Elections: The Stuff I Want You to Know
Yeah, these are usually titled "The Stuff You Need to Know" but this is a bit more honest. There are more than a few fun races and election issues out there to watch out for, and well, I plan on spending all day, after I vote, being a junkie about all the election stuff coming in. And the races are tighter than Brittney Spears's pants. Every talking head on the TV networks is talking about how important each issue, race or what have you. Let's go over a couple so you, the valued readers, can know what I want you to.
Well, in Ohio, it's all swinging Democrat: governor, senate and a number of the House seats. The governor, Bob Taft, is term limited and is a Republican. He has also been inexorably linked to Tom Noe and the infamous "coingate" scandal. It also doesn't help the Republican candidate is Ken Blackwell, who is currently secretary of state for Ohio and was in charge of the 2004 elections in Ohio, that some claim were tainted, mismanaged or outright fraud. So, as a result of all of this, Ted Strickland has, by some estimates, a 20 point lead in the polls. Sen. Mike deWine is trailing Sherrod Brown by about 12 points. So, Ohio, as ever the swing state, is swinging hard back to the Democrats.
And for the many fans in the Keystone State, the joys of the Pennsylvania elections. Well, as anyone who has been reading this knows, Santorum is gonna lose. Even the RNC has started to pull out money to put into other states where things are getting tight. The gubernatorial election is looking like Rendell is gonna stick where he is, since Swann just doesn't seem, well, to be doing well. In January, Lynn Swann led the polls pretty handily, now is behind by some sources as much as 20 points. Rendell got a key endorsement from Bob Casey, who is ahead really because he's just not Santorum. That being said, everyone in Pennsylvania need to go out and vote to decide the local issues. (Editor's note: I tried to find a link for the ballot issues in PA but came up blank.)
Virginia is getting more and more complicated. James Webb is now ahead of Sen. George Allen. Allen has really been covered enough and has mamanged to take what should have been a simple win and turn it into a place where the RNC has to dump in LOTS of money just to see if they can just try to hang on it, which is looking grim. Virginia also has a number of issues on the ballot. Number one being a badly written anti-gay marriage amendment to the Virginia constitution. Yes, if looking at the current proposal that says nothing shall be done to approximate the rights and powers of marriage. Which means all kinds of people in limited personal partnerships are gonna get screwed hard. There are also provisions to let localities have more power in making property tax cuts, which is always welcome in this part of the internet and a proposal to change the constitution to take out a part that was struck down by a higher court forbidding churches to incorporate when other groups can.
While a lot of other attention has been placed on Missouri and Tennessee (Missouri looks like it might go Democrat and Tennessee had a horrible attack ad that killed Harold Ford's shot), Arizona has emerged as a possible tight race. RNC and DNC are pumping money into the race. Jim Kyl, a republican who thought he had one of the safest seats in Senate up for election, but now Jim Pedersen has pulled within 6 points. Which means if there are any people in Missouri, Tennessee or Arizona reading this (although, I'd be most suprised at, well, all of them. Not sure I know anyone in any of those states), go out and vote.
Actually, that goes for everyone, get out and vote. It's an old bromide, but it's true, if you don't vote, you really don't get bitch about things. Except that's not true either. If you make the active choice not vote because of wanting to select something else, that can be a tenable position. It's the people who don't vote because of some dumb reason deserve to be smacked. It's the people who say "oh, it's all electronic voting, so it doesn't matter." Well, congratualtions, you managed to pick the one course of action that will GUARANTEE you lose. There is always the off chance that if it is all rigged, the rig might work, so your vote might get counted. If you don't vote, it will NEVER get counted. You vote can never be made right since you never made a vote.
If you have any questions, there is a word in the ancient Greek for a person who is so self-involved he or she will not vote. Idiot.
So it is written, do so I see it.
Well, in Ohio, it's all swinging Democrat: governor, senate and a number of the House seats. The governor, Bob Taft, is term limited and is a Republican. He has also been inexorably linked to Tom Noe and the infamous "coingate" scandal. It also doesn't help the Republican candidate is Ken Blackwell, who is currently secretary of state for Ohio and was in charge of the 2004 elections in Ohio, that some claim were tainted, mismanaged or outright fraud. So, as a result of all of this, Ted Strickland has, by some estimates, a 20 point lead in the polls. Sen. Mike deWine is trailing Sherrod Brown by about 12 points. So, Ohio, as ever the swing state, is swinging hard back to the Democrats.
And for the many fans in the Keystone State, the joys of the Pennsylvania elections. Well, as anyone who has been reading this knows, Santorum is gonna lose. Even the RNC has started to pull out money to put into other states where things are getting tight. The gubernatorial election is looking like Rendell is gonna stick where he is, since Swann just doesn't seem, well, to be doing well. In January, Lynn Swann led the polls pretty handily, now is behind by some sources as much as 20 points. Rendell got a key endorsement from Bob Casey, who is ahead really because he's just not Santorum. That being said, everyone in Pennsylvania need to go out and vote to decide the local issues. (Editor's note: I tried to find a link for the ballot issues in PA but came up blank.)
Virginia is getting more and more complicated. James Webb is now ahead of Sen. George Allen. Allen has really been covered enough and has mamanged to take what should have been a simple win and turn it into a place where the RNC has to dump in LOTS of money just to see if they can just try to hang on it, which is looking grim. Virginia also has a number of issues on the ballot. Number one being a badly written anti-gay marriage amendment to the Virginia constitution. Yes, if looking at the current proposal that says nothing shall be done to approximate the rights and powers of marriage. Which means all kinds of people in limited personal partnerships are gonna get screwed hard. There are also provisions to let localities have more power in making property tax cuts, which is always welcome in this part of the internet and a proposal to change the constitution to take out a part that was struck down by a higher court forbidding churches to incorporate when other groups can.
While a lot of other attention has been placed on Missouri and Tennessee (Missouri looks like it might go Democrat and Tennessee had a horrible attack ad that killed Harold Ford's shot), Arizona has emerged as a possible tight race. RNC and DNC are pumping money into the race. Jim Kyl, a republican who thought he had one of the safest seats in Senate up for election, but now Jim Pedersen has pulled within 6 points. Which means if there are any people in Missouri, Tennessee or Arizona reading this (although, I'd be most suprised at, well, all of them. Not sure I know anyone in any of those states), go out and vote.
Actually, that goes for everyone, get out and vote. It's an old bromide, but it's true, if you don't vote, you really don't get bitch about things. Except that's not true either. If you make the active choice not vote because of wanting to select something else, that can be a tenable position. It's the people who don't vote because of some dumb reason deserve to be smacked. It's the people who say "oh, it's all electronic voting, so it doesn't matter." Well, congratualtions, you managed to pick the one course of action that will GUARANTEE you lose. There is always the off chance that if it is all rigged, the rig might work, so your vote might get counted. If you don't vote, it will NEVER get counted. You vote can never be made right since you never made a vote.
If you have any questions, there is a word in the ancient Greek for a person who is so self-involved he or she will not vote. Idiot.
So it is written, do so I see it.