pre-drawn hole--next to the name of your preferred candidate. This voting method led to chaos in Florida. Where a hole is punched, there is circular confetti waste, called "chad" in America.

Unfortunately, this is apparently not so simple, because sometimes this punched-out waste still hangs by a thread on the ballot card. The counting machine then doesn't understand what's going on and rejects the ballot as invalid. Therefore, hand counting in Florida should provide more accurate results. The question that went around the country was: What counts as a valid vote? Thus, the "chads" were also categorized. My two favorites are: "pregnant chads," the waste pieces that have barely detached from the card, and "dimpled chads," where only a bulge is visible. However, since there are unfortunately no uniform guidelines for hand counting in Florida either, experts were seen arguing about "chads" on every TV channel - a perfect absurd theater.

Although the results of the counts (including the highly controversial hand counts) were announced in Florida at 5 PM local time last Sunday (November 26), this does not necessarily mean that the winner of the 25 electoral votes in Florida, George Bush, will remain the winner, as numerous lawsuits are still pending in various American courts.

What is crucial now, above all, is what the American "Supreme Court" (similar to the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany) will decide in the coming days. The question is whether the highest court in Florida was authorized to allow manual recounts in Florida beyond the deadline set in the election law. George Bush says the judges in Florida exceeded their authority. Al Gore, on the other hand, believes that everything was done correctly, as no voter's voice should be disregarded.

Incidentally, it is sensational that for the first time in U.S. history, the Supreme Court in Washington is intervening in an election. Americans firmly believe in the sovereignty of individual states, as previously mentioned, and election laws are, even in presidential elections, a matter for the states, and in this particular case, Florida. However, a decision by the Supreme Court in favor of Bush can only increase his lead. Currently, Bush is ahead of Gore in Florida by 537 votes. If the hand recounts are declared invalid beyond the deadline, the lead increases to 930 votes, and the legal battle shifts back to Florida. Gore wants to ensure that a hand recount is conducted in a county called "Leon" (a "county" can be compared to a German district) because the counting machines there failed to account for about a thousand ballots. Since this county typically votes Democratic, Al Gore hopes to gain votes through a hand recount and ultimately defeat Bush.

The problem is that time is running out, and the hand recount should have begun already. By December 12, the electors must be definitively appointed so that they can cast their official votes on December 18 and elect the president. But the hand recount can take time. In Florida, the state legislature is already threatening to simply appoint the electors themselves if there is still no proper, official election result by December 12. The problem is that the state legislature in Florida has a Republican majority (the same party to which George Bush belongs) and would thus appoint Republican-leaning electors. Allegedly, this is supposed to be legal, but I find it quite dubious, as the votes of the people in Florida would not be considered at all.

Regarding the media: They behaved very much like the American media on election night, as they did not shy away from spreading reports (in the pursuit of higher ratings) that were based only on vague predictions--and were also completely wrong. For instance, Florida was first called for Al Gore, then for Bush. Only afterward did they report that the result was too close to call and that all votes would need to be counted. Such false reports can indeed influence the election outcome, as, due to the different time zones, polling stations on the West Coast are still open while counting is already underway in other states.

The narrow election result also clearly reflects the state of the nation. None of the candidates really impressed all Americans, and the country seems like a divided nation. The coastal states and those around the Great Lakes (a traditional stronghold of unions) went to the more liberal Gore, who advocates for better social programs, environmental protection, improved healthcare, stricter gun laws, reducing national debt, and more government control (a very sensitive topic in America). Meanwhile, the states in the middle went to the conservative Bush, who promotes tax cuts (especially for the wealthy), the right to bear arms, strengthening the military, voluntary environmental protection, and as little government regulation as possible. I wonder how anyone can be so mentally deranged as to vote for Bush, but I seem to keep forgetting that San Francisco cannot be compared to the rest of the USA. Not only is voter turnout in San Francisco always impressive by American standards (around 80% in this election, compared to about 50% nationwide), but San Francisco leans toward liberal candidates, with many in San Francisco finding Al Gore too backward and most preferring to vote for Ralph Nader of the American Greens. In general, I find it interesting that everyone openly talks about whom they voted for; it is absolutely not a taboo.

Perhaps you are also interested in how the voter registration process works here in the US. There is no mandatory city registration of citizens like In Germany. In San Francisco, for example, you often encounter people in public places or on the subway who are running around with lists that you can sign to register as a voter. Alternatively, authorities like the DMV send out registration forms. Only American citizens who are at least 18 years old are eligible to vote. Those who only have a Green Card or a visa are not allowed to vote. In most American states, convicted felons are also not allowed to vote, and in a few states, this restriction even applies for life, which is quite draconian.

Well, American courts have to decide. This is another one of these American phenomena: suing at every opportunity. I also find it fascinating that a major state crisis hasn't erupted because of this election disaster. There are increasingly voices saying that enough is enough, but no one criticizes the system per se. Even in the greatest chaos, it is repeatedly emphasized how well and democratically everything is going and how grateful people are to live "in the greatest country" in the world. I find that quite strange. The fact that foreign countries are making fun of America is, of course, not mentioned. Be that as it may, it remains exciting...

Michael Finally, finally it's my turn! Regarding today's newsletter quiz question: For which candidate would Angelika have voted if she had been allowed to vote? Haha, just kidding. Regarding the election, I just wanted to add that Figure 2 clearly shows how Republicans and Democrats divide the country: the middle for Bush and the coastal areas for Gore. And although at first glance it looks like Bush won by a landslide in terms of area, it ultimately almost ended in a tie, because the states in the middle of the USA are much less densely populated and therefore have fewer electoral votes.

