ARE WE THAT REPUBLICAN?
In the Aug. 8 primary there were four times as many Republican ballots as Democrat in Orchard Lake. Does that actually represent the political division of our citizens? Probably not.
I believe there are a lot more Democrats. What skewed these numbers were two things. First, there were more prominent contests among Republican candidates, bringing the GOP faithful to the polls. Second, in our Congressional district there was a highly publicized battle between incumbent Joe Knollenberg and challenger Pan Godchaux (who lost).
Godchaux publicly encouraged Democrats to vote for her by using the Republican side of the ticket (in Michigan primaries a voter can choose to vote in either party but must stay within the chosen party's column for all candidates). This undoubtedly caused a number of "real" Democrats, as well as independents, to use the GOP ballot in order to support her.
The strategy wasn't enough. Knollenberg got 69.8 per cent of the vote in his ticket. We won even bigger in Orchard Lake, getting 78.2 per cent.
I believe there are a lot more Democrats. What skewed these numbers were two things. First, there were more prominent contests among Republican candidates, bringing the GOP faithful to the polls. Second, in our Congressional district there was a highly publicized battle between incumbent Joe Knollenberg and challenger Pan Godchaux (who lost).
Godchaux publicly encouraged Democrats to vote for her by using the Republican side of the ticket (in Michigan primaries a voter can choose to vote in either party but must stay within the chosen party's column for all candidates). This undoubtedly caused a number of "real" Democrats, as well as independents, to use the GOP ballot in order to support her.
The strategy wasn't enough. Knollenberg got 69.8 per cent of the vote in his ticket. We won even bigger in Orchard Lake, getting 78.2 per cent.
posted by bhmcintyre at 2:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home