Travel

 I sat down the last month and looked over my travels (I turn 65 shortly).

At last count, I've been to 36 states and the District of Columbia.  I will admit in the case of New Hampshire....I crossed the border, had lunch, and left the state after two hours.  

On selling itself?  California had just about everything, and over the past twenty years....screwed up literally everything.

For countries?  At least count, 31.  I didn't count that Air Force flight into Israel where we weren't supposed to leave the ramp area, and take-off was in 90 minutes.  

Exotic places?  Maybe you can count Iceland in that category.  You go mostly to look at glaciers, volcanic areas, hot springs, etc.  

Crappy places?  That 12-hour 'tour' into Kosovo probably fits into that category.  

Places oversold/over-valued?  New Zealand.

Places that you probably just want to spend six weeks driving around?  Ireland.

That 3-day stop-over  in Dubai?  Honestly, the 'mall' is the selling point. There's a shop near the entry where they sell bags of popcorn that have at least three whole sticks of butter melted into the medium-sized bag.

The place where you felt ultra-ultra-safe?  Singapore.

The country where you continually looked over your shoulder?  South Africa.

The country where you are likely to gain one pound of weight for each day you spend there?  Italy.

1860 Election: Was Lincoln On All State Ballots?

 NO.

This is an odd fact about the 1860 election.  Lincoln was not listed on 10 state ballots (Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida).

John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party (the alternate-path Whig Party) was the guy listed in the ten states in question.  In several cases, Bell came close to a state win (Georgia for example, he had almost 42-percent of the vote).

So in the end, Lincoln had collected enough Electoral votes because of the four-party election.  

I should add...in the case of New York and New Jersey.....they only allowed Lincoln on the ballot, leaving off the three other candidates. 

Probably worth bringing up that South Carolina decided not to hold a Presidential election, and used the state legislative process....letting them assign the eight electors to Breckenridge (the Southern Democratic Party).  All the way from the 1700s...to this point....elections were avoided.  1868?  The state went to the election process to determine the Electoral College situation.

So if you were wondering....could Trump be denied on the ballot of ten states....could he still win?  Well....history says 'yes'.  I might go as far to suggest twenty states could be denied and he could still win the Electoral College.  Shocker?  Oh, I would imagine thousands of journalists have never reviewed the 1860 election or its consequences.  

The final question....if a Trump win occurred with only thirty states listing him on the ballot?  Yeah, it'd be the path for some 1860 dissolving of society....Civil 'Woke' War.