Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: VOTING by the NUMBERS Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 15:19:55 EST Message-ID: \SE E;LIFE \HD VOTING by the NUMBERS \SH In the digital age, toting up Campaign '92 \BY Sean Piccoli \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES When the speeches are all given and the last election-night party balloon is popped, what does a presidential campaign finally come down to? The issues? Please. The candidates? Yeah, right. Everybody knows what really counts, literally speaking, are the numbers. The digits tell the story - who won, who lost, who finished a sorry, distant third. We play the numbers. We paint by numbers. We number certain people among our friends. All the indices we watch closest - polls, voter turnout, campaign dollars, the cost of living, the stock market - they're all numerical, baby. Count on it. Now, then, folks love to accuse the media of throwing around a lot of meaningless numbers, the better to intimidate the masses with our mastery of facts and figures - mostly figures - and brandish our intellectual authority. Well, old habits die hard, so get used it; we depend on these dense-pack digit columns, row upon row upon sweet, blessed row, to explain everything from the federal deficit to Ross Perot's campaign phone bill. So, here's a little misery index of our very own: Ladies and gentlemen, the 1992 presidential campaign, strictly by the numbers. MEDIA FRENZY 3,000: Number of media types in Little Rock, Ark., today. 6: Number of square blocks cordoned off for Election Day festivities in Little Rock. 2,049: Number of election stories broadcast on ABC, CBS and NBC nightly newscasts (Jan. 1 through Oct. 19). $10 million: Amount spent by CNN on election coverage, including $4 million for the conventions. (The broadcast networks don't divulge spending figures.) $2 million: Amount spent by C-SPAN on election coverage. 28: Number of visits by the three major candidates to the "Today Show" (Clinton 15, Perot 10, Bush 3). 10: Number of visits to "Larry King Live" (Perot 4, Clinton 3, Bush 3). 2: Number of visits to "Meet the Press" (Clinton 1, Perot 1, Bush 0). 149: Number of newspapers endorsing Bill Clinton, according to a poll in Editor & Publisher magazine published Oct. 24. 121: Number of newspapers endorsing George Bush. 2: Number of newspapers endorsing Ross Perot. 2: Number of times in this century that a Republican presidential candidate has received fewer newspaper endorsements than a Democrat (Barry Goldwater and Wendell Wilkie). ENTIRELY DEBATABLE 35.7 million: Number of American households tuned into the first (Oct. 11) presidential debate. 42.1 million: Number of households tuned into the third (Oct. 19) debate. 6: Number of times George Bush said "trust" in the three debates (he said "character" 12 times). 28: Number of times Bill Clinton said "change" in the three debates. VITAL STATISTICS 5'6": Height of shortest candidate, Perot (height of both Clinton and Bush, 6'2"). 215: Weight, in pounds, of heaviest candidate - Clinton (Perot weighs 150, Bush 190). ROCK THE VOTE 91,594,809: Number of voters in 1988 presidential election. 1: Estimated percentage increase in voter registration from 1988 to 1992. 41.8: Percentage of 18-to-24-year-olds who voted in 1972. 29: Percentage of 18-to-24-year-olds who voted in 1988. 250,000: Number of new voters registered by "Rock the Vote" campaign since 1990. DEMOCRACY IN ACTION 23: Total number of presidential candidates in this election. GOTTA LIKE YOUR CHANCES 19: Number of incumbent presidents to win re-election. 8: Number of incumbent presidents to lose re-election. 1: Number of former vice presidents to serve two terms as president (Thomas Jefferson). 5: Number of presidents inaugurated before their 50th birthday. 5: Number of sitting governors elected president. 89: Percentage reflecting George Bush's highest approval rating, as measured by the Gallup poll. 29: His lowest rating percentage. 13: Largest deficit, in percentage points, from a Gallup candidate preference poll that a president ever has overcome to win re-election (Harry Truman). 25: President Bush's biggest deficit, in percentage points, in the Gallup preference poll. BANG FOR THE BUCK $150 million: Total amount of taxpayer money given to Clinton and Bush for the primary races, the convention and the general election. (Each received about $55 million for the general election, $11 million for the convention. During the primaries, Clinton got $12.4 million while Bush got $9.7 million.) $3 million: Total amount given by lawyers and lobbyists - Bill Clinton's biggest bloc of contributors - to his primary campaign. $2 million: Total amount from lawyers and lobbyists - also Bush's biggest bloc of contributors - given to the president's primary campaign. $120,000: Amount given by H. Peter Guber, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, to the Democratic National Committee. $100,000: Amount given by Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment to the Republican National Committee. $100,000: Amount given by financier Henry Kravis to the Republican National Committee. $292,949: Average amount spent by House incumbent to get re-elected in 1992. $2,351,205: Average amount spent by a senator to get re-elected in 1992. $5,000: Amount of money that Bush adviser Charles Black's lobbying firm - Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly - gave to the Democratic National Committee. 82: Percentage of political action committee (PAC) money given this year to incumbents (as opposed to challengers). BUY, BUY, BUY $24.6 million: Total spent on television advertising for all political campaigns in 1972. $227.9 million: Total spent in 1988. $300 million: Estimated total for 1992. $100 million: Estimated amount spent on TV advertising by the three major presidential candidates. $37 million: Amount spent on television advertising by Ross Perot in October alone, the single most expensive television political advertising campaign in history. GAG ME WITH AN ELEPHANT 493: Total number of political jokes told by Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, David Letterman and Arsenio Hall about George Bush (206), Bill Clinton (155) and Dan Quayle (132) from 1988, when the Center for Media and Public Affairs began tracking such things, through June 1992. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM