Where am I?

Oh, Gil. You make me blush and giggle.

This week, he states this in his column about "blogs":

After all, the 16th District, which encompasses most of Lancaster County, is solidly Republican; last time Herr ran against Pitts, in 2004, he got twice as many votes as she did.

So I looked at the Congressional District map to determine if "most" of Lancaster county was in the 16th Congressional District.



It looks like Lancaster county is entirely in District 16. So I checked this site called "Free Help with USA Immigration - 16TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Surprising, it lists counties included in the 16th Congressional District. If you visit this link, you will see at the bottom that it states:

(16) THE SIXTEENTH DISTRICT IS COMPOSED OF...ALL OF LANCASTER COUNTY

Not "most". All.

Gil brags about Paul Hackett nearly defeating the Republican candidate Jean Schmidt in Ohio. But as this article from Wikipedia states (linked above on keyword Paul Hackett), Hackett launched an allegedly deceptive campaign that did not mention that he was a Democratic candidate.

Hackett's ad began with a clip of President George W. Bush speaking to troops at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on June 28, 2005, "There is no higher calling than service in our armed forces." Hackett's commercial then noted his service in the Marine Corps. The Washington Post noted the commercial "avoids any hint that the lawyer is a Democrat." Republicans were displeased. The Republican National Committee's lawyers wrote him saying the commercial deceived the public with "the false impression the President has endorsed your candidacy." Robert T. Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, told The Cincinnati Post the commercials were "a blatant effort to dupe voters."

Gil gives the reason for this close margin as "blogs".

The Cincinnati Post editorialized Hackett's success in the eastern counties was in part from "the increasingly desperate struggle in rural areas to provide enough decent jobs for those who want them."

Hmmmm...blogs. Deceptive commercials. Desperate stuggles for jobs.

Whatever the reason, Gil doesn't mention that Hackett lost the three most populous counties in the Ohio District, Hamilton, Warren, and Clermont. The Republican candidate won those counties by numbers as high as 58% of the vote. It was the four smaller counties in the district that made the election so close, as shown here, courtesy info from the same Wikipedia article:

Candidate	Party	Hamilton	Warren	Clermont	Brown	Adams	Scioto	Pike	Totals	Percent
Jean Schmidt	Repub	25,048	7,556	17,320	3,100	1,911	2,638	1,559	59,132	51.74 (Elected)
Paul Hackett	Dem	23,657	5,420	12,439	3,950	2,101	4,925	2,659	55,151	48.25

I always thought that close doesn't count except in horseshoes. I guess the people that elected the Republican in Ohio felt the same way after this election?