And if they do vote, will it be counted?
Posted by TIKI AL at June 28, 2006 01:41 PMThat's why we need poll watchers keeping a seperate tally. Volenteering is easy, getting out the vote and poll watching are the ground game of winning political teams. As one who has done both, I urge my fellow progressives to do more than blog and vote. Get involved with the ground game. It's harder for them to cheat if they don't know what has hit them!
Posted by herbal tee at June 28, 2006 04:08 PMSteve, you missed a few more items from that poll:
Just half of Democrats approve of the job performance of Democratic leaders in Congress; by contrast, 58% of Republicans give positive ratings to GOP leaders. And 64% of Democrats say their party is doing only a fair or poor job in standing up for its traditional positions on such things as protecting the interests of minorities and helping the poor."
Posted by peter at June 28, 2006 05:18 PMPeter,
That's why many "outsiders" are running for office. Some of your most endangered incumbents are running against "outsiders". Sounds like 1/3 of republicans will be voting for the outsider Dem.
And yet this is only the end of June...
Posted by peter at June 28, 2006 05:32 PMI am a Registered Democrat and I will not be voting for Democrats this fall. The Democrats have not represented Progressive belief systems and do not deserve my vote. I will not donate to them. I will not organize for them. I will not recommend them to my friends. I will likely abstain completely.
I live in a swing district. Most of you live in gerrymandered districts where it wouldn't matter if you did or not. Diebold probably has a trick up their sleeve too. Ultimately, that doesn't matter. Vote fixing and gerrymandering is only a real crisis if there is a substantive difference between the two dominant party's candidates.
They don't represent my beliefs, they don't get my vote.
Posted by Tampa Student at June 28, 2006 06:26 PMSteve, thanks for the statistics.
Tampa Bay student, this country has too many problems for people to be sitting on the sidelines. I'm lucky that I come from a liberal district with a liberal Congresswoman. The local paper supported the other candidate in the primaries because our Congresswoman doesn't play games. But she still manages to get work done. If Democrats win this fall, she'll just be able to get that much more work done. There's a good chance Democrats will win more seats in 2008; again, the odds increase that once again more work will get done. It ain't pretty and it ain't perfect but it's all we got. And I don't mind fighting for it.
Posted by Craig at June 28, 2006 07:03 PMI may have read this here; I've heard that gerrymandering districts involves giving the minority party an overwhelming advantage in one district so that surrounding districts will have a razor's edge of a win for the majority party, thus giving up one district, and gaining maybe three.
If that is true, the razor could slice the other way this fall, giving the Dems a landslide.
Let's hope.
Posted by rollindonut at June 28, 2006 07:10 PMThe progblem is that the Democrats are just the smile on the other side of the scowling Republican mask. Corporate politics is corporate politics. There is not a crime the Republicans have committed which didn't have Democratic assistance, and the Democrats initiated many of them. (Remember Al Gore "reinventing governement"? That's why many people are now paying for the weather news they used to get free on the phone.)
Posted by Tom Condit at June 28, 2006 07:56 PMTB Student, while I understand your frustration with the general incompetence of our elected Dems, your approach is exactly backwards. By not voting, you are signalling your acceptance of the status quo. If you like what you see right now, by all means, stay home. Just don't bitch if you don't like the results in 2006.
Posted by weinerdog43 at June 29, 2006 06:30 AMTampa, you really don't think there is enough difference between the parties to oppose the criminal Republicans anymore? To punish them by removing them from power?
Then they win.
You think the Dems would have confirmed Alito? Or voted to open the Arctic Refuge to drilling? Or given billions of subsidies to big oil?
There's plenty of complicity in the Dems, but there's plenty of progress as well.
If you agree with a Dem even half the time, isn't that much better than violently disagreeing with a vile Republican all the time?
I write this with sympathy and respect for your views, BTW.
Posted by euzoius at June 29, 2006 06:54 AMI worry that this is misleading...
It seems that while polls will show a majority when you get down to individual races there is just not enough wiggle room in the numbers. A 6 point lead shrinks in districts to a 2-3 point lead. An overall that's more affected by the jump in Dem districts that means BIGGER wins, not what we need... MORE wins.
The 12% point lead is now down to 6%. Thanks to the Troop withdrawal debate showing division in Democratic party and therefore giving the impression that Dems really do not know how to solve Iraq problem. If you add to this the scare tactics Rove has started with the seven so called AL-Queda cell people arrested and flag burning amendment etc. this 6% lead can shrink real fast.
Lot of democrats share the frustration of TB student when they see incompetence on the part of Dems in congress in confronting the Repubs. But staying away from the election will only continue the misery that has been brought on US for last five years.
I think we should vote solidly in the democratic primaries to see if we can get rid off the incumbants. However, in the election we must vote for who ever is representing the party.
Posted by suresh at June 29, 2006 10:36 AMVoter turnout is nearly as useless as a eunuch in a whorehouse if your opponent can steal elections .The fact that Democrats have not done a damn thing to address the election theft issue means they might as well drop trousers/hike skirts . We know the GOP got it viagra ready and a plan in place .
Posted by G at June 29, 2006 11:41 AMI decided to post my response to some of you on my own seldom-used blog rather than put it here. If you are interested in seeing my response, you can view it HERE.
Posted by Tampa Student at June 29, 2006 04:22 PM