Well played, Gov. Moonbeam!

[Big RR]

Much as i'd like to lay the blame at the feet of the tea partiers, this negative campaigning has been around for as long as i can remember; in the 1964 Goldwater-LBJ election e.g. (the first I paid much attention to), I recall both sides trying to portray the other candidate as someone you didn't want to have "his finger on the button". I just think it's gotten worse and worse, as the politicans have ignored all else and sold their souls to slick admen like Roger Morris. Indeed, there was a Robert Redford movie called The Candidate (1972, I think) which showed how a left leaning, principled politician ran away from his principles to get elected, and then didn't know what to do (or what he stood for) when he was elected--fictional, but all too true.

[Guinevere]

I'm not saying the tea-partiers invented negative campaigning, I'm saying they started off negative at the very beginning of this election cycle, and once you do that there is no where to go but down. It's also a mid-term election. They are notorious for being more about the negatives than the positives, especially when one party holds all the leadership positions.

On the other hand, I was at an event last night which was nothing but positive and it gave me a lot of energy to put more effort in the push over the last few days.

[Sue U]

Nasty, negative campaigns have been part and parcel of American politics at least since the days of Adams and Jefferson (both the 1796 and 1800 elections were downright vicious by any standard). And it has been ever thus. Complaining about negativity in politics is at best naive.

That said, I was at a campaign event for my congressman last night and he was very positive; even in a private gathering of supporters and despite being in a very tight race that's generating some national attention, he said nothing even remotely negative about his opponent (who -- barely -- managed to come out against slavery in a debate last week) and even praised what he called the "respectful" approach to government of his two Republican predecessors in the office.

[Big RR]

Sue--OK, but why is it naive to point out a problem. From what I read of the Adams/Jackson campaign, it was vicious, but both men also campaigned on prnciples they stood for as well as how horrible thier opponents were, and the papers explained the varous positions of "their" candidates. Now it seems like the latter part is frequently missing--we are told why we souldn't vote for X but not why we should vote for Y (and IMHO this is happening more and more). Naieve or not, I personally am sick and tired of how the issues are ducked, but mud is freely slung.

[Crackpot]

Perhaps run California like a state, recognizing it has interests and responsibilities to its citizens that businesses do not have, and setting policies based on those?

Exactly.

"Run government like a business" is a slogan only for the very most stupid people.

Businesses are amoral institutions run purely to advantage the executives and to a lesser degree the shareholders with no morality or responsibility except what is required by ... ready for it? ... effective government regulation. Businesses are allowed to collapse and impoverish all of their shareholders (Enron employee 401ks ?) while government cannot exercise that option; in fact government with ultimately have to provide support for all of those who lost their retirements.


yrs,
rubato

well said

[Econoline]

If you look at/listen to their ads it seems like every Republican candidate in the whole country is running against Nancy Pelosi.

I wonder how she managed to get on the ballot in all 50 states and all 435 congressional districts?

[Lord Jim]

If you look at/listen to their ads it seems like every Republican candidate in the whole country is running against Nancy Pelosi.

I wonder how she managed to get on the ballot in all 50 states and all 435 congressional districts?

She has an approval rating that makes Dick Cheney look like Mr. Popularity.....

Her popularity rating ranks somewhere between, "getting a tax audit" and "painful rectal itch".....(though in fairness, I understand that she did beat out "being told you're suffering from terminal brain cancer" by three points.)

You'd have to be a complete political idiot if you were a Republican running against a Demo Congressional incumbent and you didn't make her an issue.

[dales]

Yeah, I actually voted for Jerry Brown.

Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[oldr_n_wsr]

I have the stunning choices of "Mr insider/career politician" Cuomo and "Mr nutjob" Paladino.
I don't want Cuomo as he's been part of the problem in Albany for his whole (and fathers) life, but Paladino is not a viable option.
I never thought Lazio would look so good.

[Andrew D]

And I think Arnold has gotten a really bum rap....

I think he did a pretty good job, given the circumstances he had to confront in this state...no Governor is going to look good in a state with 12% unemployment....Did he naively overstate what he could accomplish, and underestimate the intrinsic problems within the state legislature ...?

Just substitute "President" for "Governor," "nation" for "state," "9.6%" for "12%" and "Congress" for "state legislature" ....

[Andrew D]

Less than a week before election day, real clear politics shows Brown comfortably ahead.

And the Why I Came to California ad is brilliant. Yep, in Whitman's own words, when Brown was governor, "anything was possible in this State," and that's "why [Whitman] came to California so many years ago."

Who could ask for a better endorsement than that?

[Crackpot]

Well it looks like I'm going to vote a straight Dem ticket mostly because the Republicans I would have voted for will win otherwise and I want to protest some of their poisonous rhetoric.

[Lord Jim]

The latest RCP rating has the Cal Senate race moving from "Leans Democrat" to "Toss Up"....The latest polls have Fiorina closing to within 3.....

The Cal Governor's race is tightening too...The latest Rasmussen Poll has Whitman pulling to within 4....

The Alaska race is interesting....

The Democrat is out of it, but Joe Miller who looked like a sure winner has seen his campaign go into free fall since the computer hacking revelation....

The beneficiary has been Murkowski, who now leads Miller by 10 points, even as a write-in candidate...

[rubato]

Memory is so important to making better choices in the future.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlBOv8m_ ... ture=share


yrs,
rubato

(found at smitty's)

[Sue U]

Nice piece. Should be emailed to every registered voter in the nation.

[Gob]

The beneficiary has been Murkowski, who now leads Miller by 10 points, even as a write-in candidate...

I know I'm going to regret this, but what is a "write in" candidate?

[Big RR]

Most (probably all) ballots in the US have a space for a voter to write in the name of any person not on the ballot, thereby casting the vote for the person whose name is "written in". In some local races, write candidates have won, but I'm not sure if the same has ever happened in any statewide/national races.

[Guinevere]

This is definitely one of the nastiest election cycles I've sene in years. It is a shame, when this country needs more leadership, instead of less. No wonder people are staying home in droves (which is, of course, just the point of one of the parties).

[Lord Jim]

I know I'm going to regret this, but what is a "write in" candidate?

I should of have thought that was self explanatory....

A "write in" candidate, is a candidate who's name one must "write on" the ballot, as opposed to a candidate who's name is printed on the ballot...

This can be more difficult or less difficult depending on how the ballot is constructed....

In some states there is a "write in" space where one can simply put a sticker with the 'write in" candidates name....

[oldr_n_wsr]

Given the choicees I have in many races this year, I think I am writing my own name in.