The 2010 General Election Thread

mykevermin

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Why not centralize our discussions for tomorrow?

I love election day, even when I am greatly concerned about the outcome.

I've finalized my votes as of this evening; I hadn't given Tom Corbett enough of an overview in terms of policy, but having seen his platform of paint-by-numbers Republican bromides, I'm going with Dan Onorato.
 
These are the big ones in my state and the way I'm voting.

Senator = Charlie Crist (I)
Representative In Congress = Shannon Roberts (D)
Governor = Alex Sink (D)

Quick (and most likely dumb) question, anybody know if you can bring your sample ballot into the voting booth with you? I did research on everything on it (although it is a bitch to find what if anything the judges have done) and have it all filled out.
 
Well I read through some policy positions and I'll be voting for the Democrats, surprise. I don't particularly like the D running for the house here (though I prefer his positions over the others), but he has absolutely no chance of winning, so whatever. The house race is the only one here that actually has a third party running, he's a libertarian, not a particularly idiotic libertarian (I think he actually supports medicare-for-all, weird), but still too conservative on a lot of things. The Republican incumbent will win anyway, probably with 70 or 80%. We'll see if Sestak makes it, and I'll vote for Dan Onorato. The localer stuff is pretty much whatever.
 
[quote name='Sporadic']Senator = Charlie Crist (I)[/quote]

Crist is the incumbent (R), but who lost in the primary to Rubio, yes?

Quick (and most likely dumb) question, anybody know if you can bring your sample ballot into the voting booth with you? I did research on everything on it (although it is a bitch to find what if anything the judges have done) and have it all filled out.

I don't see why not. That's state law stuff though. Check the FL Secretary of State or Board of Elections website, either should have some info on that.
 
Mike, we need pictures of the CURRENT Congressional and Gubernatorial breakdown.

Also, I won't say who I'm voting for because it's bad luck to say what/who you're voting for.
 
[quote name='Sporadic']These are the big ones in my state and the way I'm voting.

Senator = Charlie Crist (I)
Representative In Congress = Shannon Roberts (D)
Governor = Alex Sink (D)

Quick (and most likely dumb) question, anybody know if you can bring your sample ballot into the voting booth with you? I did research on everything on it (although it is a bitch to find what if anything the judges have done) and have it all filled out.[/QUOTE]

You CAN take your sample ballot in with you. I did it for the 2008 General Election.

~HotShotX
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Crist is the incumbent (R), but who lost in the primary to Rubio, yes?[/QUOTE]

He was the incumbent (R) as Governor but decided to switch over to Senator when Martinez decided to not run for reelection and he dropped out of the Republican primary when he started to get destroyed in the polls after supporting the Stimulus bill and vetoing a bill that would have tied teacher's pay to students' test scores.

He's not my favorite guy (since he seems to go where the wind blows him on stances) but I think he would do a better job than Rubio (fuck that guy) and Meek (his past of corporate kickbacks worry me)

[quote name='HotShotX']You CAN take your sample ballot in with you. I did it for the 2008 General Election.

~HotShotX[/QUOTE]

Nice. :)
 
Senate: Gail Lightfoot (L)
Governor: Dale Ogden (L)
House: Mike Paster (L)

Anyone wanna pitch in a few bucks for me to run a Republican primary challenge against Issa in 2012? Lol. Democratic party threw a guy against him who didn't face a primary challenger either. Maybe I should run under the D ticket to make it appear closer. Doesn't matter either way, Issa sucks.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Should be fun. Looking forward to voting to raise taxes tomorrow![/QUOTE]

elaborate please.

speaking of taxes, that's where I decided against Corbett. I swiped a piece of RNCC campaign lit off of a car windshield while walking my dogs (at least I used it instead of tossing it like the driver probably would) and saw the claim that Democrats "refused to extend the Bush tax cuts."

