The media has not been making as much of a fuss about this as one would expect, but has anyone been paying attention to the polls in Alaska? After losing her party's nomination, Lisa Murkowski could well be poised to make history as the first write-in candidate to win a major election!
OK, I haven't sent out the fact checkers yet on whether there ever has been a write-in victory in the US or not, let alone in a high-profile Senate race. Awaiting those facts, it seems that since her Republican challenger has hired members of some obscure Alaskan militia who roughed up a reporter asking tough questions, Ms. Murkowski's candidacy has rebounded in terms of viability.
It seems that perhaps many an Alaskan tomorrow may suffer from writers cramp scrawling her surname on the ballot. According to a poll by Hays Research Group that shows Joe Miller finishing with 23% of the vote, "Write In Candidate" is set to claim victory with 34% of the total (the Democrat Scott McAdams is predicted to come in 2nd place with 29% of votes).
This poll has teabaggers fuming, of course... they don't like to think that the pollsters are playing fair here.
But still, on the face of it, assuming there are fewer than 5% of write in votes going to Mickey Mouse, and Jack Sh*t, etc., and assuming that voters in Alaska CAN spell Murkowski correctly, and assuming the Hays poll is at all accurate (the largest assumption all told) the pens may well prove mightier than the sordid!
(Trademark that for me will you?)
Monday, November 1, 2010
Thoughts on the Eve of the Mid-term Elections of 2010
We hear this every time there is a vote: "This is a historical election"; "This is perhaps the most important election of our lifetime"; "The political landscape is being forever transformed...."
Blah blah blah.
So what is really changing? What is supposed to be changing? What will change?
The predictions are that the Republicans will regain a majority in the House while Democrats will retain a slim majority in the Senate. Big deal.
First of all, this is less significant a result than one might have expected. Just about every mid-term election following the election of a new president 2 years prior results in a decisive victory for the opposing party. Picking up a few seats in both Chambers of Congress is exactly what anyone with a sense of history could have told you 2 years ago would happen, yet the media tries to treat it like a bombshell revelation.
Secondly, the fact that the country is in a recession (as we knew it would be 2 years ago since such a sever recession was bound to drag on, although this one could have been far worse) you would expect the reigning party to suffer a resounding defeat at the polls.
As it is, many states seem ready to go blue in races where you might have expected Democrats to be crushed. This of course is due to the fringe movement of Tea Parties getting the jump on ousting otherwise respectable Republican candidates whom one would have thought would walk away with the contest. I mean if Sharon Angle wasn't the Republican front runner in Nevada, Harry Reid would have a fork in him already.
The most interesting race in my opinion seems to be that in Alaska. Linda Murkowski, the write-in candidate who "should have been" the Republican candidate for the Senate, seems to have a slight margin over both the Democrat in the race and the Republican Joe Miller (a whack-a-do) who has garnered controversial publicity for allowing his goons to physically harass a reporter.
I think that all this hoopla about the Tea Party is interesting, but I think it boils (no pun intended) down to the fact that when the Tea Party was building up steam (no pun intended) the majority of Republican primary voters were sort of taking a blase attitude towards voting. They put it on the back burner (ok that time - pun intended).
I mean lets face it, how many people really bother to vote in the primaries? I never have. I'm not proud of that fact but there it is. The Tea Party, meanwhile, took advantage of this general disinterest in primary elections to motivate their base and take the flat-footed Republican electorate unawares. You can't convince me that the majority of Republicans in Maryland are happy about Christine O'Donnell, as cute and cuddly as she is!
Anyhow, I think I started this post as an effort to say that the Democrats shouldn't feel all defeatist and glum about their prospects in this election, seeing as under the circumstances they will come out of this slightly less powerful than otherwise. The Republicans over the next two years will almost certainly over-reach, and even if they nominate someone as sensible seeming as Mitt Romney to be their presidential forerunner he will be rendered ridiculous somehow, by either being forced to sound "Tea-Partyish" and/or by having to make someone like Sarah Palin his running mate.
OK, looking too far into the future, I know. Look the troops are coming out of Iraq, the economy is slowing limping towards recovery... things will improve over the long term. I think Americans, despite the ranting and raving, are sheepishly admitting to themselves that Obama - although he hasn't walked on water - has made some strides in the right direction, and as much as it seems they have forgotten the legacy of Bush-like policies.... and call me naive... most Americans must be loathe to put the brakes on running away from the era of unaccountability.
The "Party of No" has been able to slow things down but not totally stop every initiative. Yes, a majority in the House will curb the President's ambitions to a degree, but if he is skillful as a politician he may be able yet to wring some meaningful legislation out of a divided Congress.
I'm not all that concerned. Concerned, yes, panicked... nah!
Blah blah blah.
So what is really changing? What is supposed to be changing? What will change?
The predictions are that the Republicans will regain a majority in the House while Democrats will retain a slim majority in the Senate. Big deal.
