(no subject)
Nick Lampson won! Yay! Rick Perry won. Boo. But I wasn't really expecting anything different. Texas is such a solidly Republican state and the Democratic candidate was such a loser that it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Perry would keep his seat. The interesting part of the gubernatorial election was the role of the independents. Kinky Friedman and Carole Strayhorn between them took just under 30% of the vote, trailing Democrat Chris Bell by less than 3,000 votes and pulling support from both of the major parties. Thanks to them, although Perry got a solid plurality he couldn't pull off a majority in one of the most Republican states in the country. Message to the mainstream political candidates: you're both doing a bad job. We want a governor with policies that work. We want an opposition candidate with a message besides "Republicans r teh suk. Vote for me!"
I think that last part can be generalized to the Democratic party as a whole. Yes, you got elected on Iraq backlash, but that will only take you so far. Now that the midterms are mostly out of the way, everyone has already started talking about 2008, and you had better have your plans laid. You will need a strong candidate and a unified message about what you will do if we let you run the country, not more snivelly finger-pointing about how badly the Republicans have fucked things up. My first two presidential elections have been the choice between the lesser of two evils, without a candidate in sight that I actually liked, trusted or respected. I want better for 2008. So get your act together Dems. Give me someone real for a change.
EDIT: Correction of a software error in Hidalgo County and the addition of absentee ballots nudges the independents up to 31% of the vote, compared to Bell's 29%.
I think that last part can be generalized to the Democratic party as a whole. Yes, you got elected on Iraq backlash, but that will only take you so far. Now that the midterms are mostly out of the way, everyone has already started talking about 2008, and you had better have your plans laid. You will need a strong candidate and a unified message about what you will do if we let you run the country, not more snivelly finger-pointing about how badly the Republicans have fucked things up. My first two presidential elections have been the choice between the lesser of two evils, without a candidate in sight that I actually liked, trusted or respected. I want better for 2008. So get your act together Dems. Give me someone real for a change.
EDIT: Correction of a software error in Hidalgo County and the addition of absentee ballots nudges the independents up to 31% of the vote, compared to Bell's 29%.