Preferencial treatment

The experts agree

Charley, Frances, and Ivan all seem to like Republicans. They sent their eyes right through counties that voted for Bush in 2000. Also in cartoon format.

(Okay, so it’s an urban legend. Or some really spun-up data. But you get the idea.)

Thanks to Eric Meyer for the tip.

Ivan the Second… or Third

Ivan missed Louisiana and Texas the first time around, so it sent its heir, Ivan the Second, to take care of the rest. (It reached land in Florida but quickly cut through the state and regained strength, so it’s now Ivan the Third.)

The National Hurricane Center is having some fun with the storm(s):

After considerable and sometimes animated in-house discussion of the demise of Ivan … the National Hurrican Center has decided to call the tropical cyclone now over the Gulf of Mexico Tropical Depression Ivan. … debate will surely continue here and elsewhere…