This evening, at the annual meeting of the Albemarle County Democratic Party, all four Democratic candidates for Lt. Gov. spoke — Leslie Byrne, Viola Baskerville, Chap Peterson, and Phil Puckett.
Leslie Byrne is the candidate with whom I most agree on the issues. Viola Baskerville is the candidate with whom I’d most like to be friends. Chap Peterson is the candidate who I’m most willing to hear speak. Phil Puckett is…erm…the other guy.
I went into the event favoring Chap!™, but walked out torn between him and Leslie. I disagree with Chap about some fundamental things, but I think that he’s just a stronger candidate than any of the others. Viola’s “can a black woman win?” schtick is extremely manipulative — effective among liberals, yes, but manipulative. Phil I’d like to be a fan of, since he’s from Southwest Virginia, but he’s just a terrible speaker, and quite far to the right, indeed.
I hope to see Leslie and Chap speak some more. Picking between the two may end up being like the choice between Dean and Kerry — ideals vs. electability. I didn’t like having to make that choice last year, and I’m no more fond of it now.
Did Creigh speak? Was a primary confirmed for the 57th Dem. nomination?
Creigh Deeds was there, talking with folks individually, but he had to leave before it got to “the speechifying part” of the meeting.
Yes, it was confirmed – the Democratic party will nominate its candidate for the 57th in a primary, to be held on June 14th.
Yesterday I noticed two signs on Rte. 29 (between Covesville and Charlottesville) that said Connaughton for Lt Governor. Isn’t it a bit early?
Waldo –
The choice between Dean and Kerry was a choice between ideas and an empty suit. It still makes me crigne to think that anyone every felt Kerry was “the electable choice”.
Of course, I think Dean would have been a disaster. Neither was electable. John Edwards? Wes Clark? Yes sirree.
The choice between Dean and Kerry was a choice between ideas and an empty suit. It still makes me crigne to think that anyone every felt Kerry was “the electable choice”.
That’s particularly easy to say in retrospect, what with Kerry not having been elected. :) Still, were one to have graphed Democrats top motivator in why they cast their ballot in the primaries for whom they did, the result would be bimodal — ideals and electability.
Waldo –
I was screaming it at the top of my lungs back last year. A Massachusetts Liberal electable? On what planet? I remember reading those quotes in papers after Iowa and NH from JOhn Q Idiot: “I wanted to vote for Dean. My heart wanted Dean. But that John Kerry is just so electable. My friend told me it was so, so it must be. Never mind that he has zero accomplishments in 20 years in the Senate and is very liberal and aloof. America will love him!.”
Unbelievable!! and now these same people who “held their breath” and voted for supposedly electable John Kerry are saying “Well, we tried the electable thing. Now it’s time to try it our way: in 2008, we’ll nominate Pierced freaks.”
Hyperbole. but you get my drift.
Unbelievable!! and now these same people who “held their breath” and voted for supposedly electable John Kerry are saying “Well, we tried the electable thing. Now it’s time to try it our way: in 2008, we’ll nominate Senator Pierced Q. Freak from Berkley California.”
Hyperbole. but you get my drift.
One more and I swear I’m done:
I don’t know if Howard Dean would have gone down in flames or not. His propensity to say stupid things and the perception that he was liberal didn’t help him. Of course, John Kerry was more liberal…but maybe his maverick style would have endeared people in the long run? Who knows.
All I know is that John Kerry was never electable. Anyone who ever thought that needs to seriously look at the ideological breakdown of our country. It’s like 20% liberal, 40% moderate, and 40% conservative. If it wasn’t for Bush’s shear incompetence, Kerry would have been creamed in any other year.
Oh, I didn’t mean to imply either that you changed your tune after the election, that Dean really wasn’t electable, or that Kerry didn’t appeal to any of my (or anybody else’s) ideals. But there certainly was a very widespread perception that Dean was just too good to be real (in that he couldn’t win in a general election), while Kerry was just too real to be good (he could win in a general election, but wouldn’t represent a huge win for progressives.)
When someone tells me a candidate is “electable” to me it means they are saying “I personally feel tepid about him, but I don’t have the courage of my convictions, and other people seem to like him, for reasons that don’t have enough weight to actually convince me– assuming they’ve been spelled out to me.”
Anyone is electable. If you feel yourself wanting to argue with me about this point, look at the moron in the White House.
and btw, why gratuitously alienate the pierced freak brigade?
>Dean was just too good to be real (in that he couldn’t win in a general election), while Kerry was just too real to be good (he could win in a general election, but wouldn’t represent a huge win for progressives.)
well put Waldo!
This is what I would like to talk about but have a hard time articulating. I am trying to write a post about it for my own blog. I think this points to a disconnect we have with our own values. We have been listening to Repub rhetoric too long and we’re almost ashamed of our own values; we don’t believe that our message is good enough to be broadcast as loudly as Dean wanted to broadcast it.
Hey Waldo, so those are your picks for the Dem. nod, but who would you like the Republicans to run? Bolling, Connaughton, or Gil Davis? (no, Hanger is not a realistic option since there’s no way he can get 10,000 signatures in 30 days.) Just curious.
Embarrassingly, I don’t have a pick among the Republicans. Not due to lack of thought, but worse, lack of knowledge. Ditto for the Republican AG candidates. I ought to remedy that.
glad to be of service :)
Ha – I have plenty of friends who are pierced freaks. They’re quite a brigade! But totally unelectable. ha.
Being “electable” doesn’t mean you’re a DINO or that you talk out of both sides of your mouth. It usually involves being charismatic, warm, and likeable. Let’s face it – tons of people voted against Kerry because they just didn’t like him. Voters aren’t much more sophisticated than that.