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When I moved to Louisiana for my residency, I moved just in time to become eligible to vote in the election for Governor. Buddy Roemer was running for re-election as a Democrat. Edwin Edwards came out of "retirement" in Las Vegas to run as a Republican, and David Duke was running on the bigotry ticket.
It took me a few years to figure out how it all actually transpired behind the scenes, but the information was slow to trickle out.
In LA, all primary elections are qualifying; if there's no winner, the top two then go to a run-off election. Buddy Roemer had irritated people in his own party, so there were others on the Democratic ticket, the highest of which was Clyde Hollowell. He pulled out of the race about a week or so before the election -- so his name was still on the ballot. He pulled enough votes away from Roemer that Buddy didn't get through to the run-off.
We ended up with a choice between Fast Eddie Edwards, the gambler who had just barely beaten off Federal charges in his last round as Governor, and David Duke, the just barely disguised Klansman. Every one knew Fast Eddie was a crook, so they used that; I remember at least one bumper sticker that said "Vote for the crook; it's important". He won by a landslide, and only Duke's home areas gave him any amount of votes (not naming names coughkennercough). Eddie then made sure he couldn't be recalled by immediately signing all sorts of executive orders, such as the one for protection of sexual orientation in hiring, etc.; as soon as he lost the next election, all those executive orders would be kaput. The petition drive failed, and he stayed in office just long enough to get riverboat gambling passed into law.
The point here is, we're in a similar situation with our choices. There's folks with strong feelings about Obama (both positive and negative), and likewise for McCain. Obama isn't a crook, but McCain is not the person we want in the Presidency. He's too much like Duke -- slick, charming, tells you what you want to hear, and fools everyone into thinking he's a "maverick", when he's not. The only way he's been a maverick is in his people skills; besides, who wants a maverick leading the country? We don't need a reformer who doesn't know how to lead.
I voted for Edwards. I signed the petition knowing that if he got kicked out I'd lose some of those protections he'd signed. He stayed in office, got his kickbacks in the form of poker winnings, and this time he reported all his winnings to the IRS. They still managed to find out how he'd scammed the system, and sent him to jail a few years after he finished his last term as LA Governor. Louisiana knows how to keep things colorful.
It took me a few years to figure out how it all actually transpired behind the scenes, but the information was slow to trickle out.
In LA, all primary elections are qualifying; if there's no winner, the top two then go to a run-off election. Buddy Roemer had irritated people in his own party, so there were others on the Democratic ticket, the highest of which was Clyde Hollowell. He pulled out of the race about a week or so before the election -- so his name was still on the ballot. He pulled enough votes away from Roemer that Buddy didn't get through to the run-off.
We ended up with a choice between Fast Eddie Edwards, the gambler who had just barely beaten off Federal charges in his last round as Governor, and David Duke, the just barely disguised Klansman. Every one knew Fast Eddie was a crook, so they used that; I remember at least one bumper sticker that said "Vote for the crook; it's important". He won by a landslide, and only Duke's home areas gave him any amount of votes (not naming names coughkennercough). Eddie then made sure he couldn't be recalled by immediately signing all sorts of executive orders, such as the one for protection of sexual orientation in hiring, etc.; as soon as he lost the next election, all those executive orders would be kaput. The petition drive failed, and he stayed in office just long enough to get riverboat gambling passed into law.
The point here is, we're in a similar situation with our choices. There's folks with strong feelings about Obama (both positive and negative), and likewise for McCain. Obama isn't a crook, but McCain is not the person we want in the Presidency. He's too much like Duke -- slick, charming, tells you what you want to hear, and fools everyone into thinking he's a "maverick", when he's not. The only way he's been a maverick is in his people skills; besides, who wants a maverick leading the country? We don't need a reformer who doesn't know how to lead.
I voted for Edwards. I signed the petition knowing that if he got kicked out I'd lose some of those protections he'd signed. He stayed in office, got his kickbacks in the form of poker winnings, and this time he reported all his winnings to the IRS. They still managed to find out how he'd scammed the system, and sent him to jail a few years after he finished his last term as LA Governor. Louisiana knows how to keep things colorful.