Don't insult my intelligence like that. Every member of Congress agreed on extending the tax cuts for 95% of the population, and Republicans in the Senate filibustered because they insisted the top 5% be included, too. They'll probably revisit the issue in the next Congressional session, but a party that wants to prolong suffering for 95% of the population for the benefit of the wealthiest 5% (and the same party that wants to slash deificits) is not a party I can put any trust in. Corbett's policy proposals match up perfectly with that framework, so I can't bring myself to vote for someone who wants to further damage this nation and the state of PA.
 
Senate: Barbabra Boxer (D)
Governor: Jerry Brown (D)
House: Barbara Lee (D)

One thing that I'm uncertain is the way we will be choosing the Mayor of my city. We are doing something called Ranked-Choice Voting where you vote for 3 candidates in order of preference... A candidate will need more than 50% of the vote to win, but with around (I think) 20 people running for Mayor, with half being well-known city council members... seems like all those votes would spread themselves out too thin... I don't know, it's gonna be messy.

EDIT: Just checked, it's 10 people... still too many. :lol:
 
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[quote name='mykevermin']elaborate please.[/QUOTE]

Probably the only one of my votes that will matter (even in the cases where I'm planning to vote for a major candidate). We've got a City Referendum with regards to raising the local sales tax from 6.25% to 7%. While I'm no fan of taxes, I do believe our city has done a lot with cuts and such - and we need to raise some funds. Pretty much the options we were given was raise sales tax, raise property tax or get #$@*ed. Going with the sales tax.
 
I am doing the traditional voting on voting after doing it early for several years.

Colorado here

My house district is a safe D (and a rather good one at that) so I will be voting for Diana Degette

Governor wil be John Hickenlooper (D)- he as done a hell of a good as mayor of Denver and has earned the job plus Tom Tancredo is a nut

Senate- Michael Bennett- initially wanted another D to run but I realize he is a thoughtful, smart and capable Senator. Ken Buck (R) seems like a say anything to get elected douche.

Interestingly, there are 3 extreme "cut the hand of gov't" initiatives on the ballot that even in this Tea Party year are headed for defeat. I will vote no and Hell NO if I could.

The weirdest ballot item is the creation of a extra-terrestrial committee in Denver. No gov't fund are used. I am voting yes
 
Sestak will probably lose but I'll still vote for him.

Onorato is going to tax the Marcellus Shale and put the $ back in DEP. He'll get my vote.

Seriously Corbett is focusing on the 17,000 state cars we have. I wonder if the cars that the legislators have are going to be the first ones taken away...? Nah it'll probably be the rank and file.
 
Last go round I got to vote against Sheila Jackson Lee. First time I ever voted Republican in my life. I moved and now I get to vote against John Culberson.
[quote name='speedracer']Reading this I realized that since I moved last month, I didn't know who my new congress critter was. I went from Sheila Jackson Lee to John Culberson. From a complete scumbag to a complete scumbag that voted against the new GI Bill.

Houston, I love you. I hate your representation.[/QUOTE]
 
I don't get to vote for anyone that's really a race on a national level this time around. In 08 there was President and Governor. This year it's a House and Senate race that are locks.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Probably the only one of my votes that will matter (even in the cases where I'm planning to vote for a major candidate). We've got a City Referendum with regards to raising the local sales tax from 6.25% to 7%. While I'm no fan of taxes, I do believe our city has done a lot with cuts and such - and we need to raise some funds. Pretty much the options we were given was raise sales tax, raise property tax or get #$@*ed. Going with the sales tax.[/QUOTE]

A 0.75% sales tax increase means you'll spend an additional $15/year if for every $2,000 you spend in discretionary income (barring those items that aren't taxed at the checkout line, which is frankly a staggering amount in PA).

What was the 'get fucked' option?
 
[quote name='mykevermin']A 0.75% sales tax increase means you'll spend an additional $15/year if for every $2,000 you spend in discretionary income (barring those items that aren't taxed at the checkout line, which is frankly a staggering amount in PA).

