Election 2000. Ah, remember when elections were so simple?
As election day draws neigh we here at DU wish to hear what you have to say on the upcoming election. Are you planning on kicking your current guy out in favor of some other guy who you’ll have the pleasure of kicking out in the next election or are you planning on sticking with the devil you know? Are you a dyed in the wool Republican who has had enough of the corruption and stupidity your party has indulged in the last few years and plan on wiping the slate clean? Are you a staunch Democrat who thinks Hillary and Dean and the rest in your party are bozos and yet, can’t bring yourselves to vote for the other guys who aren’t any better? Or are you an independent who wants to write in the name of your favorite monkey in the local zoo figuring he (or she) can’t possibly do any worse?
Tell us what you think, America, so we editors can decide if it’s time to move to Venezuela where we KNOW the kind of crazy we’re getting going in without having to guess.
How about a none of the above selection ala Brewsters Millions?
Pride myself with an independent stance on most views, but have been voting Democrat since the local Republicans started giving tax breaks to help local industry move out of town to Mexico. I don’t have anything against Mexico, mind you. I just think it’s a hell of a comute from central Mo.
being from columbus ohio i can say this.
I am voting mostly Dem this time. Mainly just to stick it to the Rep that have screwed us up. The Dems will screw up also but it will be a different type of screwing. I like some variety.
The big offices i am voting Dem.
But attorney general i am voting Rep. thats about it.
I tend to vote Green for several reasons.
1) The Deomcrats are becoming Conservative Light.
2) We’re going to hell in a handbasket until we have more than a two party system.
3) To piss off all the people who think Im the reason Gore lost.
Why don’t you do us a favor and move to Venezuela now! It is called a democratic republic, at times it gets ugly. It has been much worse in the past but we have come through together with a common belief that this nation is great and has great values. The war has been a disaster but now we have to own it as our mistake and get out of it with the same honor and courage as the Iraqi voters showed. Simplistic solutions and character assassinations are juvenile. We need thoughtful options. I seen neither party capable of that today. This country needs a viable third party movement and I expect the internet is going to make that possible in the next Presidential election. Meanwhile vote for the person not the party.
I originally registered Republican 32 years ago, and have voted exclusively republican in ever partisan election since then… until the last presidential election, where I voted against the incumbent. This time around, I will be voting as a yellow-dog democrat.
I think I represent a pretty sizeable percentage of voters.
Philosophically, I’m a libertarian (small “L”) but in our current political system, that doesn’t give me too many candidates to vote for, so I end up supporting the least-horrible alternative. Usually.
This year, I’d vote for Ted Kennedy if he was running against an incumbent Republican.
As a Republican, I am not happy with our party’s strategy of playing not to lose. Part of that is immigration and spending. Republicans win when they don’t apologize or blur the usually clear differences with Democrats on defense, spending, and moral issues. Our side should stick with these differences and their our chances.
To the extent my side has not lived up to these ideas, the question has been, do we sit out and somehow send them a message? I think the answer should be no because to me its like a player fumbling on the goal line on purpose to send a message. It’s foolish. The stakes are too high. You send a message in the primaries if you don’t like your candidate.
What I bet I have in common with my fellow diehard Dems is probably a similar frustration. They see their side hoping they win by default of frustration. Winning is winning I suppose but that’s got to be disappointing for the true believers on their side. I’d rather see the Dems search their collective soul and articulate something that’s a real alternative to bash-Bush. It can’t just be the “nuance” of John Kerry. It has to be clear and contain enough ideology that people can get on board. It has to articulate a vision for protecting the country and advancing something good in the middle east. That’s missing on the Dem side and I doubt Hillary is not going to clear that up.
If the Dems pull off winning one or both houses they still have lots of work to do before 08.
I’m an ind. and would sure like to vote for brewster, I mean… none of the above. I’ve thought about running that way, but I’m not 35 yet.
if I thought a third candidate could actually capture some votes, I might give them mine.
didn’t George Washington warn us about bi-partisanism?
Oops, sorry ’bout that.
