Wampum

So what happened?

I'm sure you're all waiting with bated breath over the outcome to the race for which I abandoned you all.

Well, short answer is that we lost.

Long answer, we won.

Maybe this graphic will help.

So, Elizabeth Trice was my candidate. She just happened to be a Green, which is, btw, a recognized third party here in Maine, having achieved not only the required 5%, but a whopping 15% in the last gubernatorial race (shhh...don't tell Baldacci, who fairly openly endorsed me in the primary, but I actually voted for Carter, the Green, two years ago.)

But, to be honest, there aren't a heck of a lot of Greens in our district. Less than a hundred, or 2%, to be honest. So there's really no reason the average Green candidate, if party allegiences hold, should be picking up more than 3% of the vote, 5% max.

Elizabeth won 33%, and this as a "replacement" candidate, i.e., coming into the race in late July, after the original Green candidate pulled out.

The ultimate irony is that the Democratic candidate spent much of his last days and money sending out literature and robocalls reminding voters that he was THE Democratic candidate ("There has been some confusion...") In a race where he should have garnered over 60% of the vote, his pitiful showing of 44% percent (the very sweet 72 year old Republican candidate was still working full time and thus could not campaign heavily) makes him a prime target for both Greens and Republicans in two years. I'd like to think the elected D would actually do something in Augusta, but he's one of the major reasons we're moving out of the district...immediately.

Anyway, I spent 10 minutes this morning on the local college public radio station arguing that we need to get moving, not wring our hands (more of that in an upcoming post). As for me, I'll be forming a policy center focusing on non-Partisan progressive politics and campaign eduation up in the foothills of Western Maine, near the stomping grounds of my most famous ancestor, Molly Ockett. Hmm...I was thinking about the Moosehead Center, but the Ockett Center for Progressive Policy has a certain ring to is as well. What do you all think?

Posted by MB Williams at November 3, 2004 08:25 PM | TrackBack