Text 24592, 60 rader
Skriven 2006-11-07 17:09:38 av Alan Hess
     Kommentar till en text av RICHARD HELM
Ärende: The price of a seat
===========================
Whilst masticating on <Nov 06 06>, RICHARD HELM (1:123/140)
wrote to ALL:

RH> The article goes on for several more paragraphs but lives out a
RH> couple of significant points.  One being that $240,000 of that
RH> $269,000 is the Democrat's portion.

RH> It does mention that 85% of her money is from outside the 
RH> district.

RH> Tomorrow we'll see if money wins elections.

Similar things are happening here in Maryland.  This has been the costliest
election ever here, lots of out of state money (Republicans running for the big
jobs, Governor and Senator, had much more money to spend than their opponents,
but I don't know what percentage of their warchests came from out of state.) 
The money is apparently helping - a close race was expected for governor
between incumbent Republican Bob Ehrlich and Democrat Baltimore mayor Martin
O'Malley (polls show a statistical dead heat), but the Senate race was supposed
to be a cakewalk for Democrat Congressman Ben Cardin over (handpicked by Karl
Rove) Republican Lt. Governor Michael Steele, who's never held any political
office other than his four years as Lt. Gov.  Hasn't worked out that way.

Lots of money has gone into Steele's campaign, which has been run well.  Steele
is a handsome black man, Cardin is a frumpy white man, and looks have been
shown to play a role in voting, so Steele has an advantage there.  Steele has
backed all of Bush's positions, which aren't the positions of most Marylanders.
 He shouldn't be getting more than 35-40% of the vote, yet, in the latest poll,
Cardin led 49%-46%, within the margin of error.  I think Cardin's campaign has
done a worse job than Steele's.  For example, Steele once said while addressing
a Jewish group that embryonic stem cell research is like the Nazi Holocaust
(Jews support ESC, and have no religious problem wth it.  Most Marylanders,
regardless of religion, support ESC research.)  Steele apologized, but Cardin
should have used the quote in a commercial (Republicans have made hay with
Kerry's quote all over the country, before and after he apologized), but the
only ESC commercial he ran was the Michael J. Fox commercial, and that didn't
run nearly often enough.

This race depends on the black vote.  Polls say blacks favor Cardin 74%-26%,
but blacks tend not to turn out to vote.  A good black turnout in Baltimore and
Prince Georges County likely means a fairly easy victory for Cardin, but low
black turnout means a close race and possible Steele victory (Steele is ahead
in polls of white voters.)

SOAPBOX MODE ON - It pisses me off that so many people of all races don't vote,
but I'm especially pissed that so many blacks (regardless of party choice)
don't vote!  For so many years, blacks were denied the right to vote, and, when
they had it, were kept away from the polls by various means.  Black and white
people fought to end these tricks so blacks could take advantage of their right
to vote, and they don't!  It's spitting on the grave of MLK and others, IMO. 
The worst part is that the black people that didn't vote will be the ones
complaining about the government not responding to their needs.  Well, they
have a chance every two years to vote for candidates they deem more interested
in their community, and they don't.  Sure, there are still claims of dirty
tricks that seek to keep blacks from voting, and some may even be true, but
that doesn't excuse not trying!  The current turnout in Baltimore City is 28%,
I believe, if I heard correctly.  That is just pathetic. *adh*

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