Republican stupidity in Alaska
This post was edited on 4/5/09. I did not have the ability to strikeout items when I edited the post so I deleted the incorrect references to a primary election and to Begich being a Republican.
This story leads me to believe there are some really stupid Republicans in leadership positions in Alaska.
To make a long story short there was a general election in Alaska for the Senate seat that was held by Republican Ted Stevens for 40 years. Ted Stevens has been dogged by corruption charges for years, is a “king” of pork barrel projects, and is the kind of Republican that makes me want to puke.
Democrat Mark Begich defeated the incumbent Senator Stevens in a very close general election. Senator Stevens likely lost his seat because he had just been convicted of seven felonies.
Minnesota Senate Seat
The race for the Senate in Minnesota in November of 2008 was extremely close. Infact Coleman (The Republican) led by a couple of hundred votes immediately after the election. A recount was performed and after that recount Franken (The Democrat) now leads by 225 votes.
I have followed this recount by reading Republican and Democratic news sources.
Both candidates and their campaigns have acted in an insulting fashion and have attempted to get certain votes counted they felt would favor them while at the same time trying to get votes they feel would help that other candidate eliminated.
The Secretary of State has closed the recount and determined that Franken (The Democrat) won by 225 votes. There were a couple of million votes cast in this contest. It was an extremely close race.
I feel that Al Franken (The Democrat) should be seated and that the State of Minnesota should carefully analyze their election process and see what they can do to improve it. They especially need to look at how their absentee ballots are handled.
I now hear that some of the Senate Republicans may filibuster the seating of Al Franken (Democrat) until Coleman’s legal challenges are resolved.
The Senate Republicans need to get a grip and move on. Elections are handled by the States and the Secretary of State of Minnesota has certified Al Franken (D) as the winner.
Al Franken should be seated and the Republicans should move on.
Mike Sylvester
The Republican Party Has A Serious Problem
I’ve been poring over the exit polls and there are three glaring weaknesses the Republican Party is going to have to correct in the near future if they are going to compete in 2012.
First, young voters are moving away from the Republican Presidential candidates in droves. You now have a generation of voters that probably equate the disastrous presidency of George W Bush to Republicans. To give you some context, Gore won the 18-29 vote by 2 points, Kerry won it by 9 and Obama won it by 34.
Second, new voters are not voting Republican. First time voters went to Gore by 9, Kerry by 7 and Obama by 39.
Lastly, Latinos are the fastest growing minority and they have completely abandoned the GOP. Gore won the Hispanic vote by 27, Kerry only won it by 9 but Obama won it by 36.
You cannot be a viable party if you lose these 3 groups by such massive margins. Of course there’s always the chance that this was a one-time anomaly due to the general disdain for President Bush but I don’t think that tells the whole story…
(Data from CNN exit polls of 2000, 2004 & 2008)
Indiana Cheaters?
A trip down idiotic-quote memory lane:
In an interview before headlining the Indiana Republican Party’s fund-raising dinner in Indianapolis Thursday night, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Hoosiers are too smart to vote for Obama.
Democrats, he said, “can’t win fairly out here.”
Asked if Democrats could win without cheating, Graham said, “No. They can’t win fairly out here ’cause their agenda is so far removed from the average Hoosier.
“We could lose, I suppose, if they cheat us out of it,” Graham said of Indiana’s 11 electoral votes. “I think the only way we lose a state like North Carolina or Indiana is to get cheated out of it.”
What a clown…
Early Voting Indicates Record Turnout
According to a local newspaper, early voting for this 2008 election numbers 30,440 voters out of a pool of 253,313 eligible in the county.
In the 2004 election, the early birds totaled 15,716 out of a possible 225,967 voters.
That’s roughly double the amount of early voting.
The turnout for the county in 2004 was 58.4%.
Neil over at Political Equinox is on point with today’s big question:
“Will the newly registered voters brave the LONG lines to vote or will they give up after seeing the wait?”
Voter turnout in my part of Allen County, Indiana
I voted this morning at 9:30. Historically the polls are slowest from 9 - 11 AM and from 1 PM - 3 PM.
I vote at Agape Church on Lima road in precinct 299. Precinct 360 votes at Agape as well. I waited for 35 minutes to vote and I got there at 9:30 AM. I talked to several people there and it took some people 90 minutes to vote early this morning.
I drove by another polling place on Coldwater Road with lines out the door at 9 AM and 10:30 AM.
