Primary Thoughts
Turnout for the primary election was expected to low, but even the low forecats turned out to be optimistic. And when races are close, turnout can have a critical effect. Two races were decided by under 80 vote (that's 4 per precinct) each. There was adequate information out there to help people make informed decisions, so I don't know why people didn't take it upon themselves to vote.
All Politics is Local - as Tip O'Neill said, local races drove the turnout. In Johnson County, where the Republicans had several contested local races, about 1,000 fewer votes were cast in the Democratic primary. Similar patterns occurred in Pettis and Morgan Counties. On the other hand, Henry County had 8 times as many Democrats as Republicans go to the polls, with hotly contested local races.
Name Recognition is Key - at least in most cases. How else can one explain the Republicans in the 4th Congressional District continuing to nominate Jim Noland to be Ike Skelton's designated electoral victim? This dspite a well-funded campaign by a credible younger opponent. Locally, Karl Timmermann was able to overcome the name recognition of Mary Ann Young, possibly thanks in part to a negative campaign by an unknown outside committee calling attention to some of Young's prosecutorial problems. Alice Mistler ran a very strong race to come so close to Teresa Collins, already fairly well-known from serving on the Warrensburg R-VI School Board.
It's now about 90 days from the general election, in which most races will be contested by both Democrats and Republicans, with even a few Libertarians thrown in. It's to be hoped that the media will do a good job in getting plenty of word out well before the election. During my time in the military I often had to vote by mail; I found it difficult to get any information about local & even statewide races and issues, which in turn made it difficult to vote intelligenetly on these offices and issues. Since I doubt that the DSJ will change its timing, it's up to digitalBurg.com to make information available on a timely basis.
BW
All Politics is Local - as Tip O'Neill said, local races drove the turnout. In Johnson County, where the Republicans had several contested local races, about 1,000 fewer votes were cast in the Democratic primary. Similar patterns occurred in Pettis and Morgan Counties. On the other hand, Henry County had 8 times as many Democrats as Republicans go to the polls, with hotly contested local races.
Name Recognition is Key - at least in most cases. How else can one explain the Republicans in the 4th Congressional District continuing to nominate Jim Noland to be Ike Skelton's designated electoral victim? This dspite a well-funded campaign by a credible younger opponent. Locally, Karl Timmermann was able to overcome the name recognition of Mary Ann Young, possibly thanks in part to a negative campaign by an unknown outside committee calling attention to some of Young's prosecutorial problems. Alice Mistler ran a very strong race to come so close to Teresa Collins, already fairly well-known from serving on the Warrensburg R-VI School Board.
It's now about 90 days from the general election, in which most races will be contested by both Democrats and Republicans, with even a few Libertarians thrown in. It's to be hoped that the media will do a good job in getting plenty of word out well before the election. During my time in the military I often had to vote by mail; I found it difficult to get any information about local & even statewide races and issues, which in turn made it difficult to vote intelligenetly on these offices and issues. Since I doubt that the DSJ will change its timing, it's up to digitalBurg.com to make information available on a timely basis.
BW
posted by Bill Wayne @ 4:34 AM
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