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Election results
Nov. 4th, 2009 08:30 amWell, things are turning out pretty well around here so far. Most importantly, R71, which would preserve "everything but marriage" domestic partnership rights (passed by the state legislature this year) for gays and lesbians is winning. Tim Eyman's latest anti-tax initiative is going down the tubes. Mike O'Brien is winning his city council race handily. Likewise Dow Constantine for King County Executive.
The Seattle Mayor's race is still too close to call, with McGinn holding on to a narrow lead. I voted for McGinn because of his background and pro-transit stance, although like a lot of other people I was dubious that either he or Mallahan would be an effective city executive. McGinn was trailing in the polls toward the end, although Mallahan was polling under 50% and there were plenty of undecideds. Thus I thought McGinn's final ad campaign was pretty smart. Basically it pointed out that Seattle residents are on the hook for any cost overruns in constructing the tunnel that's going to replace the Viaduct. It quoted a study saying it could cost every family $15,000 apiece. It said Mallahan claimed there would be no cost overruns. "Are you willing to bet $15,000 on that?" For all I know, the numbers were pulled out of his ass, but I thought it was a very strong ad aimed at voters' economic worries and political cynicism. Maybe it payed off with the undecideds. I thought McGinn's opposition to the tunnel was a moot point at this stage of the game, but maybe he can still be the voice of people worried about who is going to be stuck with the bill.
As for what is happening in the rest of the nation, the defeat of marriage equality in Maine is sickening. The struggle continues. R71 in Washington could be a rallying point.
Update:Ta-Nehisi Coates has A Thought On Gay Marriage In Maine (responding to a column by Rod Dreher defending the voters who overturned the law):
Conservatives pride themselves on their skepticism, and generally dismiss liberals as soft-headed Utopians. But in so many ways, political conservatism is Utopianism for the powerful. It isn't broadly skeptical of human nature, so much as it's broadly skeptical of people its agents don't particularly like. Hence the sense that Americans are intrinsically "good people," that this country "is the best nation that ever existed in history," that the South is home to "the greatest people that have ever trod the earth," and that the murder of four little girls in Birmingham was the work of a "Communist" or "crazed Negro," which had "set back the cause of white people."
Hence the notion that those voting against gay marriage, are not actually, in the main, motivated by bigotry, but a belief in tradition and family. But very few people would actually ever describe themselves as bigots. We think we know so much about ourselves. This is a country--like many countries--which is deeply riven by ethnic bias, and gender discrimination. And yet we don't seem to know any of the agents of that discrimination.
The Seattle Mayor's race is still too close to call, with McGinn holding on to a narrow lead. I voted for McGinn because of his background and pro-transit stance, although like a lot of other people I was dubious that either he or Mallahan would be an effective city executive. McGinn was trailing in the polls toward the end, although Mallahan was polling under 50% and there were plenty of undecideds. Thus I thought McGinn's final ad campaign was pretty smart. Basically it pointed out that Seattle residents are on the hook for any cost overruns in constructing the tunnel that's going to replace the Viaduct. It quoted a study saying it could cost every family $15,000 apiece. It said Mallahan claimed there would be no cost overruns. "Are you willing to bet $15,000 on that?" For all I know, the numbers were pulled out of his ass, but I thought it was a very strong ad aimed at voters' economic worries and political cynicism. Maybe it payed off with the undecideds. I thought McGinn's opposition to the tunnel was a moot point at this stage of the game, but maybe he can still be the voice of people worried about who is going to be stuck with the bill.
As for what is happening in the rest of the nation, the defeat of marriage equality in Maine is sickening. The struggle continues. R71 in Washington could be a rallying point.
Update:Ta-Nehisi Coates has A Thought On Gay Marriage In Maine (responding to a column by Rod Dreher defending the voters who overturned the law):
Conservatives pride themselves on their skepticism, and generally dismiss liberals as soft-headed Utopians. But in so many ways, political conservatism is Utopianism for the powerful. It isn't broadly skeptical of human nature, so much as it's broadly skeptical of people its agents don't particularly like. Hence the sense that Americans are intrinsically "good people," that this country "is the best nation that ever existed in history," that the South is home to "the greatest people that have ever trod the earth," and that the murder of four little girls in Birmingham was the work of a "Communist" or "crazed Negro," which had "set back the cause of white people."
Hence the notion that those voting against gay marriage, are not actually, in the main, motivated by bigotry, but a belief in tradition and family. But very few people would actually ever describe themselves as bigots. We think we know so much about ourselves. This is a country--like many countries--which is deeply riven by ethnic bias, and gender discrimination. And yet we don't seem to know any of the agents of that discrimination.
