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Riding the Campaign Crazy Train
Author: BobR
Date: 10/08/2010 12:32:31
As election day nears, the campaigns have all intensified. The ads are starting to roll out, the endorsements, the whistle stops, and the mailers are all picking up steam. The pundits are pontificating about who will win where, and the polls taken daily are divined like tea leaves in a cup. None of this matters of course - only the votes that get cast on Nov 2 matter (or maybe not - more on that later...).
There's always a certain circus side-show element to all of it, particularly when there are previously unknown candidates trying to be heard. Sometimes things slip out that you would think would be a problem (like accusations of murder). Sometimes things are put out there on purpose, and you just have to wonder - like Sharon Angle stating that Sharia law has taken over a couple US cities:
Perhaps it's comments like these that have led the top GOP lawmaker in NV to endorse Democrat Harry Reid.
There are other surprising endorsements out there as well. In particular, the NRA has endorsed 58 encumbent Democrats this year, much to the chagrin of Republicans who count on the gun-vote. This number includes several key races the Republicans are hoping to win. It sort of takes the air out of the "Democrats are going to take your guns away" argument.
The polls are also a big story this year. The often contradictory data has been giving the Republicans a slight edge but the Democrats are making gains. What's often left unsaid is that the Republicans' ratings are the tank as well:
Note: And that's with 2/3 of Americans having not heard of the Republican "Pledge to America". Are these people hiding under a rock? Still - you have to wonder how the Republicans are still managing to stay ahead if their disapproval ratings are higher. Answer? They're better at sales and marketing. Not good enough, though to sell Sarah Palin as a contender. Only 22% see her as being an effective president (64% think she is not up to the job). FWIW - 22% is far less than the number of people who believe in UFOs and ghosts.
The poor ratings of Republicans may be why they are $4M short in their fund-raising goals. Fortunately for them, they have the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (PAC) raising funds to spend on the campaigns. The big problem is the source of the funds, some of which are coming from foreign sources. It's just as President Obama warned after the recent SCOTUS ruling (and to which Justice Alito mouthed "not true" - um, yes - it is):
As previously mentioned, none of this matters if the voting systems are not secure. In previous elections, there have been numerous stories about the touch screen and opti-scan voting systems getting hacked. This year, it's a DC absentee voting system that got hacked. An Engineering professor at the University of Michigan reprogrammed the system to play the UM fight song every time a vote was cast. Funny, yes, but it proves a larger point about how insecure these systems are.
So now we're down to 3 1/2 weeks - expect the rollercoaster to hit a few loop-the-loops soon...
There's always a certain circus side-show element to all of it, particularly when there are previously unknown candidates trying to be heard. Sometimes things slip out that you would think would be a problem (like accusations of murder). Sometimes things are put out there on purpose, and you just have to wonder - like Sharon Angle stating that Sharia law has taken over a couple US cities:
In a recording of the rally provided to The Associated Press by the Mesquite Local News, a man is heard asking Angle : "I keep hearing about Muslims wanting to take over the United States ... on a TV program just last night, I saw that they are taking over a city in Michigan and the residents of the city, they want them out. They want them out. So, I want to hear your thoughts about that."
Angle responds that "we're talking about a militant terrorist situation, which I believe it isn't a widespread thing, but it is enough that we need to address, and we have been addressing it."
"My thoughts are these, first of all, Dearborn, Michigan, and Frankford, Texas are on American soil, and under constitutional law. Not Sharia law. And I don't know how that happened in the United States," she said. "It seems to me there is something fundamentally wrong with allowing a foreign system of law to even take hold in any municipality or government situation in our United States."
Perhaps it's comments like these that have led the top GOP lawmaker in NV to endorse Democrat Harry Reid.
There are other surprising endorsements out there as well. In particular, the NRA has endorsed 58 encumbent Democrats this year, much to the chagrin of Republicans who count on the gun-vote. This number includes several key races the Republicans are hoping to win. It sort of takes the air out of the "Democrats are going to take your guns away" argument.
The polls are also a big story this year. The often contradictory data has been giving the Republicans a slight edge but the Democrats are making gains. What's often left unsaid is that the Republicans' ratings are the tank as well:
Disapproval of congressional Democrats has reached a record high in Post-ABC polling, at 61 percent. But a continuing wild card in this fall's races is that disapproval of congressional Republicans is even higher, at 67 percent.
Note: And that's with 2/3 of Americans having not heard of the Republican "Pledge to America". Are these people hiding under a rock? Still - you have to wonder how the Republicans are still managing to stay ahead if their disapproval ratings are higher. Answer? They're better at sales and marketing. Not good enough, though to sell Sarah Palin as a contender. Only 22% see her as being an effective president (64% think she is not up to the job). FWIW - 22% is far less than the number of people who believe in UFOs and ghosts.
The poor ratings of Republicans may be why they are $4M short in their fund-raising goals. Fortunately for them, they have the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (PAC) raising funds to spend on the campaigns. The big problem is the source of the funds, some of which are coming from foreign sources. It's just as President Obama warned after the recent SCOTUS ruling (and to which Justice Alito mouthed "not true" - um, yes - it is):
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has called on the Federal Election Commission to investigate allegations that the Chamber has used money from foreign groups for political ads.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has written a letter to the Internal Revenue Service asking it to investigate the political activity of groups organized under section 501©6 of the tax code, such as the Chamber.
“The law requires that political campaign activity by a 501©(4), ©(5) or ©(6) entity must not be the primary purpose of the organization,” Baucus wrote in a Sept. 28 letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman.
As previously mentioned, none of this matters if the voting systems are not secure. In previous elections, there have been numerous stories about the touch screen and opti-scan voting systems getting hacked. This year, it's a DC absentee voting system that got hacked. An Engineering professor at the University of Michigan reprogrammed the system to play the UM fight song every time a vote was cast. Funny, yes, but it proves a larger point about how insecure these systems are.
So now we're down to 3 1/2 weeks - expect the rollercoaster to hit a few loop-the-loops soon...