What was the 'get fucked' option?[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it's a very small amount. per person - but it's a far better option than increasing property taxes (guh).. but it's going to go a long way towards raising revenue for the city.

The "get *#$%ed" option is losing services. Our city crews do a great job of getting out there and fixing power lines after a wind storm or clearing streets after an ice/snow storm. This response time would be cut - dramatically. Additionally, we have one city officer on the overnight shift (with no county/state law enforcement overnights). This shift would likely be eliminated. Couple of other things... Honestly, I don't think these cuts would happen - I think we'd be more likely to see our property taxes raised (which, in Illinois, the city only has control over a small part of total property tax, so even then, they couldn't raise it *too* much... but man, that property tax bill is already ugly enough).
 
Got back from voting. Whatever voting irregularity you heard about North Carolina, it's true and happened to me. I fixed it though.
 
In MN:

The Independant for Gov. Otherwise it's the same trite non-sense of higher taxes for the wealthy or cut everything. At least the I-Guy proposes something in the middle.

The football player incumbent judge over the insanse christian fundamentalist that has openly stated that he would pray for guidance in his decisions as opposed to something crazy like precedence... What a fuckwad.

I'm not in the 6th district so I can't vote against Bachmann, not that the alternatives are that much more appealing.
Aside from that none of my senators are up (Franken and Klobuchar) and the congress in my district isn't up either from what I'm aware.
 
I live about 7-8 blocks from the polling place where the big, mean, scary Black Panthers were outside a polling place in 2006, keeping the white folk indoors.

My polling place had two white dudes outside of it, five feet from the door, wearing Corbett/Toomey shirts and handing out literature. When I told them they weren't 75 feet from the front door, but rather 5, they responded that they didn't need to be. Now I'm going to contact the PA elections commission.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']I live about 7-8 blocks from the polling place where the big, mean, scary Black Panthers were outside a polling place in 2006, keeping the white folk indoors.

My polling place had two white dudes outside of it, five feet from the door, wearing Corbett/Toomey shirts and handing out literature. When I told them they weren't 75 feet from the front door, but rather 5, they responded that they didn't need to be. Now I'm going to contact the PA elections commission.[/QUOTE]

Go back with a camera and give that shit to the news/put it on YouTube.
 
My absentee ballot, sent in a few weeks ago, had:

Ohio:
Gov: Ted Strickland (D)
Senate: Daniel LaBotz (Socialist)
House: Paula Brooks (D)

I'll be lucky if any of them win (zero hopes for my Senate pick to win though, obviously, but his platform was too good not to vote for).

[quote name='mykevermin']I live about 7-8 blocks from the polling place where the big, mean, scary Black Panthers were outside a polling place in 2006, keeping the white folk indoors.

My polling place had two white dudes outside of it, five feet from the door, wearing Corbett/Toomey shirts and handing out literature. When I told them they weren't 75 feet from the front door, but rather 5, they responded that they didn't need to be. Now I'm going to contact the PA elections commission.[/QUOTE]

What Sporadic said.
 
[quote name='Sporadic']Go back with a camera and give that shit to the news/put it on YouTube.[/QUOTE]

Please do.

Question though - were either of the two men brandishing weapons?
 
i voted this morning before work.

california is gonna screw us over today. lots of idiotic props on the ballot that will go the wrong way (ie not what i want). voted mostly 3rd party except for the big races (governor, house, senate). i wept a little when i voted for whitman.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']What type of literature?[/QUOTE]

Considering they were wearing Corbett/Toomey shirts, I imagine it is pro GOP literature.
 
Well that was pretty quick, for the 2008 federal election I stood in line for hours. Disappointed that no one else was running for alderman, at least the one person running is an independent.
 
just got done with my vote, mostly mixed ticket to promote gridlock which is seemingly the best thing for the govt...

