Tuesday, October 04, 2011
West Virginia Governor's Race Today
In a race that polling suggests is too close to call, a small percentage of West Virginians will choose between Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin, an establishment Democrat and career politician who has been in the West Virginia government since years before I was born, and Republican Bill Maloney, a drilling engineer who has never held public office but garnered significant Tea Party support in the primary. More on the candidates here.
Like most special elections, this race has garnered national attention due to its falling on a date where nothing else is occurring politically. Nearly $6 million in money from outside of the state has been poured into advertising for the candidates. And apparently it hasn't had a positive effect on turnout - only a smattering of voters have turned out for early and absentee voting.
Low turnout races are very difficult to predict. If the Republicans are able to carry the day, it would signal that the nation remains toxic to Democrats for 2012, especially President Obama, who the Republicans have made a campaign issue by saddling Tomblin with the political albatross that is the President. (Obama's approval ratings in West Virginia are some of the lowest in the country.)
What is interesting from a Tennessee perspective is how Tomblin has been tied to West Virginia's decision not to join the challenges to Obamacare. Tennessee's Democrat Attorney General (who is not popularly elected but should be) also elected not to join other states in contesting the unconstitutional mandates placed within President Obama's magnum opus. It will be interesting to see what part this may have in the West Virginia special election and whether that will translate into further Democratic losses here in Tennessee in 2012. It will also be a great measuring stick on whether Republican leadership ignores the bad advice of some of their own brethren and makes the Attorney General accountable to the voters.
If I had to make a prediction, I'd predict Tomblin wins. My basis for this unfortunate pick lies with many years of watching West Virginia go Democratic, union influence in the southern parts of West Virginia and their known propensity for intimidation, corruption, and voter fraud, and traditional polling in West Virginia that tends to run 2-3 points low for the Democrat (see previous reference to the unions).
MORE: CNN has more on the race. Seems that their analysis and my own aren't too far off - it will be close, but it's just hard to believe that Republicans would take a contested race in a union stronghold like West Virginia.
Like most special elections, this race has garnered national attention due to its falling on a date where nothing else is occurring politically. Nearly $6 million in money from outside of the state has been poured into advertising for the candidates. And apparently it hasn't had a positive effect on turnout - only a smattering of voters have turned out for early and absentee voting.
Low turnout races are very difficult to predict. If the Republicans are able to carry the day, it would signal that the nation remains toxic to Democrats for 2012, especially President Obama, who the Republicans have made a campaign issue by saddling Tomblin with the political albatross that is the President. (Obama's approval ratings in West Virginia are some of the lowest in the country.)
What is interesting from a Tennessee perspective is how Tomblin has been tied to West Virginia's decision not to join the challenges to Obamacare. Tennessee's Democrat Attorney General (who is not popularly elected but should be) also elected not to join other states in contesting the unconstitutional mandates placed within President Obama's magnum opus. It will be interesting to see what part this may have in the West Virginia special election and whether that will translate into further Democratic losses here in Tennessee in 2012. It will also be a great measuring stick on whether Republican leadership ignores the bad advice of some of their own brethren and makes the Attorney General accountable to the voters.
If I had to make a prediction, I'd predict Tomblin wins. My basis for this unfortunate pick lies with many years of watching West Virginia go Democratic, union influence in the southern parts of West Virginia and their known propensity for intimidation, corruption, and voter fraud, and traditional polling in West Virginia that tends to run 2-3 points low for the Democrat (see previous reference to the unions).
MORE: CNN has more on the race. Seems that their analysis and my own aren't too far off - it will be close, but it's just hard to believe that Republicans would take a contested race in a union stronghold like West Virginia.
Labels: President Obama, Special Elections, Unions, West Virginia
Friday, March 02, 2007
Democrats Threatening the Lives of Those Who Vote Against Unions
The House Democrats, including sponsor Congressman George Miller (California) and co-sponsors Lincoln Davis (Tennessee) Steve Cohen (Tennessee), Jim Cooper (Tennessee), Bart Gordon (Tennessee), John Dingell (Michigan), Barney Frank (Massachusetts), Alcee Hastings (Florida), Sheila Jackson-Lee (Texas), Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), Henry Waxman (California), Rick Boucher (Virginia), Rahm Emanuel (Illinois), Heath Shuler (North Carolina), and Maxine Waters (California), amongst others, are willing to put the lives of American workers at risk in order to satisfy the socialist labor unions that fill their coffers every election season.
The bill is HR 800, officially titled the "Employee Free Choice Act of 2007" by its Democratic sponsor. (I won't say author because anyone who has worked on The Hill knows that the labor union attorneys wrote every word of the bill.)
This bill will eliminate voting by secret ballot in matters of unionization. People familiar with the election activities of unions in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois over the past few election cycles know what this means for workers. They will either have to vote to join the union or either themselves or their loved ones are going to die.
Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA), the Republican Chief Deputy Whip, is not resolved to letting the Democrats push this bill through like they have done so many other pieces of legislation in 2007. Cantor is rallying the troops against what he calls the "American Worker Compulsion Act," including producing the video below:
Cantor calls the activity by the unions that would result from this bill "coercion tactics." I guess he's right, as much as a gun to the head is a "coercion tactic."
