election 2017
Hey! Tuesday’s election day in America!
And a chance to read the tea leaves.
Or… not.
Two gubernatorial races. New Jersey, where eight years ago Chris Christie was heralded as up and coming, having taken out a corruptible Democratic incumbent. He quickly established himself as one of the most popular governors in the nation. This status was later downgraded to one of the least popular governors. The Democratic candidate is expected to win in a walk, the deciding marker being that there are photographs out there of the Republican standing in the same room as Christie. All very good for the Democratic Party, as the senior senator faces corruption charges and may want to vacate the seat… or get dragged away kicking and screaming… with the governor choosing his replacement.
So the big race is in Virginia.  Where the governors are limited to one term. Granted, despite its historical purpose or use of allotting power to one source and diffusing any power accrument for potential rivals — Harry Byrd had the run of slottings through a chunk of the last century, and someone would have to clue me on what reactionary segregationist preceded him. 8 years ago, Bob McDonnell won and was instantly heralded as the future of the Republican Party by those desperately wanting to shake away the likes of Sarah Palin. He was later indicted with corruption, a charge he shook away when the Supreme Court ruled defined terms of corruption downward, a Supreme Court ruling which served his Democratic successor well. In this race, the Democrat may be or may be not ahead — holding as he does the counter-cyclical tendency of Virginia repudiating the last national election — with the Republican trying to assert some definition of something or other and the face of a new Republican Party.
Someone can explain to me what the three candidate is a Utah special election are doing. It seems we have a third party who’s sitting in between the extremes of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party… Utah mind you, so we’re dealing with the great left wing radicalism of a Jim Mattheson… founded by the son of the man who lost a Republican primary (caucus) affair to some rightward figure.  So…
Months ago a friend — and active citizen — contacted me to ask my opinion about a new nonpartisan party. My only response then was that a nonpartisan party is a contradiction in terms.
We seem to have one of these fringe parties popping up in every state.
And In New York City, Democrats are running against Trump and Republicans are running against Colin Kaepernick. Even if it’s just for dog catcher.