Comments on: State primaries

By: Alex Bensky

Alex Bensky — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:48:21 +0000

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.

By: LisaM

LisaM — Wed, 19 May 2010 16:30:11 +0000

@ 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.

By: EvilDave

EvilDave — Wed, 19 May 2010 06:15:15 +0000

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.

By: rickl

rickl — Wed, 19 May 2010 03:33:38 +0000

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.

By: RigelDog

RigelDog — Wed, 19 May 2010 02:55:39 +0000

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.

By: Mr. Frank

Mr. Frank — Wed, 19 May 2010 02:29:19 +0000

Specter just declared the loser. Obama keeps his string alive.

By: ELC

ELC — Wed, 19 May 2010 01:33:30 +0000

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

By: jms

jms — Wed, 19 May 2010 01:24:30 +0000

9 people who don’t consider themselves qualified to run for Governor yet, but are running for Lt. Gov. to get that experience?

By: rickl

rickl — Wed, 19 May 2010 00:46:36 +0000

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?

By: rickl

rickl — Wed, 19 May 2010 00:35:40 +0000

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.