Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent
Politics
Faith
Liberty

Endorsement Statistics, 2004-2024

Posted

I started making formal political endorsements on this website in 2004, just four years after I turned eighteen and gained the right to vote. In the twenty years since, I have evaluated 267 candidates for 113 offices at the federal, state, and local levels (an average of 2.36 candidates-per-office) and 72 state and local ballot issues.

Every once in a while I go back and take a look at my endorsement statistics to see if I can discern any patterns, trends, or other interesting tidbits. I went through this exercise to analyze endorsements from 2004 through 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2021. I’m doing it again today to cover endorsements through 2024. As you can see, I’ve been pretty ‘irregular’ about this. My intention is to start doing this exercise on a four-year schedule (that is, after each presidential election).

If you are not interested in my political views, or pie charts, you should probably just skip this post!

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Hyundai Santa Fe
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It’s 2025, and there are still ugly cars! The list from last year has not undergone any drastic changes. None of those models were discontinued, and only one—the Nissan Kicks—underwent a major redesign . . . which made it uglier. There is one newcomer that makes an impressive high (or low) debut, which pushed the Hyundai Santa Cruz off the bottom. I suspect it will return someday.

While some companies continue to assault the senses with awful designs (I’m looking at you, Hyundai, Kia, and Nissan), the industry’s bigger problem is blandness. Too many vehicles look . . . fine . . . but nothing sets them apart from anything else. As I have been saying for a few years now, some of the cars on this list are tolerable. When I first started compiling this annual list, the hard part was narrowing it down to only ten. Now it’s hard to find ten truly ugly models. I suppose that’s an improvement.

To qualify for this list, a car must be sold in volume to the general public in the United States. Volume is defined subjectively based on my observations (in other words, if I see them on the roads, they qualify; if I don’t, they don’t). Vehicles are excluded if they are not sold new in North America, sell in very low volume, or are sold only for exotic, military, commercial, or other special purposes.

The following are the ten ugliest cars of the 2025 model year according to me. It’s my opinion. Don’t be offended.

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Adobe Firefly
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A pro-democracy protest at Disney’s Magic Kingdom escalated into an apparent coup d’état Saturday afternoon. The protest against King Iger, which had been organized on social media by the Disney Freedom Front, began around 10:00 a.m. at the north end of Main Street and soon moved into the King’s Park area outside Cinderella Castle, known informally as “The Hub.”

As the crowd grew, the King’s Security Force erected a barricade between the park and the castle and called-up reinforcements from regiments in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. When soldiers began arriving around mid-day, protestors taunted them and bombarded them with character pins and Dole Whip. Skirmishes broke out around the periphery, and sporadic gunfire could be heard in the Main Street and Liberty Square sections of the capital.

Around 2:30 p.m., as gunfire intensified, witnesses reported seeing protestors overrunning security barriers, crossing the moat bridge, and entering the castle. Cinderella Castle has a decorative moat but is not protected by a drawbridge. The king’s former residence at Sleeping Beauty Castle, now his summer retreat, has a functional moat and drawbridge. These protections were thought unnecessary when the new castle was built in 1971.

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Vatican Media
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Updated

The cardinal electors in conclave at the Vatican have made Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost the 267th supreme pontiff. Prevost, who is 69 years old, took the name Leo XIV. He is the first pope from the United States, the second pope from the Americas, and the first pope of the Augustinian order.

The successful election of the new pope was announced around 6:10 p.m. CEST (12:10 p.m. EDT) with white smoke billowing from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney and bells ringing in Saint Peter’s Square. The holy father was introduced to the faithful about an hour later with the traditional announcement:

Annuntio vobis gaudium: HABEMUS PAPAM! Eminentissimum ac reverendissimum Dominum Robertum Franciscum Sanctae Romane Ecclesiae Cardinalem Prevost qui sibi nomen imposuit Leonem XIV.

I announce to you a great joy: WE HAVE A POPE! The Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Robert Francis Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Prevost who has taken the name Leo XIV.

The Catholic Church entered a sede vacante (vacant seat) period with the death of Pope Francis, the 266th supreme pontiff, on April 21. A conclave was held beginning yesterday, May 7, to elect the next successor of Saint Peter. Members of the College of Cardinals who were under the age of 80 at the time of Pope Francis’s death were eligible to serve as electors. There were 135 eligible cardinals; two did not attend for health reasons. A two-thirds supermajority vote is required to elect a pope.

Leo XIV was elected on the fourth ballot of the conclave, which was the first ballot of today’s afternoon session. The new pope then vested in the “room of tears” before greeting the faithful from the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica saying, “Peace be with you!” and offering his first blessing “Urbi et Orbi” (“to the city [of Rome] and the world”).

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Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.