Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

I'm finding it harder and harder to vote in any other than local races. I guess voting for Patty Murray as US Senator in WA is not THAT tough, but others? I find it really, really hard.

BTW, The last time I posted here was in 2014, but with retirement coming up in December next year, I'm rekindling a whole buncha stuff. Is Meauxna still around?

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Welcome back. :wave:

Meauxna hasn’t been around since 2011. Doesn’t time fly? :blink:

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Glad to see you've changed neither you .sig nor your avatar :p

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Ray found the dancing mouse shortly after I joined. Sadly Ray is no longer with us. 😢

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Meauxna no longer looks or posts to BE - period.
I am able to say that she is hale, hearty and very very happy.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

That's good to know - my wife and I had lunch with her and hubby in Portland over a decade ago, but pretty much zero contact since then.

I take from your message that you are in contact with her - would you be so kind as to pass on my best regards?

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

I would be happy to. We don't ever talk BE anything as it is long gone , so inbox me your actual name(s). I will lift the block for a wee while.

M
.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

What is your hesitation about voting for Patty Murray? I live in New York and I’m not familiar with Washington politics. But in general I think it’s important to try to support our electoral systems and US democracy, and the best way to do that is to have a high turnout in national races, such as senate races.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Patty Murray's opponent is just ridiculous, so it is easy to vote for Murray this year. Tiffany Smiley has almost no policies on anything, she keeps going on about local crime while running for national congress, if you didn't know her husband is blind she'll tell you in the next ten seconds (and then he'll talk over her). It's only in the last week that Smiley admitted that Biden is the president, but don't ask her about January 6th or she'll burst into tears to avoid any questions.
Kim Shrier is a decent candidate, and her opponent Matt Larkin has done nothing but attack her so I only know about his policies based on adverts against him. All I know is that he is a pro-life man with an absurdly large kitchen.

The lack of a solid platform from the Republicans in this area tells me everything I need to know - they don't have one because it's going to be whatever Trump says next.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

The reason I have problems voting for Murray is my utter, utter loathing of the democratic party. Of all the Senators about whom I know more than the name, she is probably one of the best, but that "Prefers..." sticks in my craw.

As Anian states, Smiley is a Trump glove puppet.

Cascadia now!

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Voting for any politician is an exercise in futility, NOT one of them is worthy of expending the effort from any nation or political party. Everyone of them is a snake in the grass. If voting mattered it would be outlawed.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

1. Hmm seems like you have quite strong feelings about the Democratic Party. What is your problem with them? I think they’re a bit ineffectual & wishy washy, but they are a broad church or big tent and need to accommodate widely divergent views.

2. What is your reference to “Prefers…” Is that a Patty Murray thing??

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Really? So, you feel it makes no difference if the US House and/or Senate is Republican or Democratic controlled come January?

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

1. The dems have sold everyone apart from the PMC* and the elites down the river, and the PMC are only there in order to bolster and distract from the elites.

2. In WA candidates for partisan office have a label on the ballot saying "Prefers Democratic Party" or "Prefers Republican Party" or whatever.

* PMC - Professional/Managerial Class: a term coined by Barbara Ehrenreich (RIP). Any simple search will give you LOTS of information about this phenomenon. Public libraries are generally well stocked with her books. Also, the Naked Capitalism web site has a lot of discussion related to PMC.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Yes I pretty familiar with Ehrenreich and her books. Nickel and Dimed was particularly good, and I think that one book had a tremendous impact.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

If the single-transferable vote system is used, we could vote more confidently for someone who represents our values without worrying about splitting the vote between two candidates for the same party which would let the other party win (could also remove the need for a primary, which is done a bit weirdly in WA anyway). That way, the party would more accurately reflect the voters rather than people choosing a compromise based on electability that leads to the stagnant lifelong politicians that dominate the parties today.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

The two main parties - who are just different sides of the same coin will fight that unto the death. Neither of them really cares when they are out of power, knowing that they will get back in sooner or later. And when they are in opposition they can pander to their base with hot button issues to get more $$$$$$$$$.

I find congress one of the most repugnant institutions in the whole of the country.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

On the State level and Federal levels, I have no issues about who to vote apart from the fact my vote will never count in TX. It's the local level with all the bond issues and the total lack of information about the local elected officials that always make my head fizzle and ache. I can guarantee that from a population of 75,000, at most, a couple thousand will vote on an issue if it's a hot-button topic like a totally unnecessary football stadium for the local school district. It's used about a dozen times a year and holds 10,000 people. More often or not, it's about 80!

