zOMG! Elekshun Polz.

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

[Poll #1500299]

Comments

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I should note that I don't vote because, you know, not a citizen.

[folktraveler.livejournal.com]

Yep, same here

[ron_newman]

I'm not enthusiastic about Coakley, but I'm going to vote for her, because the description of Brown in today's Globe is not someone I want to have representing this state.

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

Do you think that Brown is a serious contender? I'll vote for her to keep him out, but I really don't like her.

[ron_newman]

You replied before I could edit in a link to that Globe article.

Brown could win if enough Capuano and Khazei supporters stay home and don't bother to vote next month. This would be a bad outcome for the state, as Brown is far out of the mainstream for Massachusetts. Remember that if you elect a Republican to this Senate seat, you're implicitly endorsing the national Republican party's agenda. This isn't like voting for a Bill Weld for Governor.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

Maybe Massachusetts is far out of the mainstream.

[mjrocks98.livejournal.com]

Amen

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

-Some-body's got to try to scootch things just a little bit more to the left ;)

[ifotismeni]

and thank god for that!

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

Just because it's "mainstream" doesn't mean it's right.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I don't find that article very convincing. Among other things, it doesn't suggest that there is any actual groundswell of numbers among likely voters to give Brown a fighting chance.

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

Brown is "the GOP’s most attractive Senate candidate since Mitt Romney lost to Kennedy 15 years ago." LOL.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

I have an issue with Brown giving campaign commentary (essentially campaigning/electioneering) while in his Army uniform.
Last saturday, while helping to build/renovate a house for a disabled veteran, as a community service project, he was interviewed by NECN, while he was in uniform, and was basically giving a campaign speech.

That is a massive violation of Army regulations.

Now, some might argue "what's he going to do, ignore the reporters, that's just bad for his campaign"

Too bad. He, as a lawyer and an officer, knows better.

Someone else might argue "how was he to know NECN was going to be there?"
How did NECN know to find him there? Probably through his campaign office.

Again, if he is in uniform, he's not allowed to campaign.

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

not to pick on you Ron or your choice, but this how the 2 party system is born and achieves eternal life.

[ron_newman]

Sounds like you'd support Instant Runoff Voting (as do I).

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

The two-party system is going to still be in effect in January, and allowing Scott Brown to be elected won't do anything to change it.

I am a huge opponent of the two-party system, but I also think Scott Brown would be a terrible choice.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

This.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I will probably vote for Coakley because I see her as a safer vote however I disagree with a few of her stances and prefer Brown on those.

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

I must admit, the poll was my secret attempt to find more libertarian (liberal if you're from outside US) individuals to get some sort of group/meetup going. But from the looks of it, it's just the 2 of us which makes me a sad kitteh

[ron_newman]

I'm curious about the two Write In votes -- who do they intend to write in?

If you hadn't posted a poll, I would have eventually done so (but probably would have waited until after the New Year).

[wavilyem.livejournal.com]

If I didn't take voting as seriously as I do, I'd write in "Zombie Ted Kennedy". Though I would worry about him being less concerned about health care reform if eating brains became too high on his political agenda.

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

I selected and will select Kennedy.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

my secret attempt to find more libertarian (liberal if you're from outside US) individuals

WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN

The Libertarian Party does not correspond to any "liberal" party from outside the US.

I certainly wouldn't call the Democratic Party "liberal" by either US standards or the standards of the rest of the English-speaking world, but saying that the Libertarian Party would be remotely described by a non-US resident as "liberal" is ridiculous.

Around the world, the current definition of "liberal" in politics is "center-left or left of center" with elements like "creating a strong government safety net in human services, nationalizing industries in some cases, and staying the hell of religion and sexual politics." That's not what the US Libertarian Party platform is about, except possibly for the last plank.

Now, yeah, you can say that the Libertarian Party is more like the 18th-century view of "liberalism" as expressed in The Federalist Papers and I'd buy that argument, but almost nobody who isn't a US citizen has read The Federalist Papers, so that definition isn't meaningful to them. To most other English-speaking people, "liberal" means something like the UK's Liberal Democratic Party (center-left by UK standards; far left by US standards; very big-government), or like Canada's Liberal Party (center by CN standards; center-left by US standards; quite big-government).

You could make a case for Australia's Liberal Party as being more libertarian in its views than those of the UK or Canada, and I'd certainly buy that, but compared to the US Libertarian Party they're Ayn Rand's worst nightmare.

[zaarwin-devolve.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of torn. Coakley will be a reliable rubber stamp for Obama - a bad thing, I think, but hey, pick your poison - but I'm tempted to vote for Brown or, better yet, Kennedy. People keep saying there needs to be more competition in Mass, the two-party system is hopelessly broken, etc. Well, here's an opportunity to do something about it. Is it ideal? No, but when Washington's already such a freak show beholden to its corporate masters, who cares?

The last time I voted for a Republican with this logic...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Was when Romney got elected. Never again.

Re: The last time I voted for a Republican with this logic...

[zaarwin-devolve.livejournal.com]

Not knowing anything about O'Brien, I can't comment on how I'd have voted had I lived here at that time. That said, I wish to emphasize that I'm not into spoiling for the sake of spoiling. If I like a candidate and think they won't turn into another brown-nosing slave to Corporate America/Beacon Hill/*insert 800 lb. gorilla of your choice*, sure, I'll vote for them. If it's just another case of being "forced" to choose between the lesser of two evils and perpetuating a broken political system, I'm going to seriously consider voting third party. Is it throwing my vote away? Maybe, maybe not, but at least it's one more voice refusing to always think in binary terms.

Re: The last time I voted for a Republican with this logic...

[riptor3000.livejournal.com]

But by the same logic aren't you ignoring Coakley solely based on your dislike for Obama?

Re: The last time I voted for a Republican with this logic...

[zaarwin-devolve.livejournal.com]

Not at all. Again, I'm going to view candidates based on what I know about them. Coakley has done some good stuff, such as the buffer zone law and challenging DOMA. She has also been involved in some incidents that, from what I've read, I consider abhorrent at best and criminally negligent at worst. Fells Acres, anyone? (I'm not entirely convinced Menino/Kineavy's e-mail "problems" will be fully investigated either.)

Besides, even if it were solely an anti-Obama vote, who cares? It's Mass. Short of Coakley raping an infant with a bladed strap-on, there's no way she'll lose. Then, with 60 votes, Teddy's grand vision of forced health care purchases with little to no financial assistance...errr, I mean, universal health care will finally be achieved.

Brown is NOT a serious contender.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Even though the Boston Globe HAD to write a piece pretending he may be (if there is no perceived close race, nobody reads the article).

[wonkywheels.livejournal.com]

Reluctantly... I wanted Capuano.

[ron_newman]

As did lots of us here in DSLJ.

[tenshikurai9.livejournal.com]

Don't know anything about the people involved. Don't feel like dealing with where to vote when I live in Chicopee during the week and the South Shore during the weekend. Next time I vote, it'll probably be over questions or another president, whichever comes first 'cause I doubt I'm going to take the time to learn about politics and figure-out who's the least hopeless till a few years at least.

[ron_newman]

You are registered in one place or the other. Figure out which one and then vote there (perhaps absentee if the place you are registered isn't the place you will be on 1/19/10). You have over a month to learn about the candidates and decide which one you like.

[tenshikurai9.livejournal.com]

Absentee ballot it is.