I even voted for a couple of non-whites dohdough! Most definitely in the case of Alan Page (the football player vs the crazy christian that I mentioned before), and I also had to vote for over 20 judges. For the judges I only voted on ones who I had been able to research.
 
[quote name='RAMSTORIA']i voted for whitman.[/QUOTE]

Now why would you do a silly thing like that? If you weren't gonna vote for Brown, you should have voted 3rd party. I mean, for the love of God man.

Looking worse than I thought for the Dems in Ohio according to 538 (hadn't really looked at the polls before today). Looks like we're fucked and going to be run by hillbillies and crooks again (though we were already run by crooks, they just weren't hillbillies). At least the Senate seat in contention was Republican anyway, and my local House seat was Republican anyway as well, though Dems'll be losing seats elsewhere in the state. Too bad Dems are losing Governor though. Strickland really wasn't that bad.
 
is there a website that shows a clear, nonpartisan evaluation/comparison of candidates, ideally that can be isolated by voting district.
Especially for state senators and state supreme court justices, the information is not easily found.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Now why would you do a silly thing like that? If you weren't gonna vote for Brown, you should have voted 3rd party. I mean, for the love of God man.

[/QUOTE]

trust me, i hate myself for it, but its a close race so i had to do it. id rather cut off my pinky than cut off my thumb.
 
[quote name='vherub']is there a website that shows a clear, nonpartisan evaluation/comparison of candidates, ideally that can be isolated by voting district.
Especially for state senators and state supreme court justices, the information is not easily found.[/QUOTE]

Check your local news/newspaper website.

I know the Florida Today did interviews with most of the people on the ballot and CF13 had candidates saying what they were planning to do with a link to their website.

It was good enough to weed out the crazy Tea Party people for me.

For state supreme court justices, try Google'ing their name and find out how they voted on certain issues.
 
[quote name='RAMSTORIA']trust me, i hate myself for it, but its a close race so i had to do it. id rather cut off my pinky than cut off my thumb.[/QUOTE]

According to 538 there is very little chance of Whitman winning. May as well have voted for 3rd party.

I got info on candidates on my local news site. I think that is the best way to go, at least for a starting point. My local news site posted detailed questionnaires/interviews that the candidates themselves(or their aides) filled out and that was enough for me to weed out the dipshits from all parties.
 
I forgot to mention that I'm voting for Prop. 19. Continuing my trend of supporting and voting for losing candidates/propositions!

Better than voting for giant douche and turd sandwich, though.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Now why would you do a silly thing like that? If you weren't gonna vote for Brown, you should have voted 3rd party. I mean, for the love of God man.

Looking worse than I thought for the Dems in Ohio according to 538 (hadn't really looked at the polls before today). Looks like we're fucked and going to be run by hillbillies and crooks again (though we were already run by crooks, they just weren't hillbillies). At least the Senate seat in contention was Republican anyway, and my local House seat was Republican anyway as well, though Dems'll be losing seats elsewhere in the state. Too bad Dems are losing Governor though. Strickland really wasn't that bad.[/QUOTE]
You voted for an (S) Socialist. You're already ahead of the game. :D

I wish there were more.:(
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Now why would you do a silly thing like that? If you weren't gonna vote for Brown, you should have voted 3rd party. I mean, for the love of God man.

Looking worse than I thought for the Dems in Ohio according to 538 (hadn't really looked at the polls before today). Looks like we're fucked and going to be run by hillbillies and crooks again (though we were already run by crooks, they just weren't hillbillies). At least the Senate seat in contention was Republican anyway, and my local House seat was Republican anyway as well, though Dems'll be losing seats elsewhere in the state. Too bad Dems are losing Governor though. Strickland really wasn't that bad.[/QUOTE]

I'd rather be run by hillbillies because we'd get to have lots of ho-downs with plenty of banjos being played. In all seriousness though, not a nice thing to say.

