graphic designr » political debate

Biden vs. Palin: What they said at the debate

Erica Smith — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:30:12 +0000

Democratic Sen. Joe Biden and Republican Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin debated at Washington University on Thursday night. CNN has the transcript of the debate. From the transcript, I separated what Biden said vs. what Palin said and, using Wordle, created word clouds. The clouds represent the 150 most frequently used words; the larger the word, the more often it was used.

Joe Biden

Biden said “John” 72 times, “McCain” 52 times and “going” 39 times.

Sarah Palin

Palin said “also” 48 times, “going” 42 times and “John” 34 times.

Update: A few people have asked about “maverick.” Biden said “maverick” nine times; Palin said “maverick” four times and “mavericks” twice.

Obama vs. McCain debate: What they said

Erica Smith — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:01:14 +0000

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain debated at the University of Mississippi on Friday night. CNN has the transcript of the debate. From the transcript, I separated what Obama said vs. what McCain said and, using Wordle, created word clouds. The clouds represent the 150 most frequently used words; the larger the word, the more often it was used.

Barack Obama:

John McCain:

‘Sluts and vermin’

Erica Smith — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 06:55:31 +0000

Ah-ha! Tag clouds on the first Democratic presidential debate. It’s interesting to go through and see what each candidate focused on. Well, while it’s probably not a real look at what each focused on, it’s a quick look at what word each said most often. I’m looking for a project to create tag clouds â€” I like the simplicity.

An interesting story (and headline) about sluts and vermin. Make sure you get to the first story breaker â€” it’s a fun writing style.

Crazy story of the day: A university won’t give a student her teaching degree because of a photo she posted on MySpace. MySpace is the devil, I know that, but this school is way out of line … UPDATE: The student is suing for $75,000. Come on, she could get more than that.