Archive for the ‘elections’ Category

We’ve heard from the Candidates…

Posted: July 1, 2010 by datechguy in elections, local stuff, opinion/news, tea parties
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…at the Tea Party Forum, now what did the people who attended have to say?

We started with Charlie:

I’ve actually talked to Charlie before at the conservative forum of the commonwealth.

I then talked to Elaine and Ann but we were interrupted by the start of the forum.

When the candidates were done we went back to see what they had to say.

Elaine’s thought that both parties are the same might be echoed by Eric Erickson these days.

And a quick round up from me:

Bottom line is was a good event, the Twin City Tea Party it forces local media to at least notice Tea Party events without putting a set of horns on us, local reps were put in the position to answer voters directly and we got to see their prospective replacements function when challenged. Kudos for the Border Grille & Bar for hosting.

More please.

Jen Benson and Kurt Hayes at the Tea Party forum

Posted: June 30, 2010 by datechguy in elections, opinion/news, tea parties
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Yesterday we had the video of the State Senate candidates, today we have the candidates for State rep for the 37th Middlesex District at the tea party candidate forum.

Jen Benson is the Democrat in her first term:

She made the case against term limits, and she pointed to the federal mandates in what we can and can’t do, it’s a fair point.

I know this next clip is kinda short but I had to break them up.

Next up is Kurt Hayes:

As the republican he had more in common with the crowd.

Hayes and Benson were both impressive, it is interesting to see that both argued against Term Limits (I say we have term limits, they are called elections and if we don’t take advantage of them it’s our own fault. As a native of NH Benson seemed a lot more conservative than the avg democrat and that has some appeal to this crowd.

As a bonus extra here is Scott Bove candidate for Sheriff of Worcester County, he only had 5 min:

His point about experience in the system is a very good one.

Overall this was a superior exchange to the first one. Benson was making the case that you need one term to get to speed but I don’t know if that’s the right take to make (true or no). Neither candidate hurt themselves and I personally think Benson helped herself more than Hayes simply by exposing voters who would normally vote against her to her positions

Update: That was Kurt with a K. My bad there.

Jen Flanagan and Neal Heeren at the Tea Party Candidate Forum

Posted: June 29, 2010 by datechguy in elections, opinion/news, short films/interviews, tea parties
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Here is the video of Jen Flanagan and her opponent Neal Heeren at the Twin city Tea party on the 28th

I recorded these in about 10 minutes swatches based on my camera and the space on my two cards:

I actually think she made a good presentation. I thought her answer on “Tea Party Extremism” was a safe answer, but I think her answer on NH was week.

She did meet with people privately and talked for a while, as I said before she deserves a lot of credit for showing up.

Here is her opponent Neal Heeren

I missed the start of his speech as my batteries needed switching.

Without a question Heeren was a weaker speaker, he had to refer to his notes quite a bit on opening and seemed very uncomfortable on stage, rather odd for a lawyer. On the issues he was more correct but you have to be able to make the case to people. That’s a skill he can develop but if Flanagan keeps showing up and manages to make credible explanation and presentations it will be harder for him.

This more than anything illustrates why Flanagan’s presence was smart! Rather than avoiding the Tea Party in fear she confronts it directly. Were all her answers good enough? Likely not but you can’t beat something with nothing. She is an experienced pol and a personable lady. There is no reason why she shouldn’t make a good impression on the people she represents.

If what you believe is right it can stand up to argument. Liberals in fear of the tea party have conceded that argument. If they follow the example of Flanagan for good or ill that might change.

I’ll have Jen Benson and Kurt Hayes up later tonight

Talk about a timely article: Robert Byrd dead at 92

Posted: June 28, 2010 by datechguy in elections
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When the news came that Sen Byrd was hospitalized this article came out at Five Thirty Eight:

Byrd’s current term expires on January 3, 2013. Under West Virginia state law on handling Senate vacancies, “if the vacancy occurs less than two years and six months before the end of the term, the Governor appoints someone to fill the unexpired term and there is no election”. Otherwise, Manchin would appoint an interim replacement, and an special election would be held in November to determine who held the seat in 2011 and 2012.

In other words, we are within a week of the threshold established by West Virginia law. If a vacancy were to be declared on July 3rd or later, there would not be an election to replace Byrd until 2012. If it were to occur earlier, there could potentially be an election later this year, although there might be some ambiguities arising from precisely when and how the vacancy were declared.

I thought it was a little crass but now that Sen Byrd has actually died it becomes VERY relevant.

It all comes down to when the Governor declares a vacancy. There is no question that the office is vacant but the Democratic Governor likely would rather not have another senate seat voted on in 2010.

As the corner points out such shenanigans are not unheard of in these cases but then again if the Democrats hasn’t tried to pull a fast one here, we might have senator Martha Coakley today.

I presume that the democrat governor will play games. Democrats have proved totally unwilling to consider the will of the people lately so I see no reason why Governor Manchin would do otherwise.

As you might Guess it is big news on Memeorandum.

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