@1-- All of the local races went to Republicans in Whatcom, but Murray and Larsen both carried that county and 1098 lost there by less than almost anywhere else in the state, which is something.
I think of Whatcom as like a tiny little version of the whole state. You have one liberal center way out to the west and a big ol' conservative base surrounding it to the south and east. The big center is usually just barely dense and liberal enough to keep things blue, but in certain elections enough of the outliers turn out to make it red. In the big national elections, though, they generally like to be represented by Democrats. Just like the state.
Hell, it's even kinda shaped like a tiny, squished Washington.
I almost didn't vote for lack of a stamp. I bet the turnout would have been even higher if the envelopes were postage-paid. Hard to justify the $3 million, tho.
It's a repudiation of the "enthusiasm gap" meme, Seattle edition; proof that Obama still has pull here
I call bullshit: correlation ≠ causation. You have exactly zero evidence that Obama's millionaire fundraiser for Murray did anything to increase voter turnout (how many people were allowed in for that? 50? 100?). I could just as easily claim that 71% participation was a combination of easy mail-in voting and wingnut/Teabagger hysteria, and I would probably be more right.
Republicans hate anything that increases voter turnout, especially city or urban or metro-area type turnouts, because such things are almost universally bad news for them.
@8: Obama's rally at Hec-Ed is what I was referring to, and it was not a millionaire fund raiser. It was a huge, free rally that was open to the public and designed to get out the younger vote.
@4 - I agree that postage paid envelopes would be great. I've always got stamps sitting around, but I wouldn't be surprised if some people didn't vote because they didn't realize they needed a stamp when they filled out the ballot, then forgot to pick one up later and the ballot got lost in a pile or something.
I get that it would cost money, but I think they should be free to mail if possible.
The ballots shouldn't have postage-paid return stamps.
The federal government/postal service should provide free carrying and delivery of ballots as a public service. Requiring a stamp to vote is simply ridiculous.
Selecting Dino Rossi, a guy able to get slightly less than 50% of the vote, might have not helped the Republicans.
If the idea was to keep Patty's money busy then they did, unfortunately a very close race prompted a big GOTV effort. Had Murray face a better or worse opponent then she is off the 50% mark by 5 points (either way) and I doubt you see the national attention.
Ross Hunter and Rodney Tom might want to send John Cornyn a christmas card this year.
I'm intrigued by Matt Barreto's idea that the Latino Vote was underestimated by pollsters in Colorado, Nevada and California. Do you suppose that Rasmussen and the Public Policy Poll entities don't have any resources for conducting polls in Spanish? Or that most Republicans in Washington state think "Spanish-speakers = migrant inland fruit pickers or illegal aliens" and therefore discount them?
I wish I had asked the Rossi campaign managers exactly what border(s) he meant in his debate against Senator Murray. Was it the same one defeated candidate Sharron Angle intimated?
One percent of the people in this country control fifty percent of its wealth.
Repeat: 1% of the people in the U.S. control 50% of the wealth in this country.
My question is how long are this nation's sheep going to continue to bury their heads in the sand, allowing oligarchs and plutocrats to rub their noses in the fact that they are utterly, completely powerless?
Elections used to offer something of a remedy for plutocracy and oligarchy -- not any more.
Elections in this country were turned into Silent Auctions when the U.S. supreme court declared that corporations are people, and are entitled to the same free-speech protections as human beings.
If this is so, under the equal protections clause of the U.S. constitution, we should be able to drag corporations into court and find them guilty of murder, rape, wanton destruction and a laundry list of other offenses. "... nor deny to any 'person' within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." (my single quotes: 'person')
So let's get the ball rolling. BP goes to jail for 50 years. Halliburton ditto. Every other corporation, and its officers, goes to jail for decades. Companies that connived on worthless CDOs are put to death by hanging, as are all banks (just because they're banks).
While corporations are in jail, their assets and all revenue they generate goes into government coffers. Upon their release, they will be subject to donating public service in perpetuity.
If you're a right winger determined to flame me, don't clutter up valuable Stranger real estate with your ranting and drooling. Send me a message directly. If you have one scrap of wits left, you should be able to figure out what the "website" link in a profile means. If not, campaign for a thumbs-down feature in The Stranger's discussion boards, but don't hold your breath.
Please move to Bellingham and vote the tea bags out. Seriously, it's a great place to live.
I think of Whatcom as like a tiny little version of the whole state. You have one liberal center way out to the west and a big ol' conservative base surrounding it to the south and east. The big center is usually just barely dense and liberal enough to keep things blue, but in certain elections enough of the outliers turn out to make it red. In the big national elections, though, they generally like to be represented by Democrats. Just like the state.
Hell, it's even kinda shaped like a tiny, squished Washington.
I call bullshit: correlation ≠ causation. You have exactly zero evidence that Obama's millionaire fundraiser for Murray did anything to increase voter turnout (how many people were allowed in for that? 50? 100?). I could just as easily claim that 71% participation was a combination of easy mail-in voting and wingnut/Teabagger hysteria, and I would probably be more right.
I get that it would cost money, but I think they should be free to mail if possible.
The federal government/postal service should provide free carrying and delivery of ballots as a public service. Requiring a stamp to vote is simply ridiculous.
If the idea was to keep Patty's money busy then they did, unfortunately a very close race prompted a big GOTV effort. Had Murray face a better or worse opponent then she is off the 50% mark by 5 points (either way) and I doubt you see the national attention.
Ross Hunter and Rodney Tom might want to send John Cornyn a christmas card this year.
MAIL BALLOTS.
That's why. C'mon people.
I wish I had asked the Rossi campaign managers exactly what border(s) he meant in his debate against Senator Murray. Was it the same one defeated candidate Sharron Angle intimated?
Repeat: 1% of the people in the U.S. control 50% of the wealth in this country.
My question is how long are this nation's sheep going to continue to bury their heads in the sand, allowing oligarchs and plutocrats to rub their noses in the fact that they are utterly, completely powerless?
Elections used to offer something of a remedy for plutocracy and oligarchy -- not any more.
Elections in this country were turned into Silent Auctions when the U.S. supreme court declared that corporations are people, and are entitled to the same free-speech protections as human beings.
If this is so, under the equal protections clause of the U.S. constitution, we should be able to drag corporations into court and find them guilty of murder, rape, wanton destruction and a laundry list of other offenses. "... nor deny to any 'person' within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." (my single quotes: 'person')
So let's get the ball rolling. BP goes to jail for 50 years. Halliburton ditto. Every other corporation, and its officers, goes to jail for decades. Companies that connived on worthless CDOs are put to death by hanging, as are all banks (just because they're banks).
While corporations are in jail, their assets and all revenue they generate goes into government coffers. Upon their release, they will be subject to donating public service in perpetuity.
If you're a right winger determined to flame me, don't clutter up valuable Stranger real estate with your ranting and drooling. Send me a message directly. If you have one scrap of wits left, you should be able to figure out what the "website" link in a profile means. If not, campaign for a thumbs-down feature in The Stranger's discussion boards, but don't hold your breath.