Comments on: Tuesday’s Primary

By: JGFitzgerald

JGFitzgerald — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:00:32 +0000

Gx,

The Shad Planking is like a barbecue, except that the main dish is shad, nailed to a plank by the Wakefield Ruritan Club, and cooked for about eight hours next to a slow fire. Long-time attendees tend to throw out the shad and eat the board.

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By: Jeremy Aldrich

Jeremy Aldrich — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:12:11 +0000

Laura, I think that video was taken during the Shad Planking, which is a bizarre Virginia political ritual.

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By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:47:10 +0000

I just saw this strange video on Alternet called “Terry McAuliffe’s Political Funeral” . I’d love to hear how someone thought that all those signs were a good idea. I had no major problems with the guy (I just preferred another candidate), but that is disgusting.

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By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:37:31 +0000

Ray,

Why should a party exclude potential members, or discount the opinion of the public at-large? How will a party grow and change over time if they don’t incorporate non-party opinions?

If the Democratic Party loved McAuliffe, but he was totally un-electable, isn’t it a great thing the public was able to weed him out in advance?

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By: Karl

Karl — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:22:33 +0000

Can we bring out of the low turnout for the Democratic primary that Obama’s dynamic campaign was more about him than the party for many voters? I understand primary voter turnout is always low, but I would have assumed that Dems were geared up after November and would stay involved at a high level.

This may sound strange, but I wonder if the terrible perception of George Bush was bad for the Dems moving forward. Was he so bad that any Dem would have won and the party didn’t really gain the full future benefits of winning the whitehouse because even many Pubs couldn’t cast a vote for their own party last November?

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By: Ray

Ray — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:15:15 +0000

I voted in the Presidential election but not the primary because I believe only members of the party holding the primary should vote in them. Why should people that aren’t members of the party have a stake in choosing the nominee that’s going to carry the standard for said party?

Actually, I don’t know why the state has to be the one to run the primaries anyway. As I said before it’s an election to establish the parties’ standard bearers so why don’t they rent out 3 or 4 schools on a Saturday (like churchs do for Sunday services) and have their party members come there to vote? Names could be checked against membership rolls and anyone not on them could be turned away. This would allow the nominee to be chosen by the actual party members.

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By: Emmy

Emmy — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:15:27 +0000

I didn’t vote but not on purpose. I made it all the way home with my kids before it clicked in my head that I forgot to do it. Then it started pouring. I didn’t want to take them back out in a thunderstorm.

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By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:07:21 +0000

Karl, I’m not the population you were asking for, but I almost fell into that category.

I only voted because I didn’t care for McAuliffe. If it was only an election deciding between Deeds and Moran, I would have likely stayed home.

(This is similar to how I voted “anyone but Hillary” in the presidential primary.)

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By: Karl

Karl — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:54:32 +0000

I’d like to see some posts from folks that voted in the Presidential election, but not the primary and tell us why they didn’t this time around. Perhaps I’m looking more for Dems more than Pubs, since the latter didn’t have a horse in the race.

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