The Who2 Blog

Renegade. Renaissance. Radiance. Rosebud.Those, says the Chicago Tribune, are the Secret Service code names for Barack Obama and (respectively) Michelle, Malia and Sasha Obama.

Michelle Obama’s big brother has a new job too.

Actress Doris Day and activist Dorothy Day have little in common besides similar names — and the challenges they pose to anyone trying to document the details of their early lives.The trouble spots are Doris’s name and age, and Dorothy’s daughter’s birthdate.

By popular demand, we’ve profiled the as-yet-unknown First Dog of the Barack Obama administration.Obama told his daughters Malia and Sasha in his election-night speech that they had “earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House.”This set off a public First Dog Frenzy, with a question about the dog even popping up at Obama’s first press conference on Friday.

Evangelist Billy Graham turns 90 today.”A blond, trumpet-lunged North Carolinian” Time called him in its 1949 article about his breakthrough “Christ for Greater Los Angeles” tent revival.

“Obama spent part of Thursday in Chicago making calls to world leaders.

So says a new biography of politeness pro Emily Post.

We missed it yesterday amongst the election hoopla: Kevin Jonas, of the teen band the Jonas Brothers, has turned 21.He’s now the only Jonas brother who can legally go out for a Flaming Dr. Pepper after a show. Not that he would, of course.

Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. Here’s a by-the-numbers look ahead at this historic event.{ 1 }   Obama will be the first president born in Hawaii. (Small surprise: Hawaii didn’t become a state until 1959. Obama was born in 1961.) { 77 }   Days until Obama’s inauguration on 20 January 2009.

All national networks are now reporting that Barack Obama has defeated John McCain and will be the next president of the United States.[Update: Here’s the transcript of his speech.]

Election Day also happens to be the birthday of Laura Bush. She’s 62 on this, her final birthday as First Lady.Mrs. Bush shares a birth year with Patty Duke, Dolly Parton and Gilda Radner.

Google Maps has a swell tool to help you find your polling place today.They’ll also tell you if state law permits you time off to vote. (Wyoming residents get one paid hour; Kentuckians get four!)

Barack Obama’s grandmother has died of cancer in Hawaii. Madelyn Dunham was 86. Details from The Honolulu Advertiser and The Chicago Tribune.

Polls continue to show a sizable lead for Barack Obama over John McCain. Now pundits are wondering about a replay of the “Dewey defeats Truman” scenario from 1948. For those unfamiliar, here’s a quick recap of that swell old story.

FiveThirtyEight.com has already been widely covered this election season. But in case you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a look in this final pre-election weekend.The site aggregates national political polls, with further analysis and commentary by Nate Silver. He’s an analyst for the stats-crunching site Baseball Prospectus, and he applies those same skills to competing polls.

Quite a story from the Austin American-Statesman.”Jones’ father herded sheep as a slave until he was 12, according to the family… Jones says she cast her first presidential vote for Franklin Roosevelt, but she doesn’t recall which of his four terms that was. When she did vote, she paid a poll tax, her daughters said.”And yes, she says she’s voting Obama.