Here’s what happened last night:
- de Blasio won and may have avoided a runoff in NYC. Spitzer lost.
- The NRA recalled two Colorado legislators.
- This is a local race but it’s kind of interesting. Rochester’s incumbent mayor, Tom Richards, lost his primary against challenger Lovely Warren, 58/
3742. Richards had been ahead 63/3727 in a recent poll, but only 14,500 people voted. In the last Presidential race, roughly 60K Democrats voted. Polls don’t mean shit if you can’t get your supporters out to vote.
Here’s a thread for elections.
PeakVT
Turnout probably was low in CO, especially among Dems, but I haven’t found the exact numbers yet.
Ash Can
Heh. Sounds like a lot of people in Rochester were thinking yesterday, “He has it in the bag; my one little vote won’t make any difference. I’m staying home/going grocery shopping/watching the ballgame/going to the saloon.”
Belafon
Once again, the genius of Obama: There’s nothing more important than GOTV!
PsiFighter37
Kind of encapsulates the issue – most Democratic voters nowadays only get off their ass to vote in presidential elections. That has to change.
sparrow
@PsiFighter37: It would help if we made voting easier. Voting days should be mandatory holidays, for one. Close everything, except public transit, which is free.
Elizabelle
@PsiFighter37:
That’s true, and I don’t understand why.
RaflW
Hoooboy, I guess Colorado and a bunch of other purple states are in for off-year recall elections on a regular basis going forward.
This shit is nuts. The more instability the right wing can insert into government, the less it will accomplish. Which is the goal, but tends to be craptastic for folks who want the public good to actually be possible.
Belafon
@sparrow: It might help, but you would think important votes would matter, and obviously they don’t.
RaflW
@Elizabelle: I’m oversimplifying, but olds and richies can vote at their leisure on any given Tuesday. Folks living the workaday, paycheck life, not so much. They get that they gotta vote for Prez once every four years, but these off-cycle deals throw most folks.
I think there should be one national election day per year. If a seat is vacated at another time, there’s either a gap or a short-term appointment process, and everyone votes everywhere on the same day (a Saturday, for g*d’s sake!) once per year. Fed/State/Local/Bonds/Whatever.
Not likely to happen in my lifetime, but it would help.
(Now as for primaries, I dunno. Minneapolis is trying out IRV, we’ll see how that shakes out…)
ETA: I also support early voting and mail ballots, but still with the idea of one formal election day/deadline day per year. Make a hoopla, make it nationwide.
Comrade Dread
@Belafon: You can legally take time off to vote, but I believe its unpaid. That makes folks in financial straits think twice, I’m sure.
Which is why early voting and weekend voting are popular among the poor. Which is why Reps do everything they can to shut that down.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
We just won a three-way special election for state senate with an R, a Green Independent and a Dem in a leaning conservative district with only 6 weeks lead time. GOTV baby. People don’t vote unless you knock on their door, ask them and drag them to the polls if need be. Even our Democratic gubernatorial candidate knocked on doors with us.
PeakVT
One thing to note is that CO has vote-by-mail available, but it was stopped for this election by a court order, and a bunch of ballots were thrown out as a result. I don’t know the details, but maybe a CO resident can explain.
Belafon
@Comrade Dread: I think in this case that access to voting really didn’t have much to do with low turnout. Yes, a few more people might have voted, but I think in this case that it was Democrats in CO not paying attention.
ETA: And Doug, in the next post, makes my point.
rikyrah
Colorado Lawmakers Ousted in Recall Vote Over Gun Law
COLORADO SPRINGS — Two Colorado Democrats who provided crucial support for a slate of tough new gun-control laws were voted out of office on Tuesday in a recall vote widely seen as a test of popular support for gun restrictions after mass shootings in a Colorado movie theater and a Connecticut elementary school.
The election, which came five months after the United States Senate defeated several gun restrictions, handed another loss to gun-control supporters. It also gave moderate lawmakers across the country a warning about the political risks of voting for tougher gun laws.
