Reality-BasedTM Political Numbers from Nicholas Beaudrot
Electoral Math
Reality-BasedTM Political Numbers from Nicholas Beaudrot
Weekly news roundup, March 22 - March 26th. | Home | State-by-state joblessness
To the editors of the Aberdeen News, and the citizens of South Dakota,
I'm one of the many Internet users who gave money to Stephanie Herseth's congressional campaign. I found her web page through an advertisement on a Democratic leaning blog (an Internet journal or magazine) called Talking Points Memo (www.talkingpointsmemo.com) and was very impressed. I gave her $50, my first ever campaign contribution. I think of blogs as direct mail advertising for the 21st century -- many readers are very interested in politics and are eager to feel a sense of grassroots involvement in the political process. He web page is by no means "secret", and all political contributions will be reported under election laws, so everyone will be able to see just how much (or how little) of a difference the contributions of blog readers make.
I want assure your readers that I am not trying to "infect" the good state of South Dakota with any sort of strange West Coast values. If anything, I gave to her campaign because I missed the more moderate progressive attitudes of Democratic politicians in my home state of Georgia. While there are certainly blogs whose authors oppose the War in Iraq and many of President Bush's policies, there are others who have mixed feelings about the war and our President. And even though I may disagree with Ms Herseth's position on gay marriage, I am not going to withdraw my support when there are more important issues facing our country, like improving Medicare's new prescription drug benefit and moving towards renewable sources of fuel like ethanol.
If you are truly concerned about the influence of out-of-state money on your elected officials, you should also be looking at Larry Diedrich's contributors. As of the last filing period, Mr. Diedrich has received no money from individual contributors -- only Political Action Committees. He has taken money from PACs representing congressmen Devin Nunes and Wally Herger of California, as well as Judy Biggert and Dennis Hastert of Illinois. In the February special election for a Congressional seat in Kentucky, Speaker Hastert went so far as to practically bribe the citizens of the Louisville area. He promised a bailout for tobacco farmers if they elected the GOP candidate. The people of Louisