voting

[chefchip]

Well as you all knwo today is election day and I have succefully voted... I think. Around here in washington and the metro area there is a huge contriversy over the eletronic voting machines. I had heard that all the registration books were to be electronic though the one at mine was not, just the regular old list. I dont want tot get into the

Comments

[metalclarinet]

I my polling place they gave little stickers to voters. Mine says "I think I voted"

Thursday Kelly Hunt will appear at the state theatre. She is a babe and a fabulous piano player/singer. I'm thinking about going. Don't know if I can get Joyce to go. You interested? Chat with your buddy.

[chefchip]

perhaps in fact I could be. I am to meet with someone in falls church thursday night. I will see.

[xsongbirdx]

I wonder why the ballots even have peoples names anymore. They might as well just say "Democrat" and "Republican", because that seems to be all that matters anymore. I can't believe some of the idiots who won JUST because they are Democrat. And it's all the media focuses on too. I never vote all republican or all democrat...I vote for the person that I think is best. Time to get rid of the parties I say!

[chefchip]

the problem is that the parties have all the money and therefore to be elected you have to affiliate yourself with one or the other. It doesnt mean you have to vote lock step with them, in fact it seems that happens less and less these days. I vote per person per issue, but in general I defer tot he judgement of the party to pick the guy in the first place, then I vote weather I like him or not.

[jmnthe3rd]

In general I think the parties pick the person they think is most likely to win, because the job they do representing is secondary. Just their show of party presence in something like the house or the senate is the primary goal these days. That's why, a lot of the time, it may seem like the two candidates have identical platforms. A current example of the party not choosing to run the person most likely to win would be the Joe Lieberman development. The democrats wouldn’t support Lieberman because they didn’t want him voting against democratic issues. That also happens to be an example of person winning from outside of the two party systems. I think Lieberman should run for president. His entire platform could be get rid of the two party system that forces voters to choose people who are clearly out of touch with the American public. How could a democrat or republican win against that?

[chefchip]

a good platform indeed. I think that parties pick people who are likely to win but also who will tow the line to some extent. They have to be careful, like Bob casey of Pa who beat santorum is pro life and would probably vote to confirm a conservative justice. It should also be stated that in this particular cycle, democrat didnt mean democrat or even left of center, it jsut mean not the guys already running the show. Some people call conservative democrats "blue dogs" and since the democratic party doesnt really exist since they dont have a platform democrat is just a name and not an identity.