I have talked to two people who voted at other Allen County precincts and one waited 60 minutes to vote and the other waited 50 minutes to vote.
It looks like turnout will be high!
Mike Sylvester
Election Predictions
First of all I hope everyone votes. One of the keys to a successful Democracy is an informed and voting populace.
My predictions are below:
Barack Obama (D) will be the next President. He will not win in a landslide; however he will win. I further predict that McCain will win both Indiana and Ohio.
Mitch Daniels (R) will easily win the Governors race.
Greg Zoeller (R) will win the Attorney General race by at least 6 points.
Tony Bennett (R) will win the Superintendent of Public Instruction race by at least 6 points.
Mark Souder (R) will win his next term in Congress; however, it will be close. I predict Souder will get 49%, Montagano 46%, Larsen 5%.
Sue Orth (R) will easily win the race for County Treasurer in Allen County.
County Council is the hardest race for me to predict. I project Buskirk (R) having the most votes, followed by Armstrong (R), followed by Hoot (D). I think Moss (R) will come in a close 4th and Knuth (D) a distant 5th. I would not be surprised if Moss was 3rd.
Three Fort Wayne School Board seats are up for election this year. Three candidates are supported by the Code Blue Schools PAC and their opponents are supported by the leadership of the School District. I predict: Olinger will beat Hill by a comfortable margin. Schaab will beat Pierce by a small margin. Mol will beat Corona by 10 votes. In other words, I am predicting that the citizens will elect all of the Code Blue candidates in an effort to take their School District back.
What are your predictions?
How Mike Sylvester plans on voting next week
I have decided how I am going to vote next week.
President: Bobb Barr/Wayne Root, Libertarian. This race was simple, I cannot vote for McCain and I definitely cannot vote for Obama. With the addition of Palin I almost decided to vote for McCain.
Governor: MItch Daniels/Becky Skillman, Republican. This race was tough for me because I almost voted Libertarian; however, I voted for Mitch Daniels because he has guts and is willing to change things.
Attorney General: Greg Zoeller, Republican. This one was easy.
Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tony Bennett, Republican. This one was easy.
3rd Congressional District: William Larsen. This one was easy as well. I cannot vote for Souder for reasons often posted on this blog. I cannot vote for Montagano because he has no experience, is afraid to take stands on the issue, and moved here just to run for Congress. I can vote for William Larsen because he is a small government type and a social conservative. William Larsen would be a Republican today if the Republican Party still stood for smaller Government.
County Treasurer: Sue Orth, Republican. I am impressed with Maria Parra’s willingness to stand up the the Wayne Township Board; however, I feel Sue Orth is more qualified.
County Council. Susan Hoot, Democrat. Paul Moss, Republican. This was the toughest race for me; in fact, I still have not decided if I will vote for a 3rd person or not. County Council has five candidates all of which have some strengths. Susan Hoot is a no-brainer for me. I have been impressed with Paul Moss in the past; however his recent desire to put public money into our zoo turned me off as has his stance on the Canyon Cliffs Development. That being said; I still think he stands for smaller Government in general.
There are a lot of other uncontested races and I do not see a reason to list them.
I became a Republican this year and certainly am voting for a majority of Republicans in contested races. In contested raced I am voting for:
- Two Libertarians
- One Democrat
- Five Republicans
Mike Sylvester
My political predictions from Nov 2006
After the Democrats took control of Congress in November of 2006 I made 22 predictions. Many people chimed in and posted their predictions as well including our own Jeff Pruitt. These prediction involved Democratic campaign promises, items conservative talk radio “claimed” that the Democrats would embrace if they took the majority, and other items I was interested in.
You can read my predictions here. You can read Jeff Pruitt’s response to my predictions here.
Without a doubt; the Democrats completely failed to follow that majority of their campaign promises; however, the media and voters are not holding them accountable for this!
Several of these promises have been passed in the House; however, the Senate has failed to pass them. I think it is fair to say that House Democrats WOULD (And did pass i many cases) have passed many of these items if not for the senate. The Republicans have done some filibustering in the senate; however, the senate Democrats have COMPLETELY failed to accomplish anything.
Below are my predictions and how accurate Jeff Pruitt and I were:
Question for Obama supporters
Senator Obama has ran a lot of local television ads advertising that “John McCain has voted in favor of tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas to China.”
Does anyone know how Senator Obama proposes to fix this problem or is it just empty rhetoric?
Mike Sylvester
