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2006 Vote


monsoon

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My recommendation is that for this election, don't vote for the three at large republican candidates for county commission. It's too late to do anything about that broken party for this election, but by not voting for them, you send a message that we expect them to focus on real issues instead of being bigots. (and appealing to bigots)

Forgetting that, if you want to see Mecklenburg county develop in a more urban friendly manner, then vote for the Democrats which are very progressive in these matters in this county. We don't need a bunch whose answer to urban develop is to kill the transit system and build more roads.

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Well, according to today's Observer, polling has shown early voters in Mecklenburg have been heavily Republican. A sign in the past that resulted in the party retaking majority control of MCC. This is clearly not good news for the Democratic side but I think it will be close either way. One issue favoring Republicans I think, is the anger towards the Light Rail overruns. Without mayoral or city council seats up, voters may take out their disgust on MCC incumbents. On a positive note, Mary Newsom wrote a great column today describing the homophobic tactics of Ramirez, McGarry, and Puckett. She reminded people of "The Gang of Five" days. Hopefully people know better by now not to go back down that road.

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I wouldn't be surprised if the Democrats on the county board don't mind there being one "Bill James" there. The press loves to go to him for quotes, and his extremism turns off local independents from voting Republican in the general elections.

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^ That would be ideal. On the national level in this election Republicans that have resorted to gay bashing to gain votes are lowest in the polls leading up to Tuesday. Most of the electorate can see that its a smokescreen to hide their lack of ideas and the disaster of Iraq. Unfortunately, this does not seem to have filtered down. The MCC Republican challengers tactics are despicable, insulting, immaterial to their positions and laughable. If the Republicans can attack Parks Helms, Jennifer Roberts, and Wilhemina Rembert for supporting gay rights and marriage then I blame Dam Ramirez, Kaye McGarry, and Jim Puckett for supporting the Iraq War. How could they let us be lead into it? :rolleyes: Mary Newsom mentioned in her column yesterday that Republican friends of her were "livid and embarassed" when they got the homophobic mailer supporting the Republican challengers. Well that is gratifying to hear and I know not all Republicans are anti-gay, but the majority are. We need to be hitting back too. I don't see why the Director of The Charotte GLBT Center is not on the news rebutting and condemning these attacks. The media would have given her airtime. They love "controversial" gay news stories :rolleyes: I wrote letters to newspapers but we need a concerted effort to show Charlotteans that we are not evil monsters. So has this county learned from the "Gang of Five" debacle? I sure hope so. Overall I think Tuesday is going to be positive for Democrats nationally but I am not confident at all on the local level. ( That was cathartic, a feel weight has been lifted) :)

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It will be interesting to see how effective that Pucket and Ramirez's attack on Helms is in getting people out to vote. The GOP is pulling out all the stops to bash Gays to get out the vote. There are a number of states that have Gay marriage amendments that were put on the ballot specifically for this purpose. Fortunately NC isn't one of them but that could change if the GOP gains control of the house. It's not clear that our governor would veto such a move.

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Can you blame them? Now the gays have converted an evangelist! What's next, George Bush?

In my view, if you are a republican nationally, that means you think that the federal government should get out of doing a lot of things, and think things should be left to the state and local governments. That means, you should vote democrat in the local elections so stuff can actually get done. :)

If you are part of the religious right (then I can't believe you're not banned yet on UP), then remember, the rapture is coming soon anyway, so don't bother worrying about this silly election. Stay home and relax.

Mainly, I'm just scared what a Republican county commission would do. All the core duties of the county are things that republicans typically like to cut, like parks, schools, and environmental rules.

Plus, I want my landswap. :)

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Can you blame them? Now the gays have converted an evangelist! What's next, George Bush?

In my view, if you are a republican nationally, that means you think that the federal government should get out of doing a lot of things, and think things should be left to the state and local governments. That means, you should vote democrat in the local elections so stuff can actually get done. :)

If you are part of the religious right (then I can't believe you're not banned yet on UP), then remember, the rapture is coming soon anyway, so don't bother worrying about this silly election. Stay home and relax.

Mainly, I'm just scared what a Republican county commission would do. All the core duties of the county are things that republicans typically like to cut, like parks, schools, and environmental rules.

Plus, I want my landswap. :)

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I also wondered why there was not more of a response from Parks regarding the gay baiting attacks. I really don't think they have the money to run counter ads. The NC Republican Party swooped in to pay for the Ramirez/Puckett/McGarry ad and mailers. We have relied on word of mouth, signs, rallies and the increasingly moderate political trend of Mecklenburg. Parks was quoted in the Observer as saying " if this job requires me to be anti-gay then I am not qualified for it". I am trying to stay optimistic. I guess we shall see the lay of the land tonight. The results will be very telling as to how much Charlotte has changed or not since "The Gang of Five". I am glad at least to be living in heavily Democratic District 4 which covers Dilworth,Elizabeth etc. Progressive and gay friendly Dumont Clarke is strongly favored to win over his Republican challenger for this district's Commission seat.

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Well the Observer is reporting that the Republican slate has already built a lead in early voting and absentee returns, which is not a good sign. We could likely be looking at a "Gang of Five" redux, which would be very dissapointing. I thought more Mecklenburg voters were less intolerant and had a sense of fairness. Guess not. And I just checked the Observer site again..and you are right Metro! The BOE server crashed around 8pm because of all the hits on the site. And the street bond vote is trending negative, which I also voted for. Darn it. The other two bonds are going well.

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True.....but I think the more likely people to vote early are the wealthy, which typically are a higher share Republican....we shall see though.

EDIT. At 9:51 there are two democrats and a republican winning. Thankfully Puckett isn't currently winning, though Ramirez isn't exactly transit friendly either.

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Well, here in Democratic dominated District 4, Dumont Clarke wiped the floor with his Republican challenger. 64% to 34%. Dumont is very gay friendly and progressive. So people that agree with me still have a voice in things! If I never leave Dilworth it will be like living in a blue state :lol: Although WCNC.com is now showing Roberts and Helms picking up steam but Rembert is lagging :unsure: This is getting exciting :w00t:

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I never thought Rembert was effective.....I would take Ramirez as the most progressive of the three republicans, but that's not saying much of that group. Even with 2 dems, and 1 repub, there would still be a majority dem and none of the current public investments would be jeapordized.

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