Kerry takes the lead in Kanagawa
I got my absentee ballot today. Quick, somebody do an exit poll!
The presidential race was an easy choice, as was the vote for my representative in the House—I’ll take the Democrat in both of those races, thanks. In the end, though, I picked George Voinovich over Eric Fingerhut for the Senate race. All things considered, my political views are pretty close to Eric Meyer’s: I would probably be a Republican if the GOP actually stood for what it says it stands for. But it doesn’t, so I can’t.
I have a soft spot for Voinovich, however, because he actually stands up for his principles—even if that means saying no to a popular war-time president. I have a lot of respect for Republicans who can distance themselves from Bush. I’ve spoken highly of Voinovich before, so it should come as no surprise that I support him now.
It’s hard to say what will happen in Ohio this year, though. It’s looking like the GOP may sweep the state at the federal level. It’s pretty close, though, with Kerry only about 3 percent behind Bush in the polls—polls which, I should mention, never take into consideration the Kanagawa vote (or the vote of Ohioans abroad elsewhere in the world, for that matter). That segment of the vote was lost to Bush a long time ago. Is it more than 3 percent? I doubt it, but Ohio seems to have had a rather large increase in Democratic voter registrations this year, so we’ll see what happens.
Hey, Son, some polls after the first Presidential debate have Kerry ahead in Ohio, even.
Voinivich is a mixed bag, in my opinion, but I share your opinion of his ability to stand up to the Administration. No small thing in these times. Love, Mom
Ha! I totally agree..
I didn’t realize you were a fellow Ohioan, sir! Well met. If I do in fact make it to WWW2005 in Chiba this coming May, we’ll have to see if there’s any chance of meeting up for dinner, or something along those lines.
Mom, all politicians are mixed bags, but at least there’s a spine in this particular bag! Voinovich is pratically an institution unto himself in Ohio. As a former assistant attorney general, state representative, county auditor (Cuyahoga), lieutenant governor, mayor (Cleveland), two-term governor, and now our Senator, Voinovich is probably the one face in Ohio politics that everyone knows--and it shows. Although I feel that it would be best to put at least one chamber of Congress back under Democratic control (as a way to check the Bush administration’s more reckless impulses), the Voinovich/Fingerhut race is not a competitive one, so I think it makes a lot of sense to give Voinovich a solid victory in this case. That way the Club for Growth and similar organizations will leave him alone (we hope) the next time he asserts himself.
Zachary, like Eric, I often wonder if there will be a serious political party in our lifetimes. I suspect you feel the same way--even if you do regard politics as a vice.
Eric, I didn’t realize you were aware of my existence, sir! Very well met indeed. If you will be in Chiba this coming May, I would be delighted to meet for dinner. From CSS to politics to jazz, I’m sure we would find no shortage of things to talk about.
You stole the subject I was going to use for my next post! I also got my absentee ballot and did my best to let Kerry briefly lead Idaho. (Since Idaho and Utah were Bush’s two strongest states last time, and the atmosphere there when I last met was pretty pro-bush it would be miraculous for Kerry to actually win Idaho)
Most shocking to me was that Idaho’s Republican Senator Mike Crapo was running unapposed. I don’t much like the guy so I searched the Internet and found someone running a write-in campaign against him and voted for him.
Finally, I’m pretty sure that I’ll be at WWW2005 so save me a seat at dinner if you’re doing it.
UltraBob
P.S. How is Dweezil doing? Have you had a chance to give it that extra brain yet?
UltraBob is further proof that Kanagawa will go to Kerry.
Too bad our votes will not have the same effect on the electoral outcome as they would if we were voting in the same state.
I see that Kerry has indeed picked up a 1-point lead in Ohio since the debates, which is good. Unfortunately, he has also lost ground in Florida, where he is now five points behind. Overall, the odds still favor Bush, which is a profound disappointment to this would-be Republican. How’s that for cognitive dissonance?
Well, the polls are also skewed Rebuplican so I’m not convinced. They don’t count any of us expats, whom are overwhelmeingly going for Kerry. Also I understand that most of them count likely voters which means they don’t count people who haven’t voted recently but who are pissed off enough this year to go to the polls or new voters. Also you have to have a home phone to get polled, people who have a cellular phone as their primary phone are not polled (another exclusion of young people)
Interesting points, UltraBob.
I’m sure recent events have got to be making it difficult for Bush to keep asserting that everything is right and good in the world. Who knows, Kerry might have a better shot at winning than I thought.
Post a comment
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.