State primaries
Today is primary day in four states: Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Oregon. It may not sound like much, but the results will tell us a lot about current electoral trends and anti-incumbent fever. Here’s the place to discuss it if the spirit moves you.
http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=245601&format=html
West Virginia
Primary results finalized in Berkeley County
[D] Patrick Murphy 1,054
[D] John R. Unger II (i) 1,886 X- AGE
[R] Craig Blair 2,502
Valley District
[R] Ronald K. Collins (i) 1,214
[R] Danny “Dan” Dulyea 1,336
[R] Doug Copenhaver Jr. 1,983 X- AGE
[D] Ken Mattson 802
[D] Matthew S. Barney 1,505 X- AGE
Adam Stephen District
[R] Elaine C. Mauck 1,223 X- AGE
[R] Eric C. Carper 992
[D] Bucky E. Strauch 957
and so it goes… see link for more
I just want to see the media contorts itself into a pretzel by pointing out how it’s all completely disconnected from the much loved Obama and his policies.
I wish that we in PA had open primaries so that I could vote against Arlen Specter. I hope we’ve finally seen the last of him.
In Oregon I switched to Dem and decided to stay just so my vote may actually matter.
It isn’t like a Republican is going to get elected here. The Dem primaries are essentially the general election (ballot measures aside).
That said, I still manage to vote for people I know will never win.
I encourage any Oregonian to vote for perpetual candidate Pavel Goberman! I love that he has run in every election since 2000, under Rep, Lib, and Dem and for any state or Federal office. Truly love to see an immigrants enthusiasm.
Nothin’ to see here — keep movin’.
LisaM,
Many years ago, when I moved to Texas, I began to learn a bit about how to work primaries–in Pennsylvania it had never been necessary, or even considered (to my knowledge–but I was young then). Back then, Texas was still reliably Democrat, and a dear conservative friend of mine told me that she always registered Democrat, and voted in the Democrat primary because that was the only way to have a vote in who would win the actual election, since the Democrat would always win–just as EvilDave is doing today in Oregon.
Now I see that, in Pennsylvania, the game can be played with a bit of a twist. If I still lived there, I would register as a Democrat for this primary and vote for Specter. That’s because I think it’s fair to say that Toomey has a better chance of beating Specter than Sestak. I agree with you about Specter, he’s a weasel. But conservative Pennsylvanians would be better off with him as the Democrat nominee.
It’s an interesting game, these primary elections.
I live in Pennsylvania, and I am absolutely, positively against open primaries. They should be banned everywhere.
There’s just too much opportunity for mischief. In a closed primary, Democrats vote for the best Democrat candidate and Republicans vote for the best Republican candidate.
In an open primary, Democrats can vote for the weakest Republican candidate and Republicans can vote for the weakest Democrat candidate. The flaw in that system should be obvious.
In 2008, I think the fact that some of the early primaries were open primaries played a major role in making McCain the Republican nominee.
I agree with earlier commenters about changing your registration in order to vote in primaries that matter. You can change your registration frequently. There’s usually a cutoff date about a month or two before the election.
I was registered as an independent for several years (after being a Democrat). In Pennsylvania that means that I could only vote on ballot questions in the primaries. I changed my registration to Republican in 2004 in order to vote for Toomey against Specter in the primary that year.
On today’s Pennsylvania Republican ballot, there were 2 candidates for U.S. Senate, 2 for Governor, and 9 for Lieutenant Governor. WTF is up with that?
9 people who don’t consider themselves qualified to run for Governor yet, but are running for Lt. Gov. to get that experience?
I think the returns for the PA-12 special election are here.
http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/ElectionsInformation.aspx?FunctionID=13&ElectionID=35&OfficeID=11
I wrote an article on Tim Burns and the race last week.
http://www.wesurroundthempa.org/?p=1526
Specter just declared the loser. Obama keeps his string alive.
I was involved in investigating complaints today at Philadelphia polls. I don’t know if it means anything but what should have been a nothing-burger election as far as excitement, turnout, and problems was actually full of agitation…at least from what I observed in my little neck of the woods. Hardly any voters, but plenty of election workers, campaigners, poll watchers, and union reps getting on their muscle with each other.
It seemed pretty calm in my voting district in the Philly suburbs, at least while I was there.
But former congressman Mike Fitzpatrick ran away with the election against three opponents. He’s pretty middle-of-the-road, if not an outright RINO. He was in Congress a few years ago when the Republicans pissed everybody off with their profligate spending. I also remember him voting against drilling in ANWR. So it’s Back to the Future.
Some races I was particularly interested in were for the state Republican committee. The Republican Party-endorsed candidates are leading the Tea Party-endorsed candidates. Looks like the Republican old-boy network remains intact.
I regret to inform you Paval lost his bid at US Senator.
I look forward to seeing what office he’ll run for in 2012.
@ betsybounds, I had considered switching to Dem to vote Arlen out but didn’t because I think each party should be allowed to nominate it’s own candidate without interference. I know, I’m naive and that’s why conservatives lose early and often.
I saw Pat Toomey on Fox this morning and he was linking Sestak with Pelosi and Obama, reiterating that he supports the health care takeover, cap and trade, financial reform, etc. Philly is liberal, but the rest of us in PA are mostly not. Remember, we’re the bitter clingers after all. People here have conservative values but they’re union, and that’s why many vote Dem. If Sestak is really liberal and Toomey keeps pointing that out, Toomey will win.
I’m with you on this, rick. I felt this way when I was a Democratic Party activist, ascending to the level of county committee and having four times swept to electoral victory as a precinct delegate…ok, I only had opposition once.
Parties need to mean something and if a party is required to choose its candidates through primaries then people who vote in those primaries ought to be asked to do the bare minimum and register as a Democrat or whatever.
Michigan has no party registration; primaries are open. And there have been cases of strategic voting in one party’s primaries by the other sides partisans. I don’t think this contributes to a strong political discourse.
Now, years and year ago a family friend, now in her sixties, turned 21, the voting age then, and went down to register. This was in New York, a Westchester suburb, affluent area. Her father had a retail business so he cautioned her, “Don’t register as a Democrat, Judi, because it might not be good for business.” She didn’t realize she could register as independent, she knew she wasn’t a Republican, and of the minor parties there was only one she’d heard her parents talk about favorably.
So for two years she was one of the few registered Socialists in Westchester County.