As usual, I am very disappointed in the Tennessee Democrats - Davis, Cooper, Gordon, Cohen. At least Tanner's name isn't on as a co-sponsor yet. And, as predicted here, Heath Shuler has become the lackey of the Left, lending his support to whatever bill Nancy Pelosi tells him to get behind.
Feel free to e-mail these gentlemen at the addresses below to let them know that you don't appreciate them selling out America's workers so that they can collect their rewards from the unions come election time. Tell them that you are dismayed at seeing their names lined up alongside those of the most liberal/socialist members of the Congress - names like Waters, Kucinich, Frank, and Hastings. Tell them you will remember their actions in 2008.
Lincoln Davis - Tennessee's Fourth (Enter ZIP 38556)
Steve Cohen - Tennessee's Ninth
Jim Cooper - Tennessee's Fifth
Bart Gordon - Tennessee's Sixth (Enter ZIP 37130)
Heath Shuler - North Carolina's 11th (Enter ZIP 28801)
UPDATE: Well, that was fast. I started a draft of this post early Thursday, and by Friday it was already obsolete. Pelosi must have had a big dinner on the unions' tabs for this weekend, because she hustled this bill through a roll call vote. HR 800 passed 241-185. But, you see, it was bipartisan - two Democrats voted against it! (The two Dems were Rep. Boren (Oklahoma) and Rep. Gene Taylor (Mississippi), if you were interested.)
The good news (if there is any here) for Americans is that Senate Minority Leader McConnell has pledged to block cloture on the bill, and President Bush has vowed to veto the legislation if it somehow came to his desk. (The 241 aye votes being well short of the 2/3 needed to override a Bush veto, I doubt that it makes it that far.)
Don't let that stop you from letting the Congressmen linked above from having it, all of them having voted in favor of unions over American workers. By all means, let 'em have it!
MORE: Reactions from around the Blogosphere:
Ankle Biting Pundits
Jason Pye
This Side of Purgatory
The Countertop Chronicles
JammieWearingFool
Blue Crab Boulevard
Betsy's Page
Constitutionally Right
And from the Land of Make-Believe - The John Edwards '08 Blog.
The bill is HR 800, officially titled the "Employee Free Choice Act of 2007" by its Democratic sponsor. (I won't say author because anyone who has worked on The Hill knows that the labor union attorneys wrote every word of the bill.)
This bill will eliminate voting by secret ballot in matters of unionization. People familiar with the election activities of unions in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois over the past few election cycles know what this means for workers. They will either have to vote to join the union or either themselves or their loved ones are going to die.
Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA), the Republican Chief Deputy Whip, is not resolved to letting the Democrats push this bill through like they have done so many other pieces of legislation in 2007. Cantor is rallying the troops against what he calls the "American Worker Compulsion Act," including producing the video below:
Cantor calls the activity by the unions that would result from this bill "coercion tactics." I guess he's right, as much as a gun to the head is a "coercion tactic."
As usual, I am very disappointed in the Tennessee Democrats - Davis, Cooper, Gordon, Cohen. At least Tanner's name isn't on as a co-sponsor yet. And, as predicted here, Heath Shuler has become the lackey of the Left, lending his support to whatever bill Nancy Pelosi tells him to get behind.
Feel free to e-mail these gentlemen at the addresses below to let them know that you don't appreciate them selling out America's workers so that they can collect their rewards from the unions come election time. Tell them that you are dismayed at seeing their names lined up alongside those of the most liberal/socialist members of the Congress - names like Waters, Kucinich, Frank, and Hastings. Tell them you will remember their actions in 2008.
Lincoln Davis - Tennessee's Fourth (Enter ZIP 38556)
Steve Cohen - Tennessee's Ninth
Jim Cooper - Tennessee's Fifth
Bart Gordon - Tennessee's Sixth (Enter ZIP 37130)
Heath Shuler - North Carolina's 11th (Enter ZIP 28801)
UPDATE: Well, that was fast. I started a draft of this post early Thursday, and by Friday it was already obsolete. Pelosi must have had a big dinner on the unions' tabs for this weekend, because she hustled this bill through a roll call vote. HR 800 passed 241-185. But, you see, it was bipartisan - two Democrats voted against it! (The two Dems were Rep. Boren (Oklahoma) and Rep. Gene Taylor (Mississippi), if you were interested.)
The good news (if there is any here) for Americans is that Senate Minority Leader McConnell has pledged to block cloture on the bill, and President Bush has vowed to veto the legislation if it somehow came to his desk. (The 241 aye votes being well short of the 2/3 needed to override a Bush veto, I doubt that it makes it that far.)
Don't let that stop you from letting the Congressmen linked above from having it, all of them having voted in favor of unions over American workers. By all means, let 'em have it!
MORE: Reactions from around the Blogosphere:
Ankle Biting Pundits
Jason Pye
This Side of Purgatory
The Countertop Chronicles
JammieWearingFool
Blue Crab Boulevard
Betsy's Page
Constitutionally Right
And from the Land of Make-Believe - The John Edwards '08 Blog.
