KDawgs random thoughts about election night (Both Bremerton and Beyond): Bremerton: I’m certainly not surprised that Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent won re-election. Nothing against Todd Best, whom I have known for years, but Mayor Lent was the best candidate at this time, at least in my opinion. Factor into the equation ‘Starbucks-Gate’ and that was a mountain that Todd Best couldn’t overcome. Now, in Todd’s defense, I sense he can do more good in the city he loves by doing what he has been doing – organizing volunteers to rally behind important causes in and around the city. I find it strangely perfect how this worked out – Mayor Lent, to me, with her experience and connections, is the perfect Mayor for the city. Todd Best, with his networking and grassroots ability to mobilize ordinary citizens, is probably better for Bremerton as a private citizen working to make our city a better place. Bremerton (again): From the ‘You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me’ file, She was suspected of theft, she vanished in the middle of her campaign for Bremerton School Board, then she was arrested in the days leading up to election night on suspicious of forgery and 1st degree theft in connection to her time as Bremerton PTA president and $10,000 dollars of unaccounted for payments made to her and her husband, but not only did Wendy Stevens not drop out of the race for Bremerton School Board position #4 – but she got nearly 40% of the vote! She didn’t win, but I do wonder what 40% of the voters were paying attention to during the last 30 days… Kitsap County: No real surprises around Kitsap County – unless you expected Port Orchard to give up their current form of government (the mayor) and opt for a ‘City Manager’ form of government instead. Residents voted it down. I never understood why voters would choose to give up an elected mayor for an appointed city manager. But what do I know, I’m an idiot (shaddup). Washington State: Jan Angel wins re-election against Nathan Schlicher. I told a story on the Radio Show (Outlaw Radio Network, heard Sunday nights from 7-10pm on EdgeMediaSource) where I overheard Nathan on the ferry campaigning. He just rubbed me the wrong way, seemed like a condescending jerk. Just my opinion, but I’m not surprised he lost. Jan Angel, even with the questions about her outside associations, is very well connected and has a very strong name recognition. She also has a good amount of good faith with conservative voters in Kitsap County. Washington State Measures: Nothing about the measures surprised me. The ‘Initiate Initiative,’ designed to make it easier to get initiatives on the ballot, failed, which was fine with me. Honestly, do we even understand the initiatives that we have vote on now, without watering downt he ballot with more initiatives we don’t understand? The ‘GMO Labeling’ initiative failed – again, not surprised, but I think it failed more because people didn’t understand it. What did it cover? What didn’t it cover? Would it cost more money in the long run? Would it cover dog food? What does GMO stand for? People won’t vote yes if they don’t know. National: Get over it, Obamacare passed it’s first, albeit small, test. In Virginia, Democrat Terry McAuliffe narrowly beat out Republican Ken Cuccinelli. Now, the ‘Cooch’ as he has been called, had plenty of other baggage coming into the election, but if Obamacare was the death knell, the current Attorney General still should have easily won the election. The fact that a swing state like Virginia still went with a Democrat, even in the wake of the Obamacare roll out disaster and Federal shutdown says that Obamacare was not enough of a disaster to dissuade people from voting for a democrat. It will be interesting to see how this continues to roll out over the next 12 months nationally. Will we see Conservatives wield Obamacare against Democrats to weaken them in swing districts? Will Democrats build upon a fractured conservative movement to try to claim more seats in the House and/or Senate? Will the Tea Party and Mainstream Republicans work together, or continue the infighting we saw during the Government Shutdown. What do you think about the results of the elections? Am I right on, or off base? Your comments are welcome, as always!
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 07:06:38 +0000
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