The recall elections ousted two Democratic state senators, John Morse and Angela Giron, and replaced them with Republicans. Both defeats were painful for Democrats – Mr. Morse’s because he had been Senate president, and Ms. Giron’s because she represented a heavily Democratic, working-class slice of southern Colorado.
In an emotional concession speech, Mr. Morse called the loss of his seat “purely symbolic” and defended the record of the last legislative session as “phenomenal.”
nytimes.com/2013/09/11/us/colorado-lawmaker-concedes-defeat-in-recall-over-gun-law.html?hp
rikyrah
Quinn came in a long 3rd in NYC
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA AH
Gin & Tonic
Showing that he’s still all class all the way, Anthony Weiner is shown flipping the bird to a local reporter as he is driven away (from somewhere.)
What’s the over/under on Huma’s divorce filing? New Year’s?
Wag
@PeakVT:
From the Denver post.
And the NRA poured millions into Colorado for ad to get their 52% in favor of recall.
As a Coloradan, my take is the NRA is in panic mode when that’s the inky turnout they can get for that investment.
weaselone
Wait a second. I thought conservatives were against recall elections. Didn’t Scott Walker manage to hang on to his office based mostly on a “Sure Scott Walker sucks, but recall elections aren’t fair” campaign?
Wag
@weaselone:
IOKIYAR.
Omnes Omnibus
@weaselone: GUNS!!!!!
Belafon
@weaselone: I hate to do this, but it’s “both sides do it and hate it when the other side does it.” We’re going to have to get some rules in place in states so that it’s very much like impeaching or convicting the president, or in between each normal voting year, purplish states are going to have recall elections.
Tone in DC
@rikyrah:
Colorado apparently has some purple in it, but that sea of red outside of that is still tough to overcome.
RSR
re GOTV – FDNY union called members, and specifically asked how they were getting to polls. I’m guessing if people didn’t know or said something other than they were driving/had a ride, that the union would find a ride for them.
PeakVT
@Belafon: According to Ballotpedia, only 19 states have recall provisions, and only 16 have recall provisions for state legislators. So it’s not a nation-wide problem.
magurakurin
@Tone in DC:
It’s gonna have a lot more purple in it in a few more months…purple kush purple.
Omnes Omnibus
@Belafon: To end this kind of shit, the Supreme Court is going to need to reverse most of Buckley v. Valeo and get rid of the notion that the expenditure of money equals speech.
ETA: This isn’t likely to happen in the near future.
RSR
@mistermix – curious what you think that means for Rochester and the relationship with Monroe County. We used to live in the city (’92-’95) and still have friends and family in the area. Two are RCSD teachers (as is my wife here in Philly) so that’s always an issue that’s important to us.
MomSense
@Gin & Tonic:
He could have shown worse–if you know what I mean.
boatboy_srq
@RaflW: Interesting how Dems will wait for the next general election but
corporatists1%ersGOTea will jump through any hoops necessary to replace officials on the least provocation. The best government money can buy, indeed…boatboy_srq
@RaflW: Interesting how Dems will wait for the next general election but
corporatists1%ersGOTea will jump through any hoops necessary to replace officials on the least provocation. The best government money can buy, indeed…The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
So in other words, the NRA still basically rules the entire goddamn world, huh?
Sigh……..
kindness
The NRA won’t be happy until there is another Civil War in this country and we end up shooting each other over politics. The Bastards.
Jeremy
@Wag: I agree. This was a short term victory for the NRA but turnout was low and those seats very well will swing back to the Democrats after the 2014 election. Giron’s district has more Democrats than Republicans and Morse almost won though he was term limited.
One guy who follows Colorado politics said that these victories could very well be reversed next year. The state is still trending blue.
Bobby Thomson
@Ash Can: I blame
ObamaWilliam H. Riker.Bobby Thomson
@RSR:
Bad news. The new Democratic candidate is a shill for the school privatization lobby.
Botsplainer
@Jeremy:
Do those seats get filled, and when?
