M. (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} m_supercomputer) wrote,@ 2009-11-02 13:45:00 |
|
Election 2009...
...happens tomorrow! Interesting races to follow:
1) Maine is voting on a referendum about gay marriage. Maine's an interesting case because it's (I believe?) the first state to institute gay marriage via the legislature rather than a judicial ruling. Whether it can withstand the referendum is an important test because, if the side favoring equality fails, other state legislatures are less likely to take the risk.
2) Virginia and New Jersey are voting for new governors. Virginia's mainly interesting because it's local to me, and it's officially a toss-up state now - though probably McDonnell, the Republican, is going to win (boo, hiss). Entertaining thing about the NJ race: the Republican challenger unwisely decided to swipe a Monty Python sketch, edit in references to his opponent, and air that as a commercial. Without checking with anyone involved. Politicians: DO NOT screw with comedians, seriously. They will cut you.
3) Potentially the most interesting, against all odds: the election in New York's 23rd district to replace their representative, a moderate Republican who was selected by Obama to be Secretary of the Army earlier this year. Another moderate Republican, DeDe Scozzafava, was selected/elected (I'm not entirely sure which) as the official GOP candidate. The winner of this election will only serve for a *year,* as they're just serving out McHugh's term and will have to run again to get reelected to a full term. Pretty boring right?
HA, well. That was when the far right's purity trolls decided to flex their muscles - declaring Scozzafava a "leftist," a Conservative Party candidate named Doug Hoffman entered the race, and every big-name conservative flocked to endorse him, including, eventually, the National Republican Congressional Committee. Activists like Erik Erikson came out with charming statements like this: "We should be magnanimous in victory — and whether Hoffman wins or loses, as long as Dede Scozzafava loses it is a victory — but we should demand accountability, we should demand a reckoning, and we should demand a purge from the party establishment of those people most responsible for the Republican disaster in NY-23." (That "disaster" refers to selecting a so-called leftist - who is, by the way, solidly in the mainstream of New York Republicans - not creating enough interparty squabbling to lose a seat that they could've easily kept. Of course.)
Sure, Hoffman has no grasp of local issues, and doesn't even live in the district. (Check out this link for a picture of the guy, by the way. *Yikes.*) But former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, one of Hoffman's earliest backers, defended him on this by describing local issues as "parochial." That's right - they're trying to win this election with the "your concerns aren't that important" argument. And it might work! Current polling has Hoffman up by 5 points, with a lot of undecideds.
But over the weekend, Scozzafava dropped out of the race and endorsed the Democratic candidate, so no one really knows how this'll shake out. (Add in to this that the turn-out rate for off-year elections is typically absurdly low, so "likely voters" are extra-difficult to determine.) But whatever happens, I would bet on the right's activists declaring victory and planning even more primary challenges against GOP officeholders - if the conservative wins, they've saved the district from the gutless GOP leadership; if he loses, it's because said leadership backed the RINO for too long.
2010's gonna be fucking hilarious, that's for sure.
(Incidentally, how far to the right do you have to be to consider *Newt fucking Gingrich* not conservative enough? Jesus.)
So, that was a long politics post! To make up for it to the many of you who probably do not care, have a funny article about a 70-year-old Washington Post editor beating up a staff writer. ...I think it's funny, anyway!
...happens tomorrow! Interesting races to follow:
1) Maine is voting on a referendum about gay marriage. Maine's an interesting case because it's (I believe?) the first state to institute gay marriage via the legislature rather than a judicial ruling. Whether it can withstand the referendum is an important test because, if the side favoring equality fails, other state legislatures are less likely to take the risk.
2) Virginia and New Jersey are voting for new governors. Virginia's mainly interesting because it's local to me, and it's officially a toss-up state now - though probably McDonnell, the Republican, is going to win (boo, hiss). Entertaining thing about the NJ race: the Republican challenger unwisely decided to swipe a Monty Python sketch, edit in references to his opponent, and air that as a commercial. Without checking with anyone involved. Politicians: DO NOT screw with comedians, seriously. They will cut you.
3) Potentially the most interesting, against all odds: the election in New York's 23rd district to replace their representative, a moderate Republican who was selected by Obama to be Secretary of the Army earlier this year. Another moderate Republican, DeDe Scozzafava, was selected/elected (I'm not entirely sure which) as the official GOP candidate. The winner of this election will only serve for a *year,* as they're just serving out McHugh's term and will have to run again to get reelected to a full term. Pretty boring right?
HA, well. That was when the far right's purity trolls decided to flex their muscles - declaring Scozzafava a "leftist," a Conservative Party candidate named Doug Hoffman entered the race, and every big-name conservative flocked to endorse him, including, eventually, the National Republican Congressional Committee. Activists like Erik Erikson came out with charming statements like this: "We should be magnanimous in victory — and whether Hoffman wins or loses, as long as Dede Scozzafava loses it is a victory — but we should demand accountability, we should demand a reckoning, and we should demand a purge from the party establishment of those people most responsible for the Republican disaster in NY-23." (That "disaster" refers to selecting a so-called leftist - who is, by the way, solidly in the mainstream of New York Republicans - not creating enough interparty squabbling to lose a seat that they could've easily kept. Of course.)
Sure, Hoffman has no grasp of local issues, and doesn't even live in the district. (Check out this link for a picture of the guy, by the way. *Yikes.*) But former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, one of Hoffman's earliest backers, defended him on this by describing local issues as "parochial." That's right - they're trying to win this election with the "your concerns aren't that important" argument. And it might work! Current polling has Hoffman up by 5 points, with a lot of undecideds.
But over the weekend, Scozzafava dropped out of the race and endorsed the Democratic candidate, so no one really knows how this'll shake out. (Add in to this that the turn-out rate for off-year elections is typically absurdly low, so "likely voters" are extra-difficult to determine.) But whatever happens, I would bet on the right's activists declaring victory and planning even more primary challenges against GOP officeholders - if the conservative wins, they've saved the district from the gutless GOP leadership; if he loses, it's because said leadership backed the RINO for too long.
2010's gonna be fucking hilarious, that's for sure.
(Incidentally, how far to the right do you have to be to consider *Newt fucking Gingrich* not conservative enough? Jesus.)
So, that was a long politics post! To make up for it to the many of you who probably do not care, have a funny article about a 70-year-old Washington Post editor beating up a staff writer. ...I think it's funny, anyway!
