We speak for them. We imbue them with meaning.

I've become invested with this symbolic power. It really does transcend what I'm actually doing and what I actually deserve.

Midterm elections can be dreadfully boring, unfortunately.

It's a little strange to become a kind of symbol of a whole type of analysis.

You can build a statistical model and that's all well and good, but if you're dealing with a new type of financial instrument, for example, or a new type of situation - then the choices you're making are pretty arbitrary in a lot of respects.

To the extent that you can find ways where you're making predictions, there's no substitute for testing yourself on real-world situations that you don't know the answer to in advance.

Race is still the No. 1 determinant in every election.