At AOL Headquarters

Michael Recently, I was in Dulles, Virginia, for a few days to take care of some things at AOL. On the way home, when our flight was delayed and we wanted to quickly grab some lunch, my colleague Chris and I came across a tavern advertising its beer with an "Oktoberfest" sign. Next door was a McDonald's, so we quickly decided to combine food from one place with a drink from the other. Suddenly, a group of German-speaking gentlemen rushed by -- and I couldn't believe my eyes, among them was the actor Armin Mueller-Stahl! You know, the gray-haired guy with the mustache who also appears in many American films (like "Night on Earth" by Jim Jarmusch, for example). He also had noticed the "Oktoberfest" sign, slowed down, and went back, seemingly intending to grab a beer, but then changed his mind and took off again. And that in Dulles, Virginia! I wonder what he was doing there?

Green Day

"City by the Bay" naturally refers to San Francisco, and "Mr. Whirly," who faced misfortune, had to sell his house and spend the night in the "Haight," the neighborhood in San Francisco where the last of the hippies reside. Because the Golden Gate Park is so close, where you can sleep in the woods at night, albeit uncomfortably but for free, this area is particularly popular with the homeless, which also includes many young runaways. If the stock market keeps losing points at this rate, we'll be there soon too! No, no, just kidding, please don't send any money yet. No, what I meant to say is: The world-famous band "Green Day," which I already enjoyed listening to in Munich, comes from Berkeley--right next to San Francisco, on the opposite side of the Bay Bridge.

Wine Recommendations

Freedom Of Speech

Talk show television programs, where people hurl insults at each other (such as "Jerry Springer"), are edited before airing, and indecent words are drowned out by a beep (English: Bleep). When things really get heated, you often can't hear the text anymore because of all the bleeping. This is also a popular source of humor: when someone is speaking on TV and suddenly every other word is drowned out by a beep, it always causes laughter because you know the person is using a lot of indecent words. Ha. Haha.

In live broadcasts, the technical effort naturally increases. From a notorious radio show called "Lamont and Tonelli" on 92.3 KSJO, which I used to listen to on the drive from San Francisco to Mountain View until about a year ago (now I listen to Howard Stern on 105.3 when I drive), I know that it is broadcast with a 20-second (!) delay. The hosts are, of course, seasoned pros who never let a bad word slip and, in case of doubt, use a made-up word that sounds similar -- that's legal.

But on the aforementioned radio show, regular people are also allowed to call in and express their opinions unfiltered. If someone uses an indecent word, a censor employed by the radio station triggers an alarm, and the offending sentence is -- in real-time! -- muted, and the listeners hear the sound of a toilet flushing instead of the rest of the sentence. When you imagine how that works, it makes your head spin. According to my theory, this 20-second safety interval must shrink with each incident word uttered until the station staff have to play three minutes of music from a super-fast CD player to refill the safety buffer.

In cinemas and on pay TV, however, offensive language is permitted -- but the film is then rated for ages 13 and up, and the posters warn of "adult language." Now, on to local news from Church Street.

Local Local News

Michael Last week, I spent time under the living room table with my unscrewed computer. Recklessly, I had bought new hardware from an online retailer. For the insiders: a 30 GB hard drive and a Netgear RT314 router. Now I'm in seventh heaven, and Angelika is also surfing the internet at top speed from her computer, as the little router simply turns one DSL connection into two. And one more unfortunate piece of news: our newspaper vendor can no longer get the Süddeutsche Zeitung from his distributor. This hurts a lot because we used to shell out $4.50 every Saturday to read the magazine that comes with the Friday edition. Tip for visitors: you could make us very happy if you bring us one, two, or many SZ magazines, it doesn't matter from when, they're just timelessly good.

Duck Soup

Michael Angelika gave me a digital camera for my birthday, and now I spend all day taking pictures of the silliest things. Whether I'm shopping, at work, or having lunch--the camera is always with me. For those wondering where I'm skillfully eating lunch with chopsticks in the photo above, I'll tell you straight out: In Mountain View, there aren't many good restaurants, but once a week, my colleague Hoang and I visit one that's also incredibly cheap: a Chinese restaurant on Castro Street, whose name I can't mention here, as I don't want millions of newsletter readers showing up--after all, even a superstar like myself needs his privacy! I'll just say this: there are roasted ducks hanging in the window. They have the best noodle soup with duck in the whole world. Unfortunately, the photo is a bit blurry because Hoang was laughing while taking it, the old goof. Oh well, it was fun!

Rundbrief Top Product

Michael And since America is always slightly ahead of the rest of the world, at least in the consumer goods sector, we want to introduce you people of Europe to something special. And so the newsletter's top product section was born. Products that you can't buy at home yet, but that might soon make their way over. Then you can say, "I already know it, I don't need it, I read about it in the newsletter a year ago!" when someone proudly shows off a newly acquired product.

And to be clear: You won't find our suggestions in America's rural areas or suburbs. This is only about the mega-trendy products that are only available in mega-trendy metropolitan areas like New York or San Francisco.

Right now, everything Japanese is mega trendy here. People go on vacation to Japan--we might try it next year. People eat Japanese food, for example, in Japantown in San Francisco. And, most recently: People shop in Japanese supermarkets, where even die-hard Japan enthusiasts get overwhelmed because they can't even read the product packaging.

Japanese supermarkets