Also, if the Republicans took control of the House, you better hope that Obama can moderate. Otherwise, it will truly show how inept of a President he truly is. The Republicans winning the House back '94 was the best thing to happen to Clinton, because he knew how to play the game.
 
Well he's already shown he knows how to cave in to the other side, so as long as that continues he should be ok.
 
[quote name='dohdough']You voted for an (S) Socialist. You're already ahead of the game. :D

I wish there were more.:([/QUOTE]

His party could have been The Rent is Too Damn High, I would have voted for him anyway. His platform and the way he answered the questions on the local news site ("Religion: Is a private matter") was just too awesome.

I noticed that they removed the fact that he's socialist from the local news site though. Sad. I do believe it's on the ballot though, IIRC.

[quote name='KingBroly']I'd rather be run by hillbillies because we'd get to have lots of ho-downs with plenty of banjos being played. In all seriousness though, not a nice thing to say.

Also, if the Republicans took control of the House, you better hope that Obama can moderate. Otherwise, it will truly show how inept of a President he truly is. The Republicans winning the House back '94 was the best thing to happen to Clinton, because he knew how to play the game.[/QUOTE]

Perhaps you have never been to Ohio?

Yeah, I agree with you there. Obama hasn't impressed me at all in that regard. Hell, he's failed pretty miserably in that regard. Clinton did well after 94 other than the whole impeachment thing, though everyone who had half a brain knew that was nonsense to begin with.
 
[quote name='vherub']is there a website that shows a clear, nonpartisan evaluation/comparison of candidates, ideally that can be isolated by voting district.
Especially for state senators and state supreme court justices, the information is not easily found.[/QUOTE]

www.ontheissues.org is reliable for people with voting records, but a bit too abstract for those with no prior experience.

also, compare and contrast the candidate's websites. most good, genuine, intellectual candidates have working papers available for download that outline policy proposals. poor candidates don't outline shit for policy (e.g., "I'M GOING TO WORK HARD TO PUT AMERICANS BACK TO WORK!" followed up with nothing more specific than that, save for a blithe sentence or two about energizing the something-or-other sector). Few voters (precious few) read working papers/white papers, so you'll get depth and honesty in there you wouldn't expect.
 
Just got back. About ten people were there with 5 poll workers. Very quick in and out. They didn't say anything about using my sample ballot.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']His party could have been The Rent is Too Damn High, I would have voted for him anyway. His platform and the way he answered the questions on the local news site ("Religion: Is a private matter") was just too awesome.

I noticed that they removed the fact that he's socialist from the local news site though. Sad. I do believe it's on the ballot though, IIRC.

Perhaps you have never been to Ohio?

Yeah, I agree with you there. Obama hasn't impressed me at all in that regard. Hell, he's failed pretty miserably in that regard. Clinton did well after 94 other than the whole impeachment thing, though everyone who had half a brain knew that was nonsense to begin with.[/QUOTE]

I thought so too, and then I saw the hearing videos on TV. "It depends on what your definition of is is." Amazing.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']I thought so too, and then I saw the hearing videos on TV. "It depends on what your definition of is is." Amazing.[/QUOTE]

It was indeed wrong of Clinton to lie under oath, but I think it's honestly excusable in this case considering how ridiculous the charges were. Who gives a fuck if he's an adulterer? He was a damn competent president and it did not get in the way of him doing his job.
 
[quote name='Feeding the Abscess']I support the few congressmen who voted to impeach him based on his warmongering during his time in office, as opposed to his BJ in the oval office.[/QUOTE]

We only went to Bosnia while Clinton was in office. I think stopping genocide was a noble reason to send troops. Before you bring up half a dozen small engagements, please realize our military is ALWAYS fighting in half a dozen places around the globe. I'm talking about the meat and potatoes, full scale conflicts like Iraq and Bosnia. During Clinton, we only went to Bosnia. I was in the military during Clinton and I only remember once that we were even close to invading Iraq. The President decided to drop cruise missiles on the instead.
 
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