I am a former “Reagan” Republican and I will be voting a strait Democratic ticket this November 7th. I will be doing my part to remove Jim Talent (MO – R) from the Senate and voting for Amendment 2 (allowing stem cell research). That is, if Diebold allows me too.
If you are not angry, you are NOT paying attention!
It is all too obvious, the only way to rescue this country
from the disaster that is GW Bush and the Republican Party
is to VOTE them out of office. Vote Democratic, before it is too late!!
1 How about a none of the above selection ala Brewsters Millions?
I second that.
Since I live in Oregon, with vote-by-mail for everyone, I already voted last week – and am enjoying the circus reaching the heights as a spectator. 🙂
Fun listning to NPR regarding how many election watchdog groups -and their lawyers – are going to be monitoring polling places, like we were Venezuela or Iraq.
Will Jimmy Carter be monitoring us?
Advantages to Oregon’s system, based on what I’ve heard about some other states:
1. I find out a couple weeks ahead of time if my registration is correct: I receive my ballot in the mail, or I don’t.
1a If I don’t, I have a week or two before “election day” comes to get things straightened-out .
2. I don’t have to wait in a long line to vote.
3. I don’t have to worry about a typo in a database making me ineligible to vote – on election day – after waiting in a long line…
I think I’m a minority here on DU. Most seem to be fed up with the Dems because they are becoming more conservative. I’m fed up with the Reps because they are definitely not fiscal conservatives, have abandoned whatever moral high ground they might have stood for, and favor governmental and corporate rights over individual freedoms, such as they are. I’m from a red state (SC) so I doubt my vote would make much difference anyway, so I’m voting for a non-Rep or non-Dem candidate when possible to just get some attention.
I remember not too long ago when the Democrats were in power. Things weren’t too bad then. Now the Republicans are in power and I feel like the world is about to explode. I’m not affiliated with either party, but I can’t support what’s going on right now. Voting Democrat for that reason alone.
the only reason he’s not in the R leadership is because he represents his constituency first and his party second
Ah.. what they call a RINO? (Rep In Name Only)
Cute little flap in AZ.. some R leaders objected to some mayors saying they’ll support the D Governor (who is at about 60% approval in polls) have been told (suggested) to leave the party.
J/P=?
I won’t vote for a Republican, nor will I vote for an incumbent. So what do I do with an incumbent Democrat?
Give me access tot he persons history, and then I will decide.
I want someone that was raised in the state he wants to regulate.
I would like someone that has run a successful business, or is a bookkeeper from hell.
I am not Republican or Democrat. I vote on issues. But, God help me, I am voting democrat ONLY to send to try to get control back from Republicans who have done nothing but abuse the power we bestow on them. They have forgotten the term “public servant”. And I think they believe we are here to serve them and assist them in lining their pockets. I know the democrats are no better, so if the pull the same s**t, I will adjust accordingly. Its sad.
Let’s see:
I’m not a Republican who wants to vote elsewhere to wipe the slate clean to stop all its corruption, stupidity and wife-beating.
I’m not a Democrat who finds there are no other better options.
I’m not an Independent who finds there are no better options.
Are there any other choices?
RBG
#20 “I won’t vote for a Republican, nor will I vote for an incumbent. So what do I do with an incumbent Democrat?”
Assuming there is no third candidate, the traditional way to register your protest would be a write-in or to spoil your ballot. I wonder, do voting machines allow either of those options?
From Canada, where it is still possible to spoil your ballot, and voting is rarely a hassle.
Straight D.. As an X republican whose last democratic vote went to Kennedy, I realize that with Clinton, life and the economy was never better. With Bush the country and the world is screwed, he deserves no more rubber stamps from congress. Maybe logic and reason can again reign supreme. Let the people who keep praying for everything to work out go someplace else to say their prayers. We need people who can make decisions sitting in those chairs now.
My congressional district is so gerrymandered in favor of Democrrats that the current Congressman has been in office for 32 years. In fact, he’s never held any other job except as a lawyer in his father’s law firm for a brief period. The Republicans didn’t even bother to put up an opponent, but the Libertarian party has an excellent candidate with a great deal of military and private sector experience. He won’t win, of course.
