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BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix?
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Subject: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Ebbie Date: 17 Oct 12 - 11:55 PM As you can see, Alaska is a VERY red state. I have no idea why, unless it's the Libertarian streak that runs through a majority of Alaska immigrants. To be an actual Libertarian may be a little extreme for most Alaskans so they settle for the party that agitates for SMALL government- never mind that the GOP does not really want smaller government - it just likes to say so. "For the first time ever, Alaska has over one-half million registered voters. State Elections Director Gail Fenumiai tells us there were 506,434 as of October 12. The biggest bloc of voters, by far, remains undeclared or unaffiliated at 186,071. Non-partisan voters stand at 82,862. Those categories gained by nearly 5,300 between August 2 and October 12. Republican voters total 137,368, an increase of nearly 2,800. Democrats now stand at 73,337 which is up about 1,200. The Alaskan Independence Party added 227 voters and now total 15,693. The Libertarian party added 19 and total 7,734 right now. Fenumiai says Green is a political group and not a recognized political party at this time. She says 2,009 Alaskans are registered as Green." |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Henry Krinkle Date: 18 Oct 12 - 02:57 AM How do people stay sane there? Snowbound in a little cabin full of dogs? No contact with other people. It makes me think of The Shining. (:-( ))= |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Ebbie Date: 18 Oct 12 - 09:43 AM Shows what you know. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Jack the Sailor Date: 18 Oct 12 - 09:50 AM We are in North Carolina. We are very purple trending red in the short term with superpac money and ant-incumbancy but, blue in the long term with immigration and an aging right wing curmudgeon demographic. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Rapparee Date: 18 Oct 12 - 02:34 PM Idaho is like a big bag of mixed nuts. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: gnu Date: 18 Oct 12 - 02:42 PM New Brunswick ain't a dog in the fight but we got Moosehead beer ta go with them mixed nuts. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Jack the Sailor Date: 18 Oct 12 - 02:44 PM I thought that Idaho was one of the most GOP safe states. Are the nuts all shades of red? |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Jack the Sailor Date: 18 Oct 12 - 03:38 PM red nuts |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: JohnInKansas Date: 18 Oct 12 - 04:57 PM It hardly merits comment, but Kansas is about 40% Tea Party. An additional 47% are Tea Party Sympathizers. Approximately 52% vote Republican just because it's family tradition. Another 23% are Republican because they think that's what the Governor is. 73% are "Fundies" who vote Republican because the Party panders to their vote and will promise them everything, including eternal salvation no matter how much they lie, cheat and steal. There is a small contingent of "unaffiliated" voters, estimated at 35% who probably will vote Republican since those are the only candidates who will be shown legibly on the ballots. Another 35% consists of members of "Proselytising" churches who deny being Fundies but who will vote "in sympathy" (Republican) with the Fundies because all their literature "has God in it" so they must know something. Those who note that this adds up to 235% of voters may not be aware that since the new Secretary General was installed here the State has made new rules that have made it mandatory that Republicans get two votes each. The legislature is considering ways to correct for the last 35%, but have been unable to agree on why it doesn't come out even. One legislator proposed just disqualifying anyone who voted for a Democrat on grounds of "ballot marking errors" but that was rejected because others couldn't agree on whether there would be any. An aditional problem has arisen in the debate because only one legislature claims to have passed "fractions" and nobody knows anything about "decimals" so they may be forced to settle on the usual resolution via another "who cares, as long as our side gets the money" bill. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 18 Oct 12 - 06:00 PM Florida in a nutshell: The state is divided into northern and southern halves, the dividing line being Interstate 4, the highway which runs from Tampa to Daytona Beach, passing through Orlando. Everything north of I-4 is solidly Republican. Everything south of I-4 is solidly Democratic. How the state votes in national elections is determined by how the folks who live along the I-4 corridor vote. They're our "swing state" within the state. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Bill D Date: 18 Oct 12 - 06:08 PM John makes the point of why I could never go BACK to Kansas. I still have a few old friends there, but..... *sigh* 35 years ago, we got ONE good congressman there.... Dan Glickman, who served 18 years. And there have been a couple of 'Democratic' governors...but it is a part of the Bible Belt and there are SO many bible pounders... Now I live in Maryland and my presidential vote is barely necessary... though I do vote. My own congressman is Chris Van Hollen who coached Obama in the debate prep... |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Jack the Sailor Date: 18 Oct 12 - 06:19 PM I like Chris a lot. I think he should be the VP. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Ebbie Date: 18 Oct 12 - 06:32 PM JohnInKansas - PM Date: 18 Oct 12 - 04:57 PM lol |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Jack the Sailor Date: 18 Oct 12 - 06:35 PM John, that is one of the funniest posts I have seen on this forum in ages. Bravo! |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Rapparee Date: 18 Oct 12 - 06:47 PM Rexburg, ID, Nov. 2008: The day after the election, VERY young kids on a school bus chanting "Assassinate Obama!" and one EXTREMELY embarrassed Mayor. Up in the Panhandle, Nov. 2008: The Secret Service has a little talk with a fellow who displays a noose holding an Obama poster the day after the election. Boise, ID, Spring, 2012: Several State Legislators propose a bill that would allow Idaho to follow whatever Federal laws the Legislature agrees with. The Attorney General not-so-gently points out that this very thing was settled between 1861 and April, 1865. Twin Falls, ID, 2010: Rex Rammell, DVM, gives a speech suggesting an "Obama Hunting Permit." Said in jest, he says, but the Secret Service still disapproves. Note that this is the same Rex Rammell who ran a private elk farm where you could pick out an elk and shoot it. No, better, see his Wikipedia entry. There are two blue dots in Idaho: Pocatello and up around Coeur d'Alene. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Ebbie Date: 18 Oct 12 - 10:41 PM I really truly would like to know the rationale for those who claim to be conservative. It is difficult for me to believe that they know what they are espousing. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Oct 12 - 11:14 PM Well, you have to talk to them, Ebbie, hang around a bit and just listen to what they say. I'm extremely to the Left politically spekaing, but I have some good friends (mostly musicians) who are very much to the Right, and it's interesting hearing them talk, just to get an understanding of why they think as they do. (I don't expect to ever change them, and they don't expect to ever change me.) Like anyone else, they're extremely concerned about the basic moral issues...that is... They want an honest government, politicians who tell the truth, fair laws, freedom, that sort of thing, and feel they're being lied to most of the time. (We on the Left feel much the same...) They're worried about our jobs going to China...same as the rest of us are. Most of them are as contemptuous of fundamentalist religion as the Leftist Mudcatters are...which is not to say that they're all atheists...only about half of them are...but they almost all poke fun at religious fundamentalism. What I'm getting at here, anyway, is this...they tend to be upset about a lot of the same stuff that we on the Left are upset about, but they have a different set of solutions in mind for it...and they tend to focus on a different group of people as being responsible for the present situation. And why? Well, because they grew up believing that conservatism protects freedom, creates a good economy, provides jobs, and rewards effort....while they got the impression that liberalism takes away freedom, screws up the economy, takes away jobs, and rewards laziness. These are very vague and general impressions...kind of like the vague and general impressions that most liberals have about conservatives. If the one group talks to the other for some time with willingness to listen, both may find to their surprise that they share many common concerns and ideals!.....but imagine that their concerns will be met only by their own side of the argument. Most peculiar! I think they're being used against each other by a very wealthy ruling elite...an elite that wants them to remain divided, wants them to detest each other, and wants them to remain in conflict with each other forever. Why? So that wealty elite can rule them both from above and beyond through the classic "divide and conquer" procedure that wealthy elites have been using for centuries (but specially since the rise of party politics...a system founded upon and dependent upon division and irreconcilable opposite). |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: GUEST,Stim Date: 19 Oct 12 - 02:47 AM Maryland, My Maryland (BillD's state, too) seems to be about 60% registered Democrats, if not highest percentage of any state, pretty close. We also are "The Richest State", meaning we have the highest average per household income, about $70k, and, if you haven't already guessed, we are second only to Massachusetts in education, 36% with college degrees, 16% with graduate degrees. Among those with degrees, unemployment is 3.2%. Education/affluence/liberal; if you see a connection, you may be right. (Don't worry, though, as a musician, I refuse to have anything to do with all that prosperity--it's so insincere!) |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Ebbie Date: 19 Oct 12 - 02:58 AM Well presented, Little Hawk. But I must say that your Right Wingers are more articulate than mine. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: kendall Date: 19 Oct 12 - 08:05 AM Maine used to be solid republican. "As Maine goes, so goes the nation". We had powerful politicians, William Brackett Reed, James G Blaine, W.P. Fessenden.Now it is mostly democrat. There are two Maines, north and south.North is still mostly republicans, country folks, farmers, lumbermen. South is businessmen, fishermen,etc. We joined the 20th century years ago. For anyone who cares, W.P. Fessenden was the Senator who refused to impeach President Andrew Johnson. His vote let him off, and he was hounded to his death as a result. There are three streets in Portland named for him. William st. Pitt st.and Fessenden st. Maine Senator, James G. Blaine ran against Grover Cleveland, Democrat,and it was nasty. The Republicans had a ditty going around, "Hey Ma, where my Pa"? referring to Cleveland's out of wedlock child,and the democrats came back with, "James G. Blaine, continental liar from the state of Maine". After the election the democrats continued the taunt with, :Hey Ma, where's my Pa? Gone to the White house ha ha ha." For what it's worth, Maine is said to be the least religious state in the union. Sorry about the lecture.I should have been a teacher. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Little Hawk Date: 19 Oct 12 - 11:23 AM Yes, Ebbie, the Canadian situation is on the whole more moderate, more reasonable....just, well, "nicer"... ;-) We tend not to go to extremes in Canada. I have noticed that people on the Right here tend to unquestioningly support any military effort, while those on the Left tend to oppose it or question it. Both, of course, are being patriotic in their own way, but they're proceeding from a different set of assumptions about who can be trusted and what's really good for the country (and the world). If a person here speaks out in favour of big corporations, he's almost certainly on the Right...but I'd say that at least half of those who are on the Right here detest what the large corporations are doing. And everyone hates lawyers! ;-D |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: kendall Date: 19 Oct 12 - 12:10 PM These two politicians are spending millions on the campaign. How many starving children would that feed? |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: artbrooks Date: 19 Oct 12 - 01:16 PM New Mexico is about 50% registered Democratic Party, 35% Republican and 15% all other and none of the above...this is June data, and I'm not sure what the final count was when voter registration closed 10 days ago. We currently have a Democratic legislature and a Republican governor (she got in on the Tea Party vote in 2010). The demographic is kind of interesting. Latinos are about 46% of the population, and both the Old Spanish and more recent immigrants (and their descendents) vote overwhelmingly Democratic...they only voted 38% Republican in 2010, with a Republican gubernatorial candidate named Martinez. Anglos (which includes Germans, Poles, Irish, Jewish and just about everything else except Indian, African-American and Asian) constitute about 41%, and a slight majority of them will swing Republican. Our 9.5% Indians mostly vote Democratic. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 19 Oct 12 - 01:36 PM The results of the 2008 election, by state and county, showed a strong schism between counties with large urban populations and those with small towns and rural populations. The map for Ohio, for example, show that most of the state is colored for McCain, with the Obama majority confined mostly to the few urban counties. The urban vote prevailed barely (51.5%). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_2008 I expect the schism to be even more pronounced in the 2012 election. Some states, Florida e. g., have other factors that are important (as posted above by others). Thanks, John, an excellent summary. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 19 Oct 12 - 01:50 PM Addition to artbrooks (NM my home state for my early life and still my spiritual home). The map of the 2008 vote in New Mexico shows the upper Rio Grande area (northentral) supported Obama. The southeast, mostly anglo, voted McCain. In Santa Fe, we used to consider the southeast area an extension of west Texas. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: artbrooks Date: 19 Oct 12 - 02:09 PM And the Upper Rio is largely Old Spanish and Indian. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: gnu Date: 19 Oct 12 - 02:53 PM JiK... thanks for the laugh! LH... "the Canadian situation is on the whole more moderate, more reasonable....just, well, "nicer"..." Ahhh, where you been for the last decade? I agree it's still much "nicer" than down south but the gap is closing at an alarming rate. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What is YOUR State's Political Mix? From: Little Hawk Date: 19 Oct 12 - 03:03 PM I only meant compared to the USA. |