Tom Q
So, are the people who yesterday said they were voting for John Liu in NYC Mayoral and hoped DeBlasio didn’t fall just a vote or two short of 40% a lttle nervous today? It’s close enough we probably won’t have a ruling till next Monday, after a recount/absentees etc.
If there is a runoff, it looks like Bill Thompson (who’s got Al D’Amato cheering him on) is anxious to make a brawl of it — too bad he wasn’t as pugnancious four years ago against Bloomberg.
I REALLY hope DeBlasio falls the right side of 40. Three weeks of bashing by Thompson, abetted by every well-to-do interest in the five boroughs (and of course the Post/Daily News/sometimes Times), could marginally open the door for Lhota.
Jeremy
@Botsplainer: I’m not sure when but they will be filled by two republicans. I do know that the Democrats still have a majority in the State Senate and a large majority in the Assembly.
I think both guys will have some trouble trying to hold onto these seats in 2014 when turnout will be much higher.
Jeremy
@Jeremy: Actually I should say it’s more of a short term victory for republicans.
Wag
@Jeremy:
Agreed 100%. Short term victory only
Elie
If Democrats and progressives don’t change their behavior, I do not want to hear another word of complaint. This is just unnecessary bullshit and I won’t make excuses for us. Every dem/progressive must vote in EVERY election.. run, walk, do what we have to do. NO EXCUSES. I am very disappointed in us and we need to call each other out
Another Holocene Human
@Comrade Dread: Your ability to do so varies a lot. Folks who are employed “at will” can always be threatened with firing. The boss will just invent a different excuse.
PaulW
I hate the low-voter turnout that happens with recall movements. Everybody seems geared to just turn up every four years for the Presidential election and that’s it. The midterms suck for this reason. There ought to be a minimum turnout requirement of at least 65 percent of registered voters showing up to vote for the damn thing to count. Our politics shouldn’t be determined by the 30-35 percent turnouts.
Another Holocene Human
@Elie: Did you read up on these elections or are you just venting?
Another Holocene Human
@PaulW: elections ’round the clock are just rule by gerontocracy
did think the Warren thing was interesting … Gainesville, FL had an upset mayoral election and the deciding factor was an insurgent African-American community that backed the other horse. The R has had to adjust (triangulate?) his usually positions too because he’s well aware he’s toast if he doesn’t maintain their support. It was political desperation on their part but looking smarter every day. How about that.
Elie
@Another Holocene Human:
Seriously?
Poor turn out in off year or special elections has sunk many Democratic aspirations. You don’t know that?
As to CO recall specifically, I do realize that this won’t tip the state legislature and that the original intended 5 were shrunk to two because the opposition couldn’t get enough signatures. Is that knowing enough? What is your point anyway..?
StringOnAStick
I posted this too far down the page on another thread, so I’ll copy it here:
Count me as another disappointed Colorado resident, but not as a surprised one. The areas these two recalled pols represented have a high concentration of retrograde wing nuts. Add to that the facts about how the recall came down (our wing nut state AG made sure we didn’t have mail-in voting) and that it has been cold and pouring rain since early Monday (rare here), HUGE amounts of outside money, a bit of the standard “all politicians suck” lack of interest, and you end up with an election that was poorly attended by everyone except the rabid NRA freaks and Xtianists. The two that replaced the ones who were recalled also went with a strong anti-abortion push, and (1) Pueblo is quite catholic, and (2) Colorado Springs is home of Focus on the Family, so that got out the religious anti-choice crowd as well.
We no longer subscribe to broadcast TV and use internet TV (HuluPlus, Netflix, etc) instead plus some local over the air channels, so I know we aren’t getting the same immersion in the political stew that cable subscribers get (it is nice, I have to say, to not have to dive for the remote every commercial break). Maybe not being in that same soup means I’m not getting an accurate feel anymore. I will say this though, broadcast TV is something most people in mid-30′s and younger no longer bother with, and that has some major implications for political messaging.
DFH no.6
I’m fairly contrarian around these parts (and among most of my non-fascist family and friends) in regards to gun control.
I’m with Digby, at least as she wrote several years ago about this topic (I don’t read her much anymore): The good guys lost the gun control battle at least a generation ago, and it remains lost. In fact, it’s gotten worse over the past 10-15 years.
From my perspective, the primary result of the continuing gun control debate has been to give the fascists a handy cudgel to beat us about the head and shoulders and gin up the rubes (as seen here in CO, however temporary these recalls may be).
Much better, of course, if America was were more like Western Europe in re: guns, but alas that has no chance of happening, not for any foreseeable future. Overall it’s a losing issue for us, IMAO.
Flame on, I suppose.
Captain C
@Gin & Tonic: If so, bet the under.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@DFH no.6:
Like I said above: The NRA continues to rule the entire goddamn world it seems, as far as we seem to be concerned. And trying to do any more, trying to fight them, seems to only give them strength and make Americans hate us and Gun Control all the more.
Steeplejack
@Elizabelle:
Because non-presidential elections focus more on state/local races, and Democrats find local politics icky. Meanwhile, your state rep, your school board members and your dogcatcher are raging wingnuts, because their people always come out to vote for them. And, unfortunately, all too often they run unopposed, because Democrats can’t be bothered.
Villago Delenda Est
@kindness:
Of course.
The NRA is the marketing arm of the merchants of death.
Steeplejack
@RaflW:
I have said it before: Election Day should be a national holiday, and move it to Monday. Three-day weekend! Get your football on, do your usual weekend stuff, then get up and leisurely go to vote on Monday. And voting should be mandatory, with a small penalty ($20-30) for not voting.
And/or voting by mail. I’m agreeable to a compromise.
mikeyes
Here is the Denver Post numbers on fund raising for and against the recall. The FOR were outspent by a significant margin.
FOR RECALL
Total raised: $540,000
Itemized donations in Colorado: $147,000
Itemized donations outside of Colorado: $368,000
Some top donors:
•NRA: $360,000 ( some 10,000 Colorado members)
•I Am Created Equal: $56,800
•Colorado Citizens Protecting Our Constitution: $29,800
•Victor Head, Pueblo resident: $5,800
•Dianna Harris, Colorado Springs resident: $4,500
AGAINST RECALL
Total raised: $3 million
Itemized donations in Colorado: $1.5 million
Itemized donations outside of Colorado: $1.5 million
Some top donors:
•Taxpayers for Responsible Democracy: $620,000
•Michael Bloomberg: $350,000
•DLCC Unincorporated Individual Acct: $300,000
•Eli Broad: $250,000
•Mainstream Colorado: $211,800
TriassicSands
@RaflW:
Much as I’d like to think there are compelling reasons why so many Democratic voters don’t vote in non-presidential years, deep down I think it has more to do with apathy (a combination of naivete — my vote doesn’t count — and laziness). I know there are people people who have insurmountable obstacles to voting, but I suspect those represent a tiny minority of the no-shows. In Washington State, where I live, we have 100% mail-in voting, and while turnout is higher than for most states, it is still lower during non-presidential years. When voters have ballots in hand for at least two weeks before election day and all they have to do is get the thing post-marked before the deadline on election day, how many people have legitimate reasons for not voting?
In a thread above, Doug Milhous J admits he didn’t vote (not in Colorado’s recalls) partly because the polls made him think the election results were guaranteed. I suppose he deserves credit for being willing to admit that such an incredibly poor reason for not voting entered into his decision-making process, but he should be embarrassed that it did.
You vote! On election day, or during the period when mail-in voters have ballots, that should be the most important consideration apart from an unexpected trip to the ER. And since an unexpected trip to the ER is always possible, that should enter into the planning for how voters guarantee their votes are cast.
It’s long past time when excuses, and even some supposedly good reasons, can be accepted for not voting. I’m afraid that for Democrats — many at least — voting is just not the priority it should be.