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

As a floating / undecided voter, I find the 2 party system limiting. If there was a 3rd middle of the road option, politics may be less divided.

Maybe I should stand up and start the MAGBA movement - Make America Great Britain Again :D

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

We have a third candidate for the Governor's office in Oregon. She is running as an independent, but is a very middle of the road democrat, who would have no chance of being picked as the democratic candidate where only ultra progressive democrats get selected. She started out as favorite but as election day nears has slipped back in the polls as the two party candidates are about equal and people either don't want another 4 four years of democratic mismanagement, or a republican governor. A real shame as she is by far the best for the job.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

It makes no difference. Republicans and Democrats are just different parts of a 2 headed snake. Candidates for The House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate from both parties receive campaign donations from many of the same wealthy corporations and uber wealthy donors Voting is a waste of time in the UK, the US and in almost every nation on the planet.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...fe022a2cfa.jpg

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

They both suck, but don't let that overshadow that one sucks ten times worse than the other.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...e572e3e92.jpeg

First day of early voting yesterday! Polling place was packed. When I got home my wife asked me if I recognized any of the poll workers (she works at that polling place so knows all the people.) Er .. they were four old ladies, two republicans and two democrats.

I spread my votes about, voted on three different party lines.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Filled mine in and sent it off. The primary process produced two oddities for my district this time - two Republicans up for the same seat, and two well-qualified candidates up for a big seat (not the same pair). The primary process usually results in one from each party, but being a Dem area there will often be two Dems. Not sure I've seen two Republicans make it through to the head-to-head in the time that I have been able to vote. One of them is qualified and the other falls for every conspiracy out there. For the other seat, it is nice to see a difficult choice between two good candidates rather than between two poor ones - it is far too common to have one idiot who is clearly only there because people don't want to vote for a candidate wearing a certain colour ribbon, regardless of their skills and policies.

Mrs "Did you know my husband is blind?" Dependapotomus seems to be doing better in the polls (the blind thing seems to be working since she has gone overboard on it in her latest advert), but it never really means anything, the votes are what counts. It's weird how some people will only vote if they think their candidate will win, so they hate polls showing them as behind. If it ends up close, it will be interesting to see if it spurs the Democrats to put forward a better candidate than Murray next time.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Colored the boxes in and sent the ballot off. Ended up voting for the people who I thought would do the least damage if elected, even if they were representing a party who in the main I don't support. One idiot, who I didn't vote for, even boasted in her adverts how she would even take on her own party if elected, no chance of listening to other opinions then.

Said to Mrs L I wish there had been a box for general comments on the ballot, as I would have written - is this bunch of confrontational imbeciles the best candidates the parties can come up with.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

The "close race" was a complete blowout, with the Republican losing by 14%. I know the media like to pretend that things are closer than they are, but the pollsters putting a race at 1% difference and then being so terribly wrong just shows how little we should rely on polls for these things. The "red wave" has been non-existent in my area, and appears to be a light splash around the rest of the country.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Yep. Murray breezed past Smiley without breaking a sweat, and it looks like Kim Schrier is on track to win again. AFAICT, there was barely a red ripple...

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Smiley is apparently claiming that she will win after "every legal vote is counted." :blink:

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Delusional but the grift has to continue I guess :rolleyes:

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

I think it's a plea for Cheeto Man not to forget her in the future. Don't forget, he HATES losers.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Realistically, I think Trump is now finished. His presence was a significant detriment to Republican electoral chances in 2018 and in 2020. Now, 2022 they significantly underperformed too. Who did spectacularly well for the republicans in 2022? De Santis in Florida. I think republicans running for election & Republican electoral managers can clearly see the trends. It’s off to prison or the nursing home for Trump.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

I remember hearing a quote about Trump that when something along the lines of "If it wasn't for his money, Trump would be the guy on the subway that everyone avoids because he's standing there yelling and waving his dick".

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Still more than a good chance the republican party gains control of both chamber's, regardless of the wave size.....

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

Not much difference between the two parties. I vote D, because they align with my ideals, if the R's get in, the $$$ roll in. I make the best of both worlds.

Re: Mid-terms - hold my nose and tick the box?
 

It is bad enough that people are encouraged (guilt-tripped) to give money to candidates and PACs during the campaign and all the way up to Election Day. But even worse - candidates are now in the “you gave me money during the campaign, now you need to give me more money to make sure the counting of votes happens right” phase.

I gave to Katie Hobbs, and now I need to keep giving, otherwise Kari Lake will steal the election? To me, this starkly illustrates what is wrong with the administration of elections in the US. I’m not blaming Hobbs - she’s forced into this strategy by the system.