Tag Archives: Missouri

All Politics Is Local

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The Verdict of the People – George Caleb Bingham

Tuesday was Election Day here in Saint Louis. Primary elections were held for state and federal offices. The headliner elections included the Republican senatorial primary. West County US Congressman Todd Akin (R) beat his two competitors for the right to challenge incumbent Claire McCaskill (D). This will be a hotly contested race and will dominate Missouri politics into November. Due to redistricting the two sitting Saint Louis area Democratic US Representatives, Lacy Clay (D) and Russ Carnahan (D), had to duke it out for the one remaining Democratic seat left in town. The latest census cost Missouri a Congress seat and the Republican dominated state legislature chose to gerrymander one of the Democratic districts out of existence. Clay handily won the primary and will be our new congressman come November.

Moving closer to home, our incumbent State Representative Stacey Newman (D) had a very close election with another victim of Republican gerrymandering, Susan Carlson (D). As of now, the vote count is 1823 for Newman and 1822 for Carlson. That’s right, just a one vote difference. In a percentage format, that is a 50.01% to 49.99% difference. I’m sure that there will be a recount. Whichever one eventually wins will be our state representative. Also close to home, two of our friends, Nelson and Gina Mitten (D), both won their elections. Nelson will be our city council representative and Gina will be the adjoining district’s state representative. Congratulations to them both!

Anne worked the polls on Tuesday as an election official. These make for long days for her. She is out of the house before 5 AM and it was after 8 PM when she called me for a ride home. Dan had borrowed her car during the day. I drove to the election commission’s office. I found her standing out in the middle of the business park’s darkened parking lot. Even though she was alone and standing in the dark, she didn’t feel uncomfortable. Partly, this was because I was only five minutes away. Maybe more importantly though, it was because police car after police car came rolling past her. They were escorting ballot boxes from the four corners of our far-flung county.

Whoo-Whoo, All Aboard for November!

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New Mexican Trains

This post is directed towards my Michigan friends. I should know better than to tell any of you what to do, but knowing and then acting on that knowledge are two different things. Tomorrow is your election day. I hope that this doesn’t come as a surprise to you. I suspect though, with your battleground state status, there is no where that you could turn to avoid this election. I’m sure that there is a campaign ad waiting for you, under every glaciated stone in the state.

I feel your pain. I’ve been there before. Missouri was once a battleground state. Heck, we were even the bellwether state. Times have changed though. Missouri has gone partisan and become a red state. No longer are we inundated with political ads. Oh, how I miss them, not. If you think that the primary campaigning was bad, just wait until November.

Michigan, your only hope to avoid even more campaigning in the fall, is to be like Missouri and take the partisan trail. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that you become another red state. I am as politically partisan as they come and would be glad to see leaning Democratic Michigan become solidly Democratic Michigan. Once you are in a solid category they tend to leave you alone.

Missouri had its primaries a few weeks ago. The Republican primary didn’t count, it was just a beauty contest, but the Democratic primary did count, well sort of. Conversely, in Michigan tomorrow, the Republican primary will count, but the Democratic primary won’t count at all. For the political savvy, this presents an opportunity for some mischief.

Like many states, both Missouri and Michigan hold open primaries. This means that any registered voter can vote in either primary. I’m not suggesting that Michigan Democrats vote Republican tomorrow. That is something only Rush Limbaugh would suggest, and did in 2008. I mean voting for Santorum; just to upset Romney would throw the Republican primary race into total disarray. 🙄

Michigan Democrats, I suggest that you sit this one out. The reasons for this course are a bit nerdy, but try to follow my explanation. Michigan, like Missouri, like only a few other states, didn’t track party affiliation in their voter rolls. You still don’t have to declare your party affiliation to be a registered voter. This attribute has made the Michigan electorate particularly opaque to partisan strategist. Party affiliation is the strongest indicator of how a voter will vote. Last year, the Michigan GOP changed the law, before this primary there has been no record kept as to which party ballot a voter used during a primary election. Tomorrow, the ballot you choose will become a matter of public record.

Telling the Republicans, you are a partisan Democrat allows them to retarget their campaigning funds, in November, to more receptive voters. Unlike Obama, the Republicans do not enjoy the grass-roots support of college students and labor unions that will be canvassing for your vote, in November. To pick the wheat from the five-million pieces of chaff that is the Michigan voter pool, they normally have to pay for that information. Why should you as a Michigan taxpayer pay for their campaigning too?

Primary Colors

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Vote For Me, Le Marquis!

Dan left today. He and Annie are flying back to LA together. They each have one more semester in graduate school to go. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Dan, he went out last night and didn’t comeback until I was in bed. Then this morning, I left for work, before he got up. Anne got two hugs from him, and then passed one on to me. I guess that that counts? Otherwise, I just got a re-gifted hug, or maybe a hand-me-down hug. 😥

The concrete repairmen showed up today. This crew was hired by Davey Tree Service, to repair the damage done by their truck before Christmas. They removed the broken slabs and then framed the trench left by them. They should return tomorrow, to pour the new concrete. If everything goes according to plan, I should be able to drive on the new driveway next week, after it has cured. What looks like a week of good weather, with steadily warming temperatures, should facilitate this plan. It also allowed Anne to get out on the bicycle today. She rode 17 miles. That’s 17 miles for the month and for the year and 17 more miles than I have ridden in 2012. She has thrown down the gauntlet, let this year’s bike race begin.

Anne will be working the Missouri Presidential Primary next month, as an election official. The only thing on the ballot is the presidential primary, but it is still pretty much just a beauty contest. As bad as the partisan bickering is on the national level, it is even worse here in Missouri. The Republican led Missouri legislature voted to make the Republican primary non-binding, hence the beauty contest crack. It did not allow the Democrats to do the same, which could have saved the state the cost of an election. There are five candidates on the Democratic ballot, Barack Obama and four other people who I have never heard of and likely never will again. The Democrats wanted to forego their primary and have a caucus, like the Republicans are going to have, but were denied that opportunity. There are ballots for other parties, besides the Democrats and the Republicans, but their irrelevance has caused me to forget who they might be. Like I said, it is going to be a beauty contest. Anne plans on getting lots of knitting done that day.

The Missouri Republicans plan on having a caucus, similar to the more famous Iowan, one, held this week. While the primary was scheduled for February 7th, their caucus is not scheduled until March 17th, by which time Missouri’s candidate selection will be lost in the pack. I propose that we Missourians take action now to regain the limelight. I considered proposing a reality TV show format, like “The Biggest Loser”, we could even ask the Donald to MC, but it would be hard to compete with the year-long soap opera that has been the Republican Presidential race so far. Instead, I propose that the Missouri Republican Party adopt a game show format, called “Missouri Republican Gladiator”. Each caucus member would mount a raised column and with a foam padded club, “debate” the other candidate’s caucus members, until there is only one. The television ought to be electric and will easily catapult the great state of Missouri to the forefront of the national political debate.