November, 2006 archive

Watch this.

Then go to the website of the Alexis Park Inn and watch some more.

Down to the wire. And the wire is apparently in a sewer. From FactCheck.org; follow the link for detailed analyses:

The ads being aired by both the NRCC and its rival, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, are overwhelmingly negative. However, the DCCC ads generally attack Republican candidates on policy issues or their performance in office – accusing them of casting votes favorable to drug or oil companies, or of supporting President Bush’s unpopular policies in Iraq or on Social Security. We’ve recently criticized factual inaccuracies we’ve seen in some of those, and we’ll have more to say in a later article. Here we focus on the NRCC’s ads, which are much more likely to demean an opponent’s character. That’s the very definition of political mudslinging.

The Republican ads variously accuse Democratic candidates of such things as charging an “adult fantasy” phone call to taxpayers, of being a “hypocrite,” of being a “greedy trial lawyer,” of being a “millionaire know-it-all,” or of failing to pay local business taxes on time. One ad describes a Democrat’s “ethical judgments” as “bad to bizarre” and claims he favored use of 50,000-volt Taser weapons on seven-year-olds.

A derogatory ad can be accurate, and when supported by facts can give voters information about a candidate that they may well find relevant. For example, one NRCC ad correctly states that a Democratic candidate wrote a letter asking a judge to go easy when sentencing a felon convicted of bank fraud in a scandal that bilked hundreds of homeowners. However, several of the NRCC’s ads are smears that twist facts or ignore them. A sheriff running for the House is accused of having “fixed” a speeding ticket for his daughter, for example, when in fact the ticket was paid and the daughter got no special treatment. We found repeated examples of this sort of thing, and we detail them here.

I’ll post the link to the article on Democratic ads when it appears.

Excellent series of interviews on today’s Fresh Air on the controversy over voting machines and voting procedures: where did it come from and is it valid. Here’s the description from the website:

Election 2006:
Tracking Elections

Election reform expert Dan Seligson is the editor of Electionline.org, a nonpartisan and non-advocacy organization that tracks and analyzes election reform issues. The site is a venture of the Election Reform Information Project.

Election 2006:
Race and the Voting Landscape

NAACP officers Marvin “Doc” Cheatham and Rev. Nelson B. Rivers, III, talk about manipulation of African-American voters, and the efforts they are making to change the voting landscape. Cheatham is the seventh president of the NAACP Baltimore city branch, and an election specialist. He’s also the founder and chairman of the Maryland Voting Rights Restoration Coalition. Rivers is CEO of the NAACP.

Capital Hill Blue’s round-up of the more absurb highlights from both sides of the aisle during this campaign season. Follow the link for more:

A congresswoman was accused of lying about her athletic prowess. A state lawmaker in Kansas got into a fight with a cockroach.

And a candidate in Oklahoma hatched an unusual scheme to protect students in school shootings. His plan? Equip every student with used textbooks thick enough to stop a bullet.

There are two things you can pretty much count on during the course of any political campaign. One, somebody will win and somebody will lose. Two, a few candidates will do or say something truly bizarre.