Coaty Wins Newport House 75 Election
Totals: Cicilline 511.
Coaty 869.
Appx. 20% turnout.
Congratulations to the winner. Thank you to the opponents. You make the system work & give voters choice.
Newport certainly has changed. The weather stopped older voters from coming out. Evidently the Rep. St. Party also spent big right before the election. The theme was Dems will mean higher taxes.
What does this show? Newport has lost most of its middle class. Most people don't care about the lege. A testy Primary was not a good thing.
What does this mean? Newport will have no voice in the Lege this coming year.
I call the results shocking.
Remember, this district covers most of Newport but not all. Most of the public housing & smaller Newport homes & rental areas are NOT in this district - that would be Jackson's & Rice's Representative areas.
Coaty 869.
Appx. 20% turnout.
Congratulations to the winner. Thank you to the opponents. You make the system work & give voters choice.
Newport certainly has changed. The weather stopped older voters from coming out. Evidently the Rep. St. Party also spent big right before the election. The theme was Dems will mean higher taxes.
What does this show? Newport has lost most of its middle class. Most people don't care about the lege. A testy Primary was not a good thing.
What does this mean? Newport will have no voice in the Lege this coming year.
I call the results shocking.
Remember, this district covers most of Newport but not all. Most of the public housing & smaller Newport homes & rental areas are NOT in this district - that would be Jackson's & Rice's Representative areas.
9 comments:
Hi Eileen,
My thoughts are here:
http://www.rifuture.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=924
And of course, Newport can certainly cultivate more activists!!
-Matt
While you know Newport better than I do, I wouldn't say that people don't care, or that Newport has lost the middle class based on the results of this race. All it tells me is that the R's won because they did what they needed to do to win and Bud did not.
The State Republicans dropped the very same messaging, and big bucks, the last week of the district 22 race as well. And that was not only a resounding democractic victory, but a progressive democratic victory.
To me, it is about messaging. As a progressive myself, I believe Bud was right on about 97% of the issues. But he didn't have a great plan to share his message in ways that engaged voters. I believe he was afraid of being tainted with labels like progressive, liberal, etc. He distanced himself from the very people that could help him win (again, in my belief, out of fear). I know several people who asked to help and were told that they were all set. Maybe in a traditional election that would have been true. But we see over and over again, special elections are anyone's game. This is a seat that the Dems should never have lost, especially with a great candidate like Bud. Candidates need to get on the doors, get on the phones, and get out the vote in a real way. They can not afford to stand at polling stations on election day, or expect a newspaper ad or mailing with a list of democratic powerhouses on it will get people to vote D.
Thanks for the insight. I appreciate it.
I think you've hit the mark. Campaigning is darn hard work (and expensive)and times have changed. Recently I went to a mini-course- and learned all the things that I did wrong! Turn down support -perish the thought!
However, I do believe that there has been a change in Newport demographics as there has been all over the island.
I'm interested in hearing some more thoughts on the topic.
I am glad to see that your blog readers took my earlier advice that Bud was such a sure thing, they should stay home. Why not give Steve a chance to prove he is an advocate for Newport? And, as far as Newport loosing influence, look no further than the Senate Majority leader from Newport who is further marginalizing herself by tolerating corruption in the Senate at the very top.
It's a funny place to live, don't you think?
It's sad when only 19% of the electorate vote. It was also sad that many seniors would not go out. Who expected such a hard winter so early?
I'm sure that he will advocate for Newport. It's just that it's hard to be heard or obtain leadership positions when you're a Republican. I also hear little from the other Republicans that we do have here. Sometimes, I think that they hide. Sometimes, I think that the entire Lege hides.
There would have been more interest if it had been a race for Council or School Committee, don't you think?
Ah, corruption. It seems to depend on your defintion.
Thanks for the thoughts!
Depends on your definition??!!!
Eileen, dear Eileen? You must be smoking medical marijuana!
How about this definition:
Celona - pleads guilty - in jail
Martineau - pleads guilty - in jail
Montebano - pleads gulty - pays record ethics fine
Fox - pleads guilty - pays 10K ethics fine
Gallison - pleads guilty pays 6K ethics fine
The scary thing is three of those in this rogue's gallery are still in the Democrat leadership!!! The others would still be too, but they are in jail.
Now, let's list all the Republicans who have plead guilty to ethics violations or crimes... hummm how about none. It's not that they are more virtuous, its just that in order to be guilty of influence peddling, one must first HAVE influence.
Even your favorite whipping boy, Bruce Long has not been charged with any crimes or ethics code violations. Face it Eileen, your party has had absolute power absolutely too long, and the fish is rotting from the head down. Granted if Republicans had been in charge this long we would have the same problems. I implore you, change parties, become a Republican - before you too lose your mortal sole, and then run for office.
Ah, those funny little ciggies. Do you suppose I can get some with acid reflux?
I'm still laughing over the rotting fish and losing my immortal "sole." Been there, done that.
But then I'd have to support the rhetoric & policies on the fed'l level (not to mention State) & your State Chair. Yuck.
We agree on the influence peddling, though. No Party has the hold on that. What's the saying about power? Perhaps the Ethics laws could use an overhaul.
What always amazes me is how many lawyers are SO forgetful.
On a more positive note, you have a lively sense of humor & I enjoy the notes. So go on WADK. Some of those afternoon people - snooze city!
And 3 cheers for spelling my name correctly!! It took my husband years.
Eileen,
I actually enjoyed our exchange. What ruins politics for me is when one side or the other takes it all personally and vilifies the other side as an object to hated - not debated. I saw it the '90s with this visceral hatred of Bill Clinton, and now with total hatred for George Bush.
It's nice to so completely disagree with someone and still have fun discourse. I'll send your Republican party affiliation papers over to you today.
Rep. & Dems actually agree on LOTS of things when they speak with civility & remember to laugh (kind of like contract negotiations). It's the "devil's in the details" that we all seem to have difficulty with.
Merry Christmas! Santa will be dropping off your Dem. affiliation paperwork. Don't light the fire that night!
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