I usually use the “Voting 3rd party or not voting is a vote for the person you LEAST want to win.” line of argument with some simple math thrown in.

This is yet another line for the purests who won’t “compromise their integrity” by voting for someone who isn;t ideologically pure.

in our system, this year the key is the Governors and State Legislatures, cause we can win the House and be redistricted out of it next year.

www.rga.org

It’s probably important to remember that Republicans are likely to be engaged in redistricting shenanigans as well. Granted the rules are in some ways rigged to require that “safe” Republican districts are created (because of the Majority-Minority requirements of the Voting Rights Act), but there is no shortage of Republican operatives cackling with glee at the prospect of districting troublesome Democratic members of Congress together, or otherwise drawing the lines to best suit their partisan interests.

Sean Parnell
President
Center for Competitive Politics
http://www.campaignfreedom.org

here is some down and dirty redistricting information.

Iowa-Washington-Arizona-New Jersey have various forms of non-partisan boards that redraw congressional districts. Iowa & I believe Washington state has legislative disapproval provisions. They can’t draw the lines but they can veto them.

CT and Maine have 2/3 rules on redistricting bills so things end up being non-partisan due to super majority rules. Governor in those states are fairly pointless in redistricting process. They can veto but the bill has already passed with 2/3 vote. New Hampshire’s congressional lines have more stayed the same since 1960. Ditto for HI. DE-SD-ND-VT-WY-AK-MT only has one seat so redistricting is an non event.

So the other 35 states are key. Legislative races in NC & NY are really crucial this year as the Gov is set in NC and probably in NY. Ditto for KY state senate.

There are many crucial Gov & legislative races in those 35 states

And CA is very likely to join them this year.

But AZ and IA have redistricting commissions.

In AZ, I think that means the Governor has *no* say in the process (one of the AZ ‘old hands’ can correct me if I’m wrong.

In IA, I can’t remember if the Gov. is supposed to ‘sign off’ on the commission recommendations or not; but, if not, then the Gov is irrelevant in IA too.

This is worth bringing up because the movement to go to these silly commissions is growing, and it may very well be coming to your state too. I personally think it’s a bad idea (I suspect most of these commissions get stacked with SIEU, etc. types), so fight ‘em before they’re instituted.

And that’s the vote to take the Senate leadership away from Harry Reid.

Assuming, of course, the good people of Nevada don’t get him first….

Mew

Is not merely having power but understanding HOW to USE it. There is no better example of this than Adolph Hitler. He took advantage of the inherent flaw in the parliamentary system to bully his way into the Chancellorship of Germany.

You can be certain that THIS is the school of political power from which so many Democrats have taken Advanced Degrees. It is time we learned from their example(s).

Moe, I just LOVE reading the stuff you post.

Our republican Speaker of the House, Jim Strauss, has assigned democrats to lead the redisticting! There are voices getting louder about having Strauss removed. At the State Convention, a petition was brought to the floor regarding Strauss, but it was deemed the convention was not the correct place to address this issue. He was shouted down during his speech. This situation is very frustrating.

Moe, your number of 19 seats is far, far too low. That’s strictly in terms of seats that are gained and lost by state. That is not, however, reflective of how the process actually works.

Those districts aren’t created out of thin air. All of the districts in those states will have to be redrawn to include or exclude another seat (or seats). In some cases, that is likely to be a fairly neat and tidy process. For example, should Democrats hold the New York Senate, they are likely to simply divide the 13th such that part of it is shared with lower Manhattan and part with Brooklyn, thus eliminating the last competitive seat left in New York City. They may also be able to eliminate any competitive districts upstate, but that’s a separate issue.

In other cases, the extraordinarily high number of competitive Congressional districts in a given state could well be altered such that one party dominates them. Ohio’s a great example. By Charlie Cook’s analysis, Ohio has five CDs in the lean or toss-up category, and another two in the likely category. The winning party could easily tilt those seats by swapping some precincts with others from neighboring safe districts. 19 just doesn’t come close to reflecting the true importance of gubernatorial and state legislative races (which you seem to overlook here for some reason) this year.

Getting back to Moe’s main point, that you’re hurting your own interests by withholding your vote from the “lesser of two evils,” there’s actually another option, one that would allow you to vote for the [epithet] while still voting your conscience and registering your protest to the [epithet]. It’s called Instant Runoff Voting, and by coincidence there’s a blog post up today on my site regarding it:

http://www.campaignfreedom.org/blog/detail/enhancing-voter-choice-through-instant-runoff-voting

Basically, you could vote for a third party – say, Libertarian, or Constitution, or Conservative, whatever – as your first preference, then vote for the [epithet] on the second line. You’re registering your displeasure with the [epithet], while still ensuring that you’re not aiding in electing an even bigger [epithet] or helping put [king/queen epithet] in the Speaker’s or Majority Leader’s chair.

One of the benefits of this system is that it signals to potential primary challengers down the road just how many votes might be available if they ran with a more conservative or libertarian platform, and also tells the incumbent [epithet] that they’ve got some work to do to satisfy those voters that they were only the second choice for.

Sean Parnell
President
Center for Competitive Politics
http://www.campaignfreedom.org

and voted for the RINO McCain we wouldn’t have Obama. Works the same way at state and local level.

That’s my current argument. No matter how weak and disappointing your party’s nominee might be, the other guys are infinitely worse. Once in office they appoint all kinds of bureacrats that do untold damage through their decisions and rulings. Pick ANY of Obama’s Czar’s or choices for Cabinet positions. Judiciary appointments can do even more damage, since the appointment is usually for life.

Great post Moe. Looks to me like redistricting will mostly favor R’s this year. Gotta love how citizens voting with their feet and moving out of blue states and into red states will likely result in more R’s in Congress.

Control of both House and Senate is huge, Speaker of the House and ALL committee chairs to the majority. This alone is reason to get your butt to the polls and vote for all R’s you can, even if some were not your preferred candidate in the primary.

I appreciate all that information – and everyone’s comments. There will be a lot of voting for [epithet] for me this year. This knowledge will make it a little less painful – and me a little less snide on the subject of my [epithet]‘s in the future.