Election 2014

[caulfield12]

This is still a lot of antipathy towards Cuomo's father...numerous skeletons buried in the closet that supposedly prevented a presidential run back in 1988 or 1992.

 

Then you have the Kennedy connections, which can rub people the wrong way sometimes.

 

He's not nearly as articulate or well-spoken as his father.

 

To me, he's another version of Rahn Emmanuel.

[southsider2k5]

Bayh has no chance at making it through a Democratic primary. Not even close to liberal enough. That's what I hate about both parties--excellent moderate candidates are drawing dead before they even start because the parties are controlled by the extremes. I would love to see somebody like Bayh, Bob Casey or Joe Donnelly on a national ticket for the Democrats but that is never happening.

 

Joe Donnelley is an idiot. It is really too bad enough friends to become a US Senator.

[NorthSideSox72]

Bayh has no chance at making it through a Democratic primary. Not even close to liberal enough. That's what I hate about both parties--excellent moderate candidates are drawing dead before they even start because the parties are controlled by the extremes. I would love to see somebody like Bayh, Bob Casey or Joe Donnelly on a national ticket for the Democrats but that is never happening.

The guys I've liked the past couple cycles - Huntsman and Richardson - both were relatively moderate, and both had impressive resumes and actual, demonstrated leadership skills. Unfortuantely the primary system doesn't encourage any of that. In both cases they also had other issues holding them back too, but the point is, candidates like that just don't make it out of the primaries.

 

[bmags]

Bayh is the biggest hack of all of them. You only like him because he criticizes democrats and republicans but he can do that because he believes in nothing but making public appearance money to snipe at people who actually believe in things.

[southsider2k5]

Bayh is the biggest hack of all of them. You only like him because he criticizes democrats and republicans but he can do that because he believes in nothing but making public appearance money to snipe at people who actually believe in things.

 

Having been on the other side of the table from a then Governor Bayh when he was looking to cut education in Indiana, I can safely say he is as much of a partisan hack as anyone else in the Democratic party.

[LittleHurt05]

Joe Donnelley is an idiot. It is really too bad enough friends to become a US Senator.

 

That can be said for the majority of politicians out there.

[southsider2k5]

That can be said for the majority of politicians out there.

 

In my experience, not many get to that level without being fairly smart. Many that are portrayed as dumb, as just being sold that way to try to steal some votes. Joe just ran into a perfect storm of Bayh quitting [if Bayh doesn't quit, Coats doesn't beat him and Coats runs for this seat, and wins easily], and the next Republican Senator in line saying incredibly stupid things right before election day to let him walk into office. Donnelly is much more of an organizer type than a politician.

 

Also it is really strange to actually be talking about Indiana politics here.

[EvilMonkey]

Daniel Biss is the man. I expect him to take the leap to Congress soon. Though living in Schakowsky's district makes that difficult.

 

And SS, why the Cuomo hate? Serious question. Haven't really heard much about him but I thought he was a generally well-liked guy.

Multiple ethics compaints against Cuomo as well, especially regarding his Moreland Commission, which was 'supposed' to root out corruption, but at first only concerned itself with Republicans in the state. but when they ran out of Republicans and started to target Democrats, he quickly disbanded it before any of his buddies could be targeted. Tons of complaints against him, and not just things related to his father.

[Jake]

Lowest voter turnout since the 1940s, if not of all time, according to collected data. Gotta love voter suppression, er, fraud prevention strategies!

[NorthSideSox72]

Lowest voter turnout since the 1940s, if not of all time, according to collected data. Gotta love voter suppression, er, fraud prevention strategies!

Eh, that might account for a small number, but most of it is simple disinterest (or outright throwing up their hands). Which is a shame.

 

[Buehrle>Wood]

Lowest voter turnout since the 1940s, if not of all time, according to collected data. Gotta love voter suppression, er, fraud prevention strategies!

Do you actually believe that number is because of voter suppression? Come on now.

[southsider2k5]

Do you actually believe that number is because of voter suppression? Come on now.

 

I'd actually argue that it is something that isn't being talked about. The number of "registered" voters is complete fiction.

