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I asked an Alaskan I know if Palin would run for President in 2012.
He said he didn't think so. When I asked why, he said Alaskans loved her until she quit the Governor's office. When she quit, that ended it forever with the voters.
I thought it was possible that 10 years might be long enough for her voters to forgive and forget, but my buddy was right. The voters never forgave her.
Alaska demonstrates once more that non-pluralistic voting systems can work well to allow multiple candidates in an election. This gives the voters a better range of candidates, rather than just a choice between two extremes.
They are maddening for us conservatives, but 2 more Dem Senators means the Democrats retain control of the Senate and the next round of judicial confirmations, including potential SCOTUS nominees.
With liberal "R"s like Snow and Murkowski, we just have to hold our nose and be thankful that the voters have put 2 "R"s in seats that give us the chance for an overall majority so the Dems can't run the Senate.
Lessers of evils sucks, but it is what it is.
It’s Snowe, not Snow, and she is no longer a Senator. The last day she was a U.S. Senator was on January 3, 2013.
Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, the Democrat who won a special election that sent her to Congress this summer, will once again thwart former Gov. Sarah Palin’s bid for a political comeback. CNN projected Wednesday that Peltola will win the race for Alaska’s at-large House seat after the state’s ranked choice voting tabulation, defeating Palin and Republican Nick Begich III.
CNN also projected that Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski will win reelection. She’ll defeat Republican Kelly Tshibaka and Democrat Patricia Chesbro. CNN had previously projected that a Republican would hold the seat.
Womp Womp Womp. Trump loses again.
They really should do away with ranked choice voting in Alaska. A solid majority of voters clearly prefer the GOP in Alaska to Dems, so it's insane that a Dem (after tabulating "second" round votes: ) wins this seat. Ranked choice voting in Alaska seems like a Dem effort to be competitive.
They are maddening for us conservatives, but 2 more Dem Senators means the Democrats retain control of the Senate and the next round of judicial confirmations, including potential SCOTUS nominees.
With liberal "R"s like Snow and Murkowski, we just have to hold our nose and be thankful that the voters have put 2 "R"s in seats that give us the chance for an overall majority so the Dems can't run the Senate.
Lessers of evils sucks, but it is what it is.
I agree, which is why it was infuriating to me that GOP primary voters backed someone like Christine O'Donnell in Delaware in 2010, which ensured that Mike Castle's strong bid (he would have won) for the GOP turned instead to a sure Democrat win.
Simply put, not every state is conservative as other states are. I'd much rather have a Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Mike Castle, etc., in office than have a Democrat filling those seats. At least you can expect them to vote for a GOP majority (in addition to generally voting for GOP ideas), which can't be said for Democrats who would otherwise fill those seats.
When Olympia Snowe retired from the Senate, it was clear that her seat would be won by a Democrat; yes, King is technically an "independent," but he's a Democrat for all intents and purposes as he caucuses with them.
I asked an Alaskan I know if Palin would run for President in 2012.
He said he didn't think so. When I asked why, he said Alaskans loved her until she quit the Governor's office. When she quit, that ended it forever with the voters.
I thought it was possible that 10 years might be long enough for her voters to forgive and forget, but my buddy was right. The voters never forgave her.
That's fair. Even though I thought she had good reasons to quit (quite frankly, the baseless leftist lawsuits filed against her still had to be defended, which she had to do out of pocket). Still, if I was an Alaska voter, I'd also view that as being a quitter and it wouldn't sit well with me either. Of course, I would do anything in my power to ensure that a Democrat never held that seat, so the Begich voters who backed the Democrat in round 2 should be ashamed of themselves.
That said, Palin now should know full well that she is toxic in Alaska and quit her fantasy of returning to power there so that the GOP can reclaim the seat in 2024.
They really should do away with ranked choice voting in Alaska. A solid majority of voters clearly prefer the GOP in Alaska to Dems, so it's insane that a Dem (after tabulating "second" round votes: ) wins this seat. Ranked choice voting in Alaska seems like a Dem effort to be competitive.
Peltola had a 23 point lead even before RCV and was at almost 49% in the first round. Ig Begich wasn't on the ballot, Peltola would have been easily over 50% to begin with against Palin. If anything what Alaska showed is just because some voters may prefer one Republican doesn't mean they would prefer another Republican
Peltola had a 23 point lead even before RCV and was at almost 49% in the first round. Ig Begich wasn't on the ballot, Peltola would have been easily over 50% to begin with against Palin. If anything what Alaska showed is just because some voters may prefer one Republican doesn't mean they would prefer another Republican
All of this after Palin and Begich bloodied themselves up until the vote day. Previously, competing partisans would have been able to seek unity before a general election after one lost the primary. Ranked choice voting flipped that on its head, which is why I wouldn’t necessarily read what you do into this outcome.
I will say my initial comment on the Dem performance was based on initial tallying and didn’t reflect the final first round.
Still, under ranked choice voting, I foresee similar outcomes especially if Palin is on the ticket (in terms of attracting a strong alternative GOP candidate), which is why I think she should stop.
All of this after Palin and Begich bloodied themselves up until the vote day. Previously, competing partisans would have been able to seek unity before a general election after one lost the primary. Ranked choice voting flipped that on its head, which is why I wouldn’t necessarily read what you do into this outcome.
With the margin what it was, it really would not have mattered. Peltola led by 23 in the 1st round and won by 10 with RCV. Keep in mind the Begich + Palin vote in the first round, was barely more than 800 votes more than Peltola's 1st round vote total. Keep in mind not every voter is as partisan as you and I are (which you were dead on in your post about O'Donnell and Castle), and Palin would have needed to WIN Begich voters by 98.6% (something like 99.3% to 0.7%) to pull even. Bloodying each other or not up until the General, that wasn't going to happen.
Perhaps Palin does a little better with Begich voters than she did if it was a typical Primary and there was no RCV, but she wasn't going to win 99% of those who wound up voting for him in the General under any circumstance.
With the margin what it was, it really would not have mattered. Peltola led by 23 in the 1st round and won by 10 with RCV. Keep in mind the Begich + Palin vote in the first round, was barely more than 800 votes more than Peltola's 1st round vote total. Keep in mind not every voter is as partisan as you and I are (which you were dead on in your post about O'Donnell and Castle), and Palin would have needed to WIN Begich voters by 98.6% (something like 99.3% to 0.7%) to pull even. Bloodying each other or not up until the General, that wasn't going to happen.
Perhaps Palin does a little better with Begich voters than she did if it was a typical Primary and there was no RCV, but she wasn't going to win 99% of those who wound up voting for him in the General under any circumstance.
An entirely different race without RCV so that’s not something I’d be confident saying personally. It would have been a different campaign and one with GOP unity if not for RCV. Instead, we got two bickering Republicans and a Dem as major players. What I’m saying is I’d be shocked if the Dem won nearly 48% of the vote in a one on one even against Palin; the results of RCV do not inherently tell us her a one on one contest would have turned out precisely because the election dynamics are different. As things stood now, Palin had to wage a campaign against both a Dem and another republican. She had to appeal to two different voting groups and couldn’t truly compete for some more moderate voters as she would have otherwise as she was still battling for votes on the right. In short, I don’t think it out of the picture that Palin would have won nearly all of Begich voters, but they wouldn’t have been Begich voters but rather Republican voters generally as Begich would have been gone from the scene and not bashing Palin until the final vote (and the reverse); form Begich voters would have had months to get over any bad blood between Palin and Begich, etc.
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) wins this seat. Ranked choice voting in Alaska seems like a Dem effort to be competitive.
