Election 2009

[Kace]

Certainly not coming with the hype of last year, but I guess that's normal for the first year after the Presidential edition.

Anything of interest this time around?

[News Is Broken]

Well, there's this one guy running on the None Of The Above platform that looks promising....

[Mighty Dyckerson]

Originally Posted by Kace

Anything of interest this time around?

Yeah. There's a zoo that's selling reindeer shat.

[Lazlo Toth]

We have a Congressional race to fill Ellen Tauscher's seat. That's about it.

[ISTHISTHINGON?]

Originally Posted by Kace

Anything of interest this time around?

A local town is voting on alcohol sales on Sunday! WooHoo!

[News Is Broken]

Originally Posted by ISTHISTHINGON?

A local town is voting on alcohol sales on Sunday! WooHoo!

In a related story, they are also going to be replacing the kerosene lamps on main street with electric ones and installing a traffic light!

[Mighty Dyckerson]

Originally Posted by Lazlo Toth

We have a Congressional race to fill Ellen Tauscher's seat.

I filled her seat last night, if you know what I'm saying.

[ISTHISTHINGON?]

Originally Posted by News Is Broken

In a related story, they are also going to be replacing the kerosene lamps on main street with electric ones and installing a traffic light!

That's on next years ballot.

[s'news]

Folks are pickin' a mayor here.

[wx or not]

Ohio has casino gambling up for vote. Looks like it will win.

[sportzchick]

Breckenridge legalizes pot... and a relative of mine is now a state delegate (not in my state though).

[BadgerWXman]

Originally Posted by wx or not

Ohio has casino gambling up for vote. Looks like it will win.

Finally! Down with the nanny state!

[Diplomat]

Mayoral races in Houston, Atlanta and New York City were interesting. Two are headed to runoffs, and Bloomberg won, but not by nearly as much as expected. In Philadelphia, a new District Attorney was elected to succeed the legendary Lynne Abraham, who is retiring.

The New Jersey Governor's race was fascinating, in that the incumbent, who spent massive amounts of his own money, was booted out of office. He outspent both his opponents' combined spending and then some. The stench of corruption from New Jersey's last elected Governor probably didn't help him, either. Corzine's cheap shot about Christie's weight got a pass from the media, but not from the voters.

The Virginia race was not as exciting, as the Republican candidate was long favored to win. The Democrat candidate beat two establishment types in the primary and some of them were probably still upset about that. Plus, the Republican guy was much better known.

NY-23: Republicans blew that one by allowing county chairs to pick a loose cannon candidate. If Hoffman or almost any other Republican had run on the GOP line, he or she would have won. Owens will no doubt be a big GOP target next year.

[Bandit]

Originally Posted by Diplomat

NY-23: Republicans blew that one by allowing county chairs to pick a loose cannon candidate. If Hoffman or almost any other Republican had run on the GOP line, he or she would have won. Owens will no doubt be a big GOP target next year.

So you're saying if the national nitwits would have stayed out of it, that Owens would still have beaten Scozzafava? Really?

[Scarlet Termite]

Ohio now has casino gambling. Columbus' mayor is at this moment undoubtedly scheming for his take which he will rationalize as "for the good of the people of Columbus." More people will go to the one in Cincinnati because it's a much more interesting city and this casino will fall into disarray and the Methodists will be happy.

[Diplomat]

Originally Posted by Bandit

So you're saying if the national nitwits would have stayed out of it, that Owens would still have beaten Scozzafava? Really?

Where did you get the idea I said that? I didn't.

The GOP nominee was picked by the party chairs in each county of that district. Counties are LOCAL. That's a separate issue from the NATIONAL figures who got involved later.

I believe if Hoffman had been the Republican nominee, he'd have won, because he'd likely still have been the Conservative Party candidate. We'll never know, of course. Just how I see it.

[writer2]

the end of candidate calls. With the Atlanta mayoral runoff, no such luck.

[Bandit]

Originally Posted by Diplomat

Where did you get the idea I said that? I didn't.

The GOP nominee was picked by the party chairs in each county of that district. Counties are LOCAL. That's a separate issue from the NATIONAL figures who got involved later.

I believe if Hoffman had been the Republican nominee, he'd have won, because he'd likely still have been the Conservative Party candidate. We'll never know, of course. Just how I see it.

