There are tons of election statistics that are fairly interesting coming out of this election. The fact that Nate Silver called all 50 states. The percentage of blacks and hispanics that voted for President Obama. That there were voting districts where Governor Romney didn’t receive a single vote. The fact that there are (finally) more Congressman who have not signed Grover Norquist’s pledge then have even while the Republicans maintained control of the House. (This, by the way, may be the most important statistic.)

But none of these are the most interesting statistic. The most interesting statistic, the one that leaves me going “huh,” the one that makes me wonder about all the data and all the stats and what they mean, is one simple fact: by the time we have another Presidential election it will be nearly 90 years since Republicans won the Presidency without a Bush or Nixon on the ticket.

The last time was Herbert Hoover, in 1928, whose Vice President was a man named Charles Curtis. Since then we have…

• 1932 to 1952: Democrats
• 1953 to 1960: Dwight Eisenhower with his VP, Richard Nixon
• 1961 to 1968: Democrats
• 1969 to 1976: Richard Nixon won the Presidency twice, which transitioned to Gerald Ford when he resigned
• 1977 to 1980: Democrat
• 1981 to 1988: Ronald Reagan won twice with his VP, George HW Bush
• 1989 to 1992: George HW Bush won the Presidency
• 1993 to 2000: Democrat
• 2001 to 2008: George W Bush won the Presidency twice
• 2009 to 2016: Democrat

That’s an amazing streak. All I know is that if I was the Republican nominee for President in 2016, Jeb Bush would be my first choice for VP. Otherwise, I might just give up and go home. 🙂

I was at a Mobile Portland event last night and introduced myself to someone who already knew me. It was unsettling, a little. I immediately started racking my brain for who he was and how I knew him. Of course I didn’t. He knew me through my Mobile Portland or blog posts.

I wrote about fame almost a year and a half ago. At the time I talked about being obsessed with recognition for my accomplishments and wanting to keep up with certain Jones’. I wouldn’t say I obsess about it anymore but I still like the idea of being recognized for my accomplishments. Given that, it is probably the idea of recognition that I like the most. Like my chance encounter last night, the oddity of people knowing who I am and me having to rack my brain to see if I know him or her is weird. Maybe you get used to this kind of thing; maybe not.

More importantly, I care deeply about leaving a legacy, making the world a better place because of my work. I don’t know whether this will happen or not. I get the sense it will, but I don’t want to be disappointed if it doesn’t. I’d like to be happy with the legacy I will definitely leave behind — my two daughters in particular, all those who have used and loved and had their jobs and schooling made just a little easier because of powerOne. And I am to a certain extent. But I want more. And, at least for now, it drives me to accomplish great things.

What’s the old prayer? God give me strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Then again, it could be said that great things are only accomplished by those that can’t tell the difference. So maybe my confusion is prescient.

My goal is not to start this week off on a negative note but this was such a well-written article, I wanted to share it. Dustin Curtis writes about how a friend in his early 20s had a heart attack:

A couple of months ago, I received a text message that hit me like a brick. It said that one of my closest friends, who is in his early twenties and in perfect health, suddenly went into cardiac arrest while running at the gym. I knew what that meant; outside of the hospital, cardiac arrest is almost universally fatal; only about 5% of people even make it to the hospital alive, and fewer than half of those survivors leave with good neurological function. I fell into my chair. Shock.

My brother-in-law, aged 39, had a heart attack last October and lived to tell about it. His and my wife’s father died of the same seven years ago. Both were deemed in perfect health by doctors just before the attack. Lucky for all of us, my brother-in-law’s wife was at home, saw him getting grayer and decided to take him to the hospital. Half way there he passed out. She drove frantically while pounding on his chest and calling the hospital who met her at the curb. He, too, went through the therapeutic hypothermia. He survived and is in good health today.