This hideously warped image of our nation was created by the University of Michigan’s Michael Gastner, Cosma Shalizi, and Mark Newman. It is a county-by-county breakdown of the 2004 presidential election results, but with all areas weighted for population. Interesting idea, no?

This very day, Tuesday, February 5, has been hyped for some time now due to its implications for selecting the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees for the 2008 election. It seems like everyone is talking about it – the “day with a lot of primaries on it,” I believe, is the catchy name the media has coined. I think Tom is doing a bigger posting on it later today, but for now I’ll say that I don’t think I’m going to vote in the primary. The whole “being registered” thing doesn’t appeal to me. I’ll leave it to the party die-hards to choose the nominees (since I have a pretty good idea of what I’ll do once the election rolls around anyway) and wait it out until November.

What do you think? Any interest in the primaries? Voting in them? Agree with my lack of desire to vote in them? Disagree? Think I’m a shitty American for declining to participate in this vital component of our democratic process? Don’t be shy.