[StrangeSox]

Multiple ethics compaints against Cuomo as well, especially regarding his Moreland Commission, which was 'supposed' to root out corruption, but at first only concerned itself with Republicans in the state. but when they ran out of Republicans and started to target Democrats, he quickly disbanded it before any of his buddies could be targeted. Tons of complaints against him, and not just things related to his father.

yeah, that slipped my mind

[NorthSideSox72]

I'd actually argue that it is something that isn't being talked about. The number of "registered" voters is complete fiction.

Explain.

 

[StrangeSox]

Lots of people register at their new address and don't cancel at their old address, dead people remain on the rolls for a while, etc.

[Balta1701]

Lots of people register at their new address and don't cancel at their old address, dead people remain on the rolls for a while, etc.

I specifically checked 2 months ago and Pennsylvania said they will inform the state I moved from so there was no reason for me to contact the TN elections dept.

[Balta1701]

Eh, that might account for a small number, but most of it is simple disinterest (or outright throwing up their hands). Which is a shame.

Seriously though, name a single thing that's going to change with this election other than which side is introducing the motion to file cloture that won't pass.

[StrangeSox]

Seriously though, name a single thing that's going to change with this election other than which side is introducing the motion to file cloture that won't pass.

Executive and judicial appointments.

[NorthSideSox72]

Seriously though, name a single thing that's going to change with this election other than which side is introducing the motion to file cloture that won't pass.

Potentially a lot, but hard to say yet. You seem to think nothing changes, yet history says it always does.

 

Also, what does that even have to do with what you were replying to?

 

[southsider2k5]

Explain.

 

LaPorte County (where I live) had 111,467 people in it. According to the census bureau, the county is estimated to have lost about 200 residents between '10 and '13. What is interesting is that as of the 2014 election we had 80,497 registered voters, or 72.2% of every single man, woman, and child in the county. According to the same source, 22.1% of LPCo is under age 18, meaning they can't be registered to vote. Using their number as a guide we should only be able to have just about 88,000 people registered to vote here. That means that about 91.5% of people who are able to vote, are registered to vote.

 

To me that sound ridiculously high. To emphasize that point, our number of registered voters went from 76,763 in 2010 to 80,497 (up 3734) in 2014, yet we still had about 4,400 less people actually vote in the election. Also remember that not everyone over 18 can even vote legally, such as felons (also noting we have a State Prison here with about 2000 people in it, which is included in that population), and that number looks a bit more unrealistic to me.

[Balta1701]

Executive and judicial appointments.

Those have been shut down anyway and you know that. Literally, after they passed a few through the nuclear option the Senate just shut down future nominations earlier in the stream. The only thing that will change in that regard is how severe the vacancy crisis gets in the judiciary.

 

It might be fun to see an attorney general nominee get rejected, but who knows if that'll be pushed that far.

[Balta1701]

Potentially a lot, but hard to say yet. You seem to think nothing changes, yet history says it always does.

 

Also, what does that even have to do with what you were replying to?

"Complete and utter stalemate at the level of Congress with no possibility of anything changing and a Congress completely owned by a couple rich folks" = a pretty good reason to not care one bit about voting.

 

If someone said that they weren't voting because nothing's going to change no matter who controls Congress, could you really disagree at this point? I could not make a strong case.

[RockRaines]

Eh, that might account for a small number, but most of it is simple disinterest (or outright throwing up their hands). Which is a shame.

There is no compelling reason to make a choice, each side is on the take from special interests or their own party. Nothing ever changes and if it does the next election will be about changing those changes.

 

When have we ever had an election where its about keeping things the way they are because it great right now? Its always whats wrong, and how to right the ship. The f***ing ship never gets "righted"

[pettie4sox]

There is no compelling reason to make a choice, each side is on the take from special interests or their own party. Nothing ever changes and if it does the next election will be about changing those changes.

 

When have we ever had an election where its about keeping things the way they are because it great right now? Its always whats wrong, and how to right the ship. The f***ing ship never gets "righted"

 

QFT

[cabiness42]

"Complete and utter stalemate at the level of Congress with no possibility of anything changing and a Congress completely owned by a couple rich folks" = a pretty good reason to not care one bit about voting.

 

If someone said that they weren't voting because nothing's going to change no matter who controls Congress, could you really disagree at this point? I could not make a strong case.

 

My retort to that is that a vote cast for a third party is a much better way to display dissatisfaction with both parties than not voting. You can put actual numbers to that group.