My prediction is that the Democrats will win the House and maybe the Senate this year. They’ll take the White House in ’08. We’ll see taxes go up (and really, we ought to pay for what we want, not borrow it) and there won’t be any real end to the war in Iraq. The war is far too lucrative and it’s doubtful that the Democrats in power will want to give up the ability to hand over fat military and other contracts to their friends and contributors.
We’ll be told over and over that it’s “not quite time to leave Iraq, but at least the Republicans aren’t running things anymore!”
I’ve been a Libertarian since 1980. I have voted for the occasional Democrat or Republican along the way, but mostly LP.
I just can’t fathom voting for a candidate that supports the War On Some Drugs, the War in Iraq (Bosnia, Iraq, Granada, etc), the War on the 2nd Amendment, the War on Free Speech, handing out $ to folks too stupid to know how not to have children, and taking more than half of my income for those purposes. Not to mention corporate welfare!
To those who claim they would vote third party if they thought the party had a chance, your reasoning is circular. I live in a state and district that consistantly votes Democratic (something like 78% for Congress). But I’m still at it after all these years.
I’d rather eat worms than vote for Feinstein or Mountjoy.
David
I’ve never missed a vote since I was 18 years old. I’m 50 years old now. I’ve been a registered Democrat all that time. In reality I’m an amalgam of all sorts of political philosophies. That’s not meant to imply I can’t make up my mind. Rather, it means I know exactly where I stand on any given issue and do not blindly vote for the party I’m registered as supporting.
For the first time in my life I cannot find a single candidate that is even remotely worthy of my vote. My conscience demands I vote so here’s what I’ve decided to do.
If the only option is a Democrat and a Republican I’m voting for the one who is not the incumbent. If there’s a candidate with no political affiliation that’s who I’m voting for.
You can call that dumb if you want to. At least I’m voting and know why I’m voting this way.
~gary.
Miami, Florida (yeah, I know, LOL)
I already ran this poll! Apparently, I am 1 in 5.
Resistance is futile, and stuff.
Government by and for the people is a lost and forgotten concept at all levels of American government. Everyone who is either in or aspires to be in Government comes laden with their own axes that need grinding, axes of either financial or ideological coloring. Official utterances are automatically suspect, and the media posits as a given that this country is “polarized”. Campaign rhetoric insults my intelligence and the posturings of corporate “candidates” disgust me.
So, come election night, I’ll down some rotgut scotch on the rocks, tune in some insightful and intelligent TV show (Barny, perhaps?) and wonder just who the fuck I should vote for, if I was to vote.
In my opinion the Democrat and Republican parties are 2 criminal organizations hell bent on taking over the government of the United States of America. Further the Bush administration has buried the Constitution and the Magna Carta (at least in America) with one piece of legislation. It will be decades before America recovers from the shame and illegal activities of the Bush administration, and longer before I vote for a Republican again.
I am voting for whoever is handing out the best whiskey on election day. Around here, that tends to be the Democrats.
in illinois i’m voting dem across the board except for gov. rod blagojevich had his chance. . did an alright job, but he’s crooked and corrupt. piss on em. i’ll be voting green party for gov this time.
Florida has gone Red and out of their mind. When we keep worrying about a ruling that was made in 1973 that the Republicans keep talking about and haven’t done anything about (abortion) and our children’s education suffers (which affects a WHOLE lot more of us than the first issue) then we have gone completely insane in this country. If I am a Liberal for thinking this way- Proud I am to be Liberal, but this is just unbelievable to me. Raising taxes to the top 1 or 2% would be the least of my worries. Middle class folks- WAKE UP. They do not care about you or even the issues you believe strongly in. They will say and do what they know you want to hear and then sit in the freakin white house for 8 years doing NOTHING about it!!! But…the sad part is…you’ll vote them in again for another 8 years. Back to less than adequate schooling for our kids, homelessness, crime, poverty, foreclosure, no affordable housing, etc. Some of us that vote are just a paycheck away from the people the Republicans spit on. One question: What Would Jesus Do? $100.00 says he would vote with his heart in mind, not his wallet! From a Christian girl who is perplexed with her religion and the people who are affiliated- I will pray quietly at home. God Bless all of you for reading my lone opinion. Thank you!