It's a Mess-issippi

If you're like me and have Google alerts for "voters" and "election" (because of course, why wouldn't you?) you've probably heard a lot about the Mississippi Republican primary. It's in my Google alerts about every other day and just when I think it's over, it's not. On the off chance you are not like me in the Google alerts regard, let me walk you through it.

State Senator and Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniel decided to challenge incumbent Republican Senator (and Joe Liberman look alike contest winner) Thad Cochran who has represented Mississippi since Night Fever was number two on the music charts. It was a particularly nasty fight during which McDaniel's supporters somewhat inexplicably broke into a nursing home to photograph Cochran's ailing wife. McDaniel tea partied so hard that he actually narrowly beat Cochran in votes cast in the June 3rd primary. But because a third party candidate gained 1.5% of the vote, neither Cochran nor McDaniel earned a majority of votes, and both candidates continued on to a June 24th runoff.

At this point, the Cochran campaign kicked it into high gear because a) Cochran came very close to being ousted outright in the primary and b) usually when things go to a runoff incumbent candidates are boned. One of Cochran's key strategies for the runoff was courting African Americans and Democrats (but it's Mississippi, so I repeat myself) by reminding them of the resources he's brought to the state. This was a clear contrast with McDaniel who is racist and favors abolishing federal funding for education. Democrats heard Cochran's message and thought, "It's unlikely that a Dem is going to win this seat anyway, let's go with the guy who's not crazy." Cochran won the runoff by 7,667 votes thanks in large part to African American voters.

Mississippi does not have party registration, which means that any voter who did not cast a ballot in the Democratic primary was eligible to vote in the runoff. This allows traditional Democratic voters to vote in the Republican primary and visa versa, which in fact McDaniel did in 2003. However, sorest of all possible losers, Chris McDaniel is claiming that voters who had voted in the Democratic primary also voted in the runoff and is asking for a redo due to "irregularities" which is what Tea Partiers call it when black people vote in Mississippi.

So that's where we're at. I will let you know what happens with this potential meta-redo (three-do? Inception style redo within a redo?) but my guess is that it's not happening. Currently there is a court case led by Texas voting "rights" group True the Vote to compel the release of June 24th voter information.

Can't wait to go down to Mississippi myself in a couple of weeks. Should be a blast!

Campaign Love and Mine,

Nancy

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I can't make this stuff up

Arizona State Senate President and author of the controversial Arizona immigration law, SB 1070, Russell Pearce is facing a recall election.

First, I'd like to take a moment to appreciate that. Whatever problems we may have with our system of governance, we live in a country where voters can hold politicians accountable for their actions and, miraculously, activists in Arizona were engaged and organized enough to make that happen. Bravo to them and to United States for having this system! See what happens when you get involved?

Now, here's why this story is interesting. Pearce and his supporters are running a campaign so sleazy, I can't decide whether to laugh or cry. These illegal campaign signs, are just the tip of the iceberg. There is debate as to whether Pearce supporters were responsible for an attempt to intimidate his opponent, Republican Jerry Lewis, (no relation) by THROWING A PADLOCK AT HIS GROIN.

More substantially, Pearce's campaign was caught plagiarizing anti-immigration material from...wait for it...white supremacists. And, running a fake Mexican American candidate (particularly obnoxious considering his views on immigration) in an attempt to split his opponent's vote. See the yard sign above.

I would like to write some witty commentary for you, but some things just speak for themselves. Stay classy, Tea Party.

Tea Party, Earl Grey.

Be still my nerdy, nerdy heart.

Hero

Pictured above, Daniel Hernandez, the intern who may have saved Rep. Giffords' life.

Like all of my colleagues, I was horrified to hear about the shooting in Tuscon earlier this week, which killed a nine year old girl, a Federal Judge, and a Congressional staffer and wounded Rep. Gabby Giffords.

Interestingly, different people in my life have speculated about the shooter's motivations as a reflection of their own lives. Activists seem to blame Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement based on the violent rhetoric used during the 2010 elections. Two fellow campaign workers seemed to believe he had a vendetta against her staff. My mom seems to think it was antisemitism.

The incident hit particularly close to home for a lot of us because of the death of Gabe Zimmerman, Giffords' Community Outreach Coordinator. That easily could have been me or any one of my friends. I am positive I know people who knew him. There are now 4,230 people on the Staffers Honor Gabe Zimmerman facebook page.

My first reaction was "this is not how we should function in a democracy." As a society, we tend to vilify our politicians and abhor politics. We forget that politicians are public servants and that they are people. More often than not after telling someone what I do, I find myself defending the concepts of popular sovereignty and representative democracy in some form or another. Of course too many of our politicians are corrupt, but this doesn't discount the tradition, sacrifice, and service made by our representatives and their staffs. I miss living in an America where public service means something not just to the servants but the served.

A perfect example is Daniel Hernandez an intern who RAN INTO THE FIRE to save the Congresswoman's life.Words cannot express my admiration for this young man, or my sadness and frustration over the entire incident.

I don't generally like to mix my religion and politics at all, but I hope you will join me in praying for Rep. Giffords' recovery and the families of all the victims.

Mad Hater

The President of the Tea Party thinks only the landed gentry should vote.

"The Founding Fathers originally said, they put certain restrictions on who gets the right to vote. It wasn't you were just a citizen and you got to vote. Some of the restrictions, you know, you obviously would not think about today. But one of those was you had to be a property owner. And that makes a lot of sense, because if you're a property owner you actually have a vested stake in the community. If you're not a property owner, you know, I'm sorry but property owners have a little bit more of a vested interest in the community than non-property owners."- Judson Phillips

I think my favorite part of this quote is the nonchalance with which he addresses the voting rights of say...African Americans and Women, like "some we wouldn't think of today, but really whatever."

Interpreting The Constitution this way is the same as interpreting The Bible to justify homophobia. As long as we're taking the cafeteria approach, it seems obvious to me that we should lean toward the spirit of a document (compassion, equality, etc) and not the antiquated bigotries of a particular time. But hey, that's me. What do I know? I'm a woman.

Besides Women and African Americans some other groups that would not be able to vote under this "strict interpretation"...college students, anyone who rents their apartment, many people in the armed forces, people who live in a home owned by their spouse, senior citizens in nursing homes...

Granted, this plan would out work well for Judson Phillips and his cohorts. So I propose this: we put his plan to a vote, but first my plan to require an intelligence test before registering. Obviously, this is not something which I would actually advocate, but neither would Mr. Phillips, for very different reasons.

Best. Halloween Decorations. Ever.

Somebody in Hartford has up an AMAZING Halloween display. I only wish I had thought of this.




Red-Queen-Sarah-Palin terrorizing Alice-in-Wonderland-Michelle-Obama


White- Rabbit-Bill-Clinton



Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb-George-Bush