My take is that if the national folks would have stayed out of the way that Scozzafava would, at a minimum, be in a runoff (and would very likely have won that runoff). So I'm not seeing how the local folks on the ground messed up here.

[Diplomat]

Originally Posted by Bandit

My take is that if the national folks would have stayed out of the way that Scozzafava would, at a minimum, be in a runoff (and would very likely have won that runoff). So I'm not seeing how the local folks on the ground messed up here.

I don't think they have runoffs in NY State.

Scozzafava was picked by the local party chairs. They picked her, not primary voters.

[Bandit]

Originally Posted by Diplomat

I don't think they have runoffs in NY State.

Scozzafava was picked by the local party chairs. They picked her, not primary voters.

Correct - and the voters picked the Democrat over the Conservative Party.

[Diplomat]

Originally Posted by Bandit

Correct - and the voters picked the Democrat over the Conservative Party.

And again, I believe if Hoffman had been running on the GOP AND Conservative party lines, he would have won. Candidates in NY often run on two party lines--usually the Rs and Cs run together, and the Ds and Ls run together. Occasionally the Rs and Ls run as one. The last significant D to also run on the C line was Mario Biaggi, who was dumped by the Conservative party after he was caught lying about something during one of his mayoral races. He ran on the Liberal line a few times after that. Biaggi later went to prison.

[ISTHISTHINGON?]

Originally Posted by ISTHISTHINGON?

A local town is voting on alcohol sales on Sunday! WooHoo!

Hide the women and children.....beer sales now allowed in smalltown, USA!

[Bandit]

Originally Posted by Diplomat

And again, I believe if Hoffman had been running on the GOP AND Conservative party lines, he would have won. Candidates in NY often run on two party lines--usually the Rs and Cs run together, and the Ds and Ls run together. Occasionally the Rs and Ls run as one. The last significant D to also run on the C line was Mario Biaggi, who was dumped by the Conservative party after he was caught lying about something during one of his mayoral races. He ran on the Liberal line a few times after that. Biaggi later went to prison.

Since he doesn't live in the district, I doubt that would have happened in Hoffman's specific case (since the local party was hand-picking the candidate). But whatever floats their boat I guess.

[Pro]

Originally Posted by Diplomat

Bloomberg won, but not by nearly as much as expected.

Yeah, that was the biggest shocker of the night. Recent polls showed Bloomberg wayyyyyyyyyyy ahead, in double digits.

Originally Posted by Diplomat

Corzine's cheap shot about Christie's weight got a pass from the media, but not from the voters.

That WAS a cheap shot. Corzine was starting to make up ground until that ad. It killed his momentum. And it didn't get a free pass from the media, Corzine was questioned about it repeatedly, throwing him off message. But what killed Corzine was the state's budget cuts/tax hikes that were necessary because of huge deficits.

Originally Posted by Diplomat

The Virginia race was not as exciting, as the Republican candidate was long favored to win. The Democrat candidate beat two establishment types in the primary and some of them were probably still upset about that. Plus, the Republican guy was much better known.

And after eight years of Democratic Governors, Virginia voters may have felt it was time for a change.

Originally Posted by Diplomat

NY-23: Republicans blew that one by allowing county chairs to pick a loose cannon candidate. If Hoffman or almost any other Republican had run on the GOP line, he or she would have won. Owens will no doubt be a big GOP target next year.

Does New York state allow for primaries in special Congressional elections? Do they allow for them if the parties request and pay for it themselves?

[Diplomat]

Originally Posted by Bandit

Since he doesn't live in the district, I doubt that would have happened in Hoffman's specific case (since the local party was hand-picking the candidate). But whatever floats their boat I guess.

As you know, Representatives are not required to live in their districts. But I'll amend what I said earlier to say that if any GOP candidate other than Mrs. Scozzafava had been running on the GOP AND Conservative lines, he or she would have likely won.

I didn't pay much attention when Sarah Palin endorsed Hoffman--she's trying to get publicity for her book and whatever comes after that. When Fred Thompson endorsed Hoffman, I started to take notice, because while Fred is conservative, he's not an extremist. Governor Pataki is no ideologue and he went for Hoffman--that told me Mrs. Scozzafava probably had an issue or two that would be troubling.