Well, today’s the day for folks in Rosewood, Shandon, Melrose and other nearby parts of Columbia. Get out there and exercise your franchise.
I liked Alex Postic‘s (that is to say, Mr. Shop Tart‘s) take on the election on Facebook this morning:
Don’t forget to vote today Columbia. Either way, I think Columbia wins – and we get a neighbor on City Council.
Which is no exaggeration. Moe told me he’s like next door from the Tart — which puts him across the street from the house I lived in when I was 4 years old — and Daniel’s very close by as well.
This is the kind of politics you get when you stretch subsidiarity to the max (not the max that Paul Ryan would take it to, which would be the individual, but the max the way I’ve always understood the concept — buy I digress).
Here’s hoping that when it’s over, Columbia does indeed win.
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Coble 57%, Baddourah 43% is my prediction.
@Silence–from your calculator to G-d’s ears.
@’Kathryn – He’s not my preference but I think Coble’ll win. I think the Moe campaign has imploded a little bit, and I think the experienced Coble advisors & supporters are probably a LOT better at organizing and getting the voters out to the polls.
Moe is kind of paranoid–I mean, calling someone who calls himself a “businessman” on his signs, a “regular businessman” does not constitute “mudslinging” as Moe claims.
I wonder how often Coble will run back to get advice from his dad. He’ll probably be texting during meetings on how to vote.
@SDII – Dad, should I continue to cover up all of these skeletons in your closet?
In truth, they all sit there and play on their smartphones during the council meetings.
What’s a bummer is that it seems like the local elections with good, solid candidates suck up all the coverage, while the most offensive officeholders typically just sail on unopposed.
It would benefit us all to see Columbia’s run of generally decent candidates spill over a little into other areas of the Midlands. Quality in contested elections is a luxury society deserves.
Mark, you have put your finger on a significant problem.
There are districts — legislative, council and otherwise — that seem to put up good candidates against each other, forcing the voters to reject really good people who could serve the public well (admittedly, in favor of another good candidate they prefer). Then there are those that seem utterly incapable of producing a decent candidate.
You’d probably like an example of the above.
OK, here’s one — for two or three elections in a row, House District 79 presented tough choices. The first time Anton Gunn came in for an endorsement interview, I really liked him, and saw in him the potential to be one of the finest representatives at the State House. Unfortunately, he was running against a very fine rep — Bill Cotty. We went with Cotty. I was really glad that when Cotty retired, Anton ran again — and really disappointed when he left the House to take a job with the Obama administration.
Another case would be District 72, currently represented by James Smith. James has run without serious opposition for so long, it’s easy to forget his first election. It was another case of a candidate we really liked. But we liked his Republican cousin, Robert Adams, a little better, and endorsed him. Adams lost, but SC won — as it would have either way.
OK, so I had the percentages right, but the winner wrong.
I noticed that. You need to adjust the resolution on your crystal ball. You can see the numbers, but the letters are too fuzzy.
I have a pretty good track record of getting the outcomes of elections wrong. Like Rick Blaine, I tend to be on the losing side.
So clearly scheduling elections during spring break is not such a good idea – particularly for those districts similar to #3. Or is it that April elections period are not such a good idea?
That is, if we value voter enfranchisement.
“Mark Stewart says:
April 18, 2012 at 8:58 am
So clearly scheduling elections during spring break is not such a good idea – particularly for those districts similar to #3. Or is it that April elections period are not such a good idea?
That is, if we value voter enfranchisement.”
I dont think that scheduling an election during spring break goes to the level of calling it voter disenfranchisement. Jim Crow laws, poll tax, even voter ID laws I can see. People not showing up because they are too lazy to participate is another issue.
I do think that maybe Cola could do a better job about getting the word out about absentee voting better.
The sadder issue is the voter turnout numbers. I don’t think we can blame that on spring break as much as general voter apathy.