First of all, this is less significant a result than one might have expected. Just about every mid-term election following the election of a new president 2 years prior results in a decisive victory for the opposing party. Picking up a few seats in both Chambers of Congress is exactly what anyone with a sense of history could have told you 2 years ago would happen, yet the media tries to treat it like a bombshell revelation.
Secondly, the fact that the country is in a recession (as we knew it would be 2 years ago since such a sever recession was bound to drag on, although this one could have been far worse) you would expect the reigning party to suffer a resounding defeat at the polls.
As it is, many states seem ready to go blue in races where you might have expected Democrats to be crushed. This of course is due to the fringe movement of Tea Parties getting the jump on ousting otherwise respectable Republican candidates whom one would have thought would walk away with the contest. I mean if Sharon Angle wasn't the Republican front runner in Nevada, Harry Reid would have a fork in him already.
The most interesting race in my opinion seems to be that in Alaska. Linda Murkowski, the write-in candidate who "should have been" the Republican candidate for the Senate, seems to have a slight margin over both the Democrat in the race and the Republican Joe Miller (a whack-a-do) who has garnered controversial publicity for allowing his goons to physically harass a reporter.
I think that all this hoopla about the Tea Party is interesting, but I think it boils (no pun intended) down to the fact that when the Tea Party was building up steam (no pun intended) the majority of Republican primary voters were sort of taking a blase attitude towards voting. They put it on the back burner (ok that time - pun intended).
I mean lets face it, how many people really bother to vote in the primaries? I never have. I'm not proud of that fact but there it is. The Tea Party, meanwhile, took advantage of this general disinterest in primary elections to motivate their base and take the flat-footed Republican electorate unawares. You can't convince me that the majority of Republicans in Maryland are happy about Christine O'Donnell, as cute and cuddly as she is!
Anyhow, I think I started this post as an effort to say that the Democrats shouldn't feel all defeatist and glum about their prospects in this election, seeing as under the circumstances they will come out of this slightly less powerful than otherwise. The Republicans over the next two years will almost certainly over-reach, and even if they nominate someone as sensible seeming as Mitt Romney to be their presidential forerunner he will be rendered ridiculous somehow, by either being forced to sound "Tea-Partyish" and/or by having to make someone like Sarah Palin his running mate.
OK, looking too far into the future, I know. Look the troops are coming out of Iraq, the economy is slowing limping towards recovery... things will improve over the long term. I think Americans, despite the ranting and raving, are sheepishly admitting to themselves that Obama - although he hasn't walked on water - has made some strides in the right direction, and as much as it seems they have forgotten the legacy of Bush-like policies.... and call me naive... most Americans must be loathe to put the brakes on running away from the era of unaccountability.
The "Party of No" has been able to slow things down but not totally stop every initiative. Yes, a majority in the House will curb the President's ambitions to a degree, but if he is skillful as a politician he may be able yet to wring some meaningful legislation out of a divided Congress.
I'm not all that concerned. Concerned, yes, panicked... nah!
And so it begins...
For years I have been meaning to start a political blog. I have sat on the sidelines watching the blowhards yell and scream about this and that on various blogs and under various headlines in the NY Post, the Huffington Post, even that gutter of online commentary Craigslist's Rant and Rave (which has become now the domain of 12 year olds discussing the sizes of their genitalia and racists and bigots repeating their tired attempts to rile up some sort of outraged reaction... go there now and expect the N word in capitals or statements too vile to quote.).
I like a frothy political discussion no matter what the slant if it is backed up by a good argument - from the left or right - but I also enjoy sparring with the senseless ranter occasionally because it is good fun to taunt a lunatic. Not a very mature position I suppose, but there it is... mockery is fun!
As the name of this blog might suggest I consider myself a moderate, which is to say that those who watch Fox News will consider me a raging Socialist although my views are probably to the left of Ronald Reagan they most likely align more closely with that ex-President than Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity fans.
I feel a bit sheepish as this blog comes on the heals of the avowedly moderate Rally to Restore Sanity, which might seem to make calling yourself a moderate seem entirely unoriginal. But having said that, I believe that moderate bloggers are and will be few and far between, and thus I wish to present my biased version of unbiased political commentary.
Oh and for the record, I also write crossword puzzles and may seek to publish some here. I don't know perhaps not, we'll see.
And so it begins...
I like a frothy political discussion no matter what the slant if it is backed up by a good argument - from the left or right - but I also enjoy sparring with the senseless ranter occasionally because it is good fun to taunt a lunatic. Not a very mature position I suppose, but there it is... mockery is fun!
As the name of this blog might suggest I consider myself a moderate, which is to say that those who watch Fox News will consider me a raging Socialist although my views are probably to the left of Ronald Reagan they most likely align more closely with that ex-President than Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity fans.
I feel a bit sheepish as this blog comes on the heals of the avowedly moderate Rally to Restore Sanity, which might seem to make calling yourself a moderate seem entirely unoriginal. But having said that, I believe that moderate bloggers are and will be few and far between, and thus I wish to present my biased version of unbiased political commentary.
Oh and for the record, I also write crossword puzzles and may seek to publish some here. I don't know perhaps not, we'll see.
And so it begins...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)