Youngish Republicans make a comeback?

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday March 06, 2010 · 2:51 PM PST

2010/03/06 · 14:51

Today a front page article details the switch of our weekly poll to registered voters from adults (this weeks cross tabs, last weeks cross tabs). This has led to some fairly significant swings in the various demographic groups. Of significance, I note that there are a significant number of enthusiastic unregistered 30-something people who claim they are going to go to the polls and vote for Republicans. Effort needs to be made to understand who these people are, where they live, what their political ideology consists of, whether they will actually register and participate and whether it would be a better strategy to ignore them and build strength elsewhere or to try to improve our standing among them.

scotths

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday October 27, 2009 · 4:11 PM PDT

2009/10/27 · 16:11

Next week is an important election for the city of Seattle. We will be electing a new Mayor, county executive, and half of the city council. Below is how I plan to vote and why...

Statewide issues
Initiative 1033 -- NO
Ref 71 -- APPROVE

King County
County Executive -- Dow Constatine

Port of Seattle Commissioner
Pos. 3 -- Rob Holland
Pos. 4 -- Max Vekich

City of Seattle
Mayor -- Mike McGinn
City Attorney -- Pete Holmes

Seattle City Council
Pos. 2 -- David Ginsburg
Pos. 4 -- Sally Bagshaw
Pos. 6 -- Jessie Israel
Pos. 8 -- Mike O'Brien

Seattle City Prop 1 -- YES

Seattle School District
Dir. Dist. 5 -- Kay Smith-Blum
Dir. Dist. 8 -- Wilson Chin

rationale over the flip...

Poll

29 votes Show Results

Seattle Mayor?

29 votes Vote Now!

Seattle Mayor?

Mike McGinn

15 votes

Joe Mallahan

10 votes

Other

2 votes

Undecided

2 votes

Turnout down among Kerry Voters - where were they last week?

scotths

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday November 12, 2008 · 7:39 PM PST

2008/11/12 · 19:39

Much has been made of how the youth while playing a large role in this election perhaps didn't turn out in as large a number as expected. In addition the overall turnout didn't show as much of an increase as expected. I think that the long lines in democratically leaning precincts (and the publicity of such lines) might have led to a decrease in voter turnout among democrats.

In examining the NY times exit polls I noticed the following:

Previous Vote Obama/McCain
37% Kerry 89/9
46% Bush 17/82
11% First time voter 69/30
(6% voted before, not Bush or Kerry- results not included)

Note that this poll included a component of early and absentee voters in addition to the standard election day exits. Thus, Kerry voters should have been included regardless of whether they voted early or on election day.

Poll

52 votes Show Results

Why does voter turnout appear down among Kerry voters?

52 votes Vote Now!

Why does voter turnout appear down among Kerry voters?

People didn't want to wait in long lines or lines they believed to be long.

3 votes

A sudden increase in Republican enthusiasm.

1 vote

A different factor that suppressed the Kerry vote.

6 votes

A different factor that increased the Bush vote.

1 vote

Kerry voters lying and saying they voted for Bush.

10 votes

A problem with the poll.

18 votes

Other

7 votes

Pie

6 votes

Moving to Canada.or somewhere. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS DISCRIMINATION

scotths

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday November 01, 2008 · 10:28 PM PDT

2008/11/01 · 22:28

I received the below image of the Canadian border welcoming across immigrants in the event of an Obama victory. In an attempt to be helpful to those who might be thinking of moving and in light of the differences between the conservative ideology and the reality in Canada I thought I would provide some constructive advice as to where people could move.

I'm a victim of daylight saving discrimination! I had the unfortunate experience of birth as a diary during the do-over hour in Eastern time. Thus, I had to start my life most of the way down the diary list! End daylight savings discrimination! Equal rights for diaries born during the do-over hour!

(over for snarkfull reply)

scotths

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday October 21, 2008 · 5:51 AM PDT

2008/10/21 · 05:51

This upcoming election has the apparent potential to drastically change the political face of this country. The bookMillennial Makeover by Winograd and Hais extends earlier work by Strauss and Howe (Generations and the Fourth Turning) in which a cyclical pattern of generations and periods in history are explained. Winograd and Hais extend this to describe how this leads to a serious of political realignments of an alternating idealistic and civic nature. An idealist realignment leads to divided ineffective government and a focus on social issues (1828,1896,1968). A civic realignment (1860, 1932) leads to a strong functional partisan government that is able to meet the challenges head on.

I believe there is an interesting addition to this pattern, alternating northern and southern uprising allow alternating influence by the northern and southern parts of the country. This fall for the first time since Abraham Lincoln we will elect to power a leader and a party inspired by the tradition of the northern parts of this country.

scotths

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday July 27, 2008 · 5:54 PM PDT

2008/07/27 · 17:54

People on the left and the right of our political spectrum have argued recently that Obama can't fix our problems. I would agree that they are correct, that alone Obama will be unable to dig us out of the hole that we now inhabit. I think that they are missing the point, the truth is that while Obama is important this election is not about Obama. (more on the flip)...

scotths

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday July 15, 2008 · 4:57 PM PDT

2008/07/15 · 16:57

Obama's excellent foreign policy speech (video, transcript) today covered a wide range of topics. The most attention will probably be paid to the discussion of Iraq and his plans to remove our troops and help stabilize the country. He also promised to move more resources into Afghanistan to help deal with the mounting problems in that area. By this he means more than merely troops or supplies.

Poll

9 votes Show Results

How valuable are Obama's experiences as a community organizer?

9 votes Vote Now!

How valuable are Obama's experiences as a community organizer?

They represent a very important aspect of who he is as a candidate.

8 votes

They are important but not among the most significant experiences he has had.

0 votes

They are unimportant.

0 votes

Other.

1 vote

Before we condemn Obama.... (Roosevelt and why he deserves a chance)

scotths

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday July 01, 2008 · 8:26 PM PDT

2008/07/01 · 20:26

Recently much of the discussion on this board has centered around Obama's position on issues such as FISA as well as other issues in which many members of this community feel he has betrayed his strongest supporters. The sense that I get is that it is not the specific issues that people are concerned (though the issues themselves are important) but to larger extent what it means about Obama as a candidate and future leader. The question is asked, are we heading towards another Bill Clinton style Presidency full of triangulation a little accomplishment? Every speech he gives, every comment he makes is heavily analyzed by those who would take both sides of this question. Before we judge Obama we must wait until we see how he acts when in power with congress solidly behind him. Comparing the campaigns of leaders such as Lincoln and Roosevelt with what they later accomplished shows why this is the case.

Poll

72 votes Show Results

Will Obama rise to the challenges with which he will be presented?

72 votes Vote Now!

Will Obama rise to the challenges with which he will be presented?

Yes

52 votes

I'm not sure but hopeful

13 votes

I'm doubtful

5 votes

2 votes

The myth of the white working class voter

scotths

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday May 18, 2008 · 5:50 PM PDT

2008/05/18 · 17:50

Much has been made of Obama's supposed increasing problem in securing the white working class voters. I believe that this problem is greatly overstated and is mainly connected to white voters in particular areas rather than white working class voters in general. In particular Obama seems unable to compete with white working class catholics in the northeast as well as in Appalachia. Further, his performance among this group has been hidden due to the use of caucuses in the areas in which he did particularly well. In addition his difficulties with these demographics are not becoming worse as the Clinton camp would like us to believe.

Poll

97 votes Show Results

Does Obama have a white working class voter problem?

97 votes Vote Now!

Does Obama have a white working class voter problem?

Yes

11 votes

Yes, but he can win in the general without them

8 votes

No, outside of certain regions he is competitive with this demographic

59 votes

No, he will be competitive with them almost everywhere

18 votes

Other

1 vote

National Scholar Program

scotths

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday April 17, 2008 · 5:15 PM PDT

2008/04/17 · 17:15

The high cost of higher education is clearly a very significant problem facing our society today. Obama's plan to offer a $4,000 credit per year in exchange for community service seems an excellent step along the path of reducing expenses for students while also instilling an ethic of national service in these young people. This credit will go a long way towards making state schools affordable for those paying in state tuition and will also help mitigate the cost for those paying out of state tuition or attending private schools. However, many students will still be limited to their own state's public universities as the cost for other options will still be quite a bit higher. I believe that our best students should have the opportunity to attend our best schools, or at the very least our best public schools. In addition state schools should have to compete for the best students rather than receive a significant number of them by default from their own state. I therefor would propose an additional program perhaps called the National Scholar Program. The purpose of this program would be to allow the countries top students to attend any of our countries public schools at in state rates. (more below)

Poll

19 votes Show Results

Should their be a National Scholar Program?

19 votes Vote Now!

Should their be a National Scholar Program?

Yes, mostly as suggested here

10 votes

Yes, but I disagree on many details

4 votes

Other, (please comment below)

1 vote

Proposed modification to superdelegate system

scotths

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday March 05, 2008 · 6:33 PM PST

2008/03/05 · 18:33

The past 24 hours have been rather disturbing. We've watched Obama accomplish what he set out to do. Since winning super-tuesday he has built up a huge delegate lead. He then managed to hold Clinton to a single digit pick up on what was supposed to be one of her best nights. Today he should be declaring victory, but instead his campaign has to contemplate how to deal with more negative campaigning from the Clinton side while trying to stay positive and focus on the likely coming battle with McCain. He has to deal with ridiculous assertions by the press and by members of his own party who seem to forget how much ground he gained in these 2 states over the past couple of weeks and how few delegates she actually managed to win. All of this is occurring for one reason: superdelegates. I propose that the system be modified to require their explicit assertion that a need to intervene exists. (more below)

Poll

21 votes Show Results

Should the superdelegate usage be modified?

21 votes Vote Now!

Should the superdelegate usage be modified?

No, the current system is adequate.

4 votes

Yes, as above only counting their votes if they agree to intervene.

3 votes

Yes, they should be eliminated.

8 votes

Yes, another solution is preferred.

6 votes

RSS

Youngish Republicans make a comeback?

Seattle Election Voters Guide

Turnout down among Kerry Voters - where were they last week?

Moving to Canada.or somewhere. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS DISCRIMINATION

Obama, realignment and a new northern liberalism

It's not about Obama....

Afghanistan and Community Organizing, Why Organizing is an Important Component of Foreign Policy

Before we condemn Obama.... (Roosevelt and why he deserves a chance)

The myth of the white working class voter

National Scholar Program

Proposed modification to superdelegate system