Out, the prominent gay and lesbian magazine, named New York Times polling guru Nate Silver as its “person of the year” on Tuesday. The magazine noted that Silver’s forecasts throughout the 2012 campaign “became the talk of the chattering classes.” Silver, who is openly gay, correctly predicted the outcome of the presidential election in all 50 states.
In the accompanying interview, Silver expressed concern that his growing influence could cause him to lose his edge:
“It’s a bit of a cautionary tale: the bright young intellectual who either gets sloppy or people stop scrutinizing them when they should be critical of everyone and everything,” says Silver. “That’s why I need to take some time just to relax—between the election and the book, I spilled out a lot of my creative output. Hopefully it’s a renewable resource, but you need time to generate thoughts and ideas.”
