Check out "Across the Aisle"
Hey all... I'll be most likely neglecting this blog for the political one that Joey Bishop and I have started. The address is
http://www.bipartite.blogspot.com and it's turning out to be a pretty rockin' sweet time, so come on over!
Vote Early, Vote Often...
¡Viva la Revolución! As I write this I am wearing the cliché "I √oted Today!" sticker... That's right, two hours ago I excercized my voice in American democracy. Some observations:
-
Voting is very easy. I walked from UMPI to the rec. center to vote around 9:00 (after my morning class) and by 9:25 I was back at UMPI, sitting in my next class. I think the people who tell hour-wait horror-stories are people who went during lunch hour back in '92 and were late for work. So they haven't voted since and plan to keep others from doing the same so they don't feel guilty. That, or I was lucky to hit the polls during "dumb luck short-line hour," also known as "when most people my age are asleep hour".
-
I am still registered under my parent's address, which I was fine with until I had already filled out much of my ballot. It turns out my apartment and my parent's house are in two different state representative districts, and so I was left with a Churchill-or-Sunderland decision. I voted Churchill because of my party line and the fact that I know absolutely nothing about Sunderland. It was such a disappointment because I was psyched about my Fisher-Smith choice, when I was going to vote for a Democrat for good reason. If you ask me, "Did you vote for Jeremy Fischer in '06?" the answer is "Heck yes I did!" because I wrote him in for City Council. Loophole? You know it is. I'll know next election to stop by the little table and change my official address. I'm now going to post a semi-related picture to hold the interest of anyone already bored by this post. Dig in, it's a long one:
This is where I voted today.
-
There are few local candidates for anything and little choice/information to make an informed choice available. Probate, treasurer, attorney general, and sherriff were all choices of "Democrat-I've-Heard-Nothing-About" or "Write In". I voted for myself, David Kavanaugh, my wife, the unknown democrat, and nobody, respectively.
-
The vote for Governor will be very interesting. I proudly voted for Chandler, but I think he's faded at the end. With the polls sitting at Baldacci 36, Woodcock 30, Merril 27, LaMarche 11, my prediction is Baldacci by between four and seven. Embarrassing would be if Merril beat out Woodcock... though I must give her credit, her campaign has been very agressive. Perhaps another week before the vote, as her ad today in the
Bangor Daily News suggests, and we'd be looking at a third-party woman governor and yet another reason for Maine to be noted as a whole different electoral world than the rest of the nation. I generally liked Angus King, so maybe Merril wouldn't be so bad. To make sure you all read everything I have to say about the election for governor, why don't you stop for a minute, breath, and look at this picture:
Picture courtesy of the Bangor Daily News, November 03, 2006.
-
What I want to underscore is the level playing field that public money for elections has created. We may be heading into an era where 45% would be a clear mandate to lead and 40% would mean a comfortable win, elections ripe with third-party candidates in contention and a voice for a greater multitude of ideologies state-wide. While I am still slightly dubious of so much tax-money being sunk into the election, I am very impressed with how well this election has gone off and how positive the push for an even electorate would be. Who would have thought 36% would be the
leader in the pre-election poll!?
-
I voted no on 1 and yes on 2. While I was initial in favor of the taxpayers' bill of rights (TABOR), I was struck with a thought recently. The lawmakers who are overspending and running the state into deficit were elected by the very same voters who would be able to decide where further spending is permissable. If we don't choose people who are fiscally responsible, who is to say that we ourselves will be come election day? Further, consider it this way: just as the United States is a Republic, where representatives (little "r") are elected to vote on behalf of the people of their state/district, the people we elect are those we trust to spend the money we send with them to Augusta. However, I did vote "yes" on 2 because if TABOR does pass (it probably won't), referendum 2 will help iron out some of its wrinkles. My father happened to go to Tabor Academy for high school, which has no connection to a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights whatsoever. Their emblem is below:
All-A-Taut-O inDEED.
-
Being a conservative, I am a wee bewildered by my party's support for the bill. Shouldn't Republicans be shouting not, "YES ON 1," but rather "HEY, VOTE FOR SOMEONE WHO WON'T OVERSPEND YOUR TAXES: HINT, THERE'S A LITTLE 'R' BY THEIR NAME ON THE BALLOT!" My only thought is that perhaps the same Republicans who introduced the bill are the ones upset about the taxation of tobacco, and their smoker's cough prevents them from yelling more than three words at once. To them I would suggest "VOTE FOR Rs" instead of "YES ON 1". Let's not tie our legislators' hands, but rather make sure the hands we send aren't overzealous with passing out our dough.
Election '06, Part Duex.
Three more things I think:
1)
I like Chandler Woodcock and I think he should get the call to the state house. While I respect Baldacci and think he will probably be a strong candidate for Senator one of these days - legislator seems a more successful role for him - there are problems in Maine I think a straight-foward Republican like Woodcock may be more adept at addressing. Does anyone have a current poll? I've heard everything from Baldacci-Woodcock 43&/42% to Baldacci-Woodcock-Merril-LaMarche 40%/23%/11%/7%. I'm a little skeptical that fewer than one in four will be voting for a major-party candidate whose favorability ratings slightly beat out Baldacci.
2)
Token candidates seem to abound in the world of Aroostook County politics. With all due respect to my party's candidate, "Taxfighter" is a silly title and to simply fight taxes is irresponsible. The Democratic candidate, Jeremy Fischer, seems to have more aptly stated a responsible Republican's view of tax reductions with clear purpose. Has anyone noticed how his voting record is more to the right than some of the Republicans at the state house? Would anyone care to know that Fischer is the same age as Franklin Pierce was when he was a state representative? Things went pretty well for Pierce from there, despite being a single-term president. And a somewhat mediocre one at that. Back to what I was saying, it seems to be a whole lot of Party A's incumbant vs. whomever Party B could scrape up to run against them. I should run for the state house if that's all I need to be to become a major party's candidate.
3)
Has anyone been thinking about how unique the next presidential election will be? It's been decades since a presidential election featured exactly zero sitting presidents or vice-presidents. I'm getting pretty pumped about following both primaries and working on a campaign come election year. My early favorite: McCain/Collins '08. Or Perry/Erskine. Are you up for it, Lynn? You're a strong running mate because you can deliver me the "American citizen, Canadian permanent residents living in the United States" vote. If it's close, that extra .0001% will come in handy.
