Francine Busby lost in CA-50. Other Democrats are putting a positive spin on this, but I will not. She came close and should have won. One gaffe cost the election. Billbray, her opponent, has ties to Jack Abramoff. A candidate who should have been considered radioactive prevailed in a district humiliated by a corruption scandal. The situation is sickening.
Marcy Winograd, the anti-war candidate in CA-36, lost to Jane Harmon. The only good news: Harmon has been veering left lately, and has even been working with John Conyers. Still, this race does not auger well for those following the Lieberman-Lamont match. (The district is safely Democratic; in essence, the winner of the primary takes the seat.)
The Democratic primary in the California governor's race has been dispiriting all around. I wanted the nod to go to Steve Westly for one reason: He promised to return California to its tradition of free community college. Phil Angelides will not be a bad candidate. The problem: By feinting left, Arnie has been making a comeback.
The good news came in the most important race in the country: Debra Bowen won the Democratic primary for Secretary of State. But even here, we must face up to an unhappy reality: She'll be up against Bruce McPherson, the Ah-nold appointee, in the fall -- and McPherson is a big Diebold fan. That means he's corrupt. That means the system is corrupt. The woman who hopes to clean up our elections systems must prevail in a game that has already been rigged. If polls don't give her a sizable lead going into the general election, she cannot win.
By the way, some ten percent of the voting machines in Contra Costa County weren't working yesterday...
Elsewhere:
The NYT scores the disgusting and corrupt Kenny "the kapo" Blackwell in an editorial this morning...
If there was ever a sign of a ruling party in trouble, it is a game plan that calls for trying to win by discouraging voting.More:
The latest sign that Republicans have an election-year strategy to shut down voter registration drives comes from Ohio. As the state gears up for a very competitive election season this fall, its secretary of state, J. Kenneth Blackwell, has put in place "emergency" regulations that could hit voter registration workers with criminal penalties for perfectly legitimate registration practices. The rules are so draconian they could shut down registration drives in Ohio...
Mr. Blackwell and other politicians who insist on making it harder to vote never say, of course, that they are worried that get-out-the-vote drives will bring too many poor and minority voters into the system. They say that they want to reduce fraud. However, there is virtually no evidence that registration drives are leading to fraud at the polls.
But there is one clear way that Ohio's election system is corrupt. Decisions about who can vote are being made by a candidate for governor. Mr. Blackwell should hand over responsibility for elections to a decision maker whose only loyalty is to the voters and the law.
1 comment:
joe, you forgot tester's win over morrison in MT to compete with conrad burns for the senate seat. that's a huge win, as the guy is THE most grass roots candidate on any ticket, dem or rep.
and i wouldn't equate the race for harmon's seat with lieberman; ned lamont has had SOO much more coverage and exposure and support, and there is so much more time left before the CT primary (isn't not till september??) for lieberman to hang himself a thousand times over. plus, the polls there are far more in support of lamont than lieberman, which was not the case for harmon's seat.
so take heart. bilbray only has two years to prove he's not a duke; i give him two months to expose how much a duke he actually IS!
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