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Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Let's try this

It's election day!

This might be risky but... I'm confident that we're all mature adults here. Any flaming, attacks, etc., and the post will be swiftly deleted.

In honor of election day, respond to this list with your choice, a concise, thoughtful explanation of your choice, and your prediction as to what will actually happen.

Massachusetts-
Governor

Senator

Secretary of State

Treasurer

Attorney General

Auditor

Question 1: Wine in grocery & convenience stores

Question 2: Fusion voting

Question 3: Unionization of child care providers

National:

Connecticut Senate

Overall control of the House and Senate


>>>>..Go for it and remember.......stay clean

2 comments:

Joe Grav said...

Governor:
Deval Patrick (Dem)-

The big knock is Deval will be a big spender. He has made many spending proposals. He's also made proposals that reduce state spending- read all about it at devalpatrick.com, click on the Plan for Moving MA Forward. Healey, on the other hand, has her 50 Points of Light, most of which call for new spending. Everyhwere she goes, Healey calls for spending to fight crime, spending on education- you name it. The difference is, Healey pretends she can do it all and cut taxes to 5%, while Deval is realistic about it and says we need to keep taxes where they are. Finally, another knock is that he will 'owe a lot to special interests'- but if teachers, cops, and middle class laborers like my Dad are 'special interests,' the term doesn't have a negative connontation in my mind any more.

My prediction: Deval wins, but it's closer than the polls show- 8-15% gap.

Senator:
Ted Kennedy (Dem)-

Say what you will about Teddy... the guy has a history of working in a bipartisan way on several key issues, from the No Child Left Behind act to Immigration reform last year. He's a proven leader, and his opponent.. well.. suffice it to say, the BOSTON FREAKIN HERALD endorsed Kennedy. That tells you something.
Prediction: Ted, obviously.

Secretary of State-
Jill Stein (Green)

Galvin is a complete and utter joke. It would take far too long to speak of his long record of ineptitude.. just google it. Stein is a great leader who should have gotten the Green nomination for governor. I guess she just thought she should run for something she can win this time. And win she should.

Prediction: Galvin will win, but it will be close. He won't get more than 52% of the vote. Really.

Treasurer-
James O'Keefe (Green)

I have nothing against Tim Cahill and think he's done a decent job, but I like the idea of having a 3rd party candidate as the treasurer to be a watchdog. O'Keefe is a very nice and engaging person- I met him earlier in the year, he comes across as a good listener and a hard worker. Cahill should win in a walk, so my vote is more of a symbolic thing.

Prediction: 75% + for Cahill

Attorney General-
Coakley (Dem)

Just like with Kennedy.. when the HERALD is endorsing the Democrat, you know she's a winner.

Prediction: 75%+ for Coakley

Auditor-
Rand Wilson (Working Families)

This is another race where the Democrat, DeNucci, is basically unopposed, with this minor chump from Working Families being the only opposition. I happen to be intrigued by the Working Families Party, which is an upstart in our own Commonwealth, so this another somewhat symbolic vote in a race I consider off the board.

Prediction: 80%+ for DeNucci

Question 1: Yes

I see no reason why grocery stores and convenience stores aren't just as capable of selling wine as liquor stores.. many of them already can. Sure, there's a chance that the stores might not ID and underage kids get more access to alcohol. But it's pretty naive to think that liquor stores are always 100% reliable. The REAL reason for opposition to this is the liquor stores not wanting to give up their monopoly on the business-- and I sympathize with their plight. But their scare ads claiming that all of a sudden we'll see a rash of alcoholism because more stores can sell wine are misleading and make me not so much care for their loss of profit. Vote Yes.

Prediction: Just like w/ Healey, voters say no to scare ads. Yes wins 55%-45%

Question 2:
Yes

I don't see any reason why not to vote for this one. Political parties should be able to endorse whoever they want, so long as the candidates accept the nomination. The only people this hurts are legit third-party candidates who may be passed over in favor of 'coalitions' between small parties and one of the major parties. That concerns me. But overall, the potential for greater accountability on core issues makes this one a definite yes.

Prediction: there's a big campaign in favor of this one and not many ads against it. It'll win w/ about 60%

Question 3:
Yes

I personally am opposed to ballot initiatives. I think they undermine our system of representative government. This is one such example. I consider myself a rather informed voter , and I have no real idea what the ramifications will be of question 3. This is an issue that should be tackled by the Legislature who we elect to make such difficult policy decisions. At its core, I support the generic idea of unionization, and I think this will definitely bring higher-quality child care providers to the state. But what it will do to working families who have to deal with the newly unionized child care providers is quite honestly beyond me. I'll call this one a very confused, rather unconfident Yes.

Prediction: confusion will drive many to vote No ,and No will win 53%-47%

CT Sen:
Ned Lamont (D)
Joe Lieberman betrayed his party by ditching it and running as an independent, ruining the integrity of the primary election process. Now he's taking thousands in contributions from major GOP insiders. 10 bucks says he changes parties in January. Scumbag. Ned Lamont brings a fresh, progressive voice to the Senate if elected. If Lieberman wins and he switches parties, that could change the balance of power in the Senate.

My prediction: Lieberman's "moderate, non-partisan" (AKA, I was partisan, but I lost, so it's convenient to make it sound like i was this nonpartisan maverick all along) bullcrap will win out in the end with about 44% of the vote compared to Lamont's 39%-ish. Schlessinger gets a surprising 10%+.

National control:
In case you can't tell by my choices, I'm a Progressive, so I want a Democratic victory in the House and Senate.

My prediction? The Dems take a whopping majority in the House, but get beat out in the Senate 50-50, and then Joe Lieberman's defection makes it 51-49, God's Own Party.

SoSayethI2006 said...

Sorry, can't do it.
Being basically apolitical (an oxymoron in MA. I know) I have no strong views to express.
I will say that MA. is NOT the most fucked up State in the Union.
Let's see,
By way of example:
In North Carolina you cannot smoke in the world's largest Cigar store (JR Cigar), but You CAN buy Firewirks at the GAS STATION!!.
Just don't ask them for matches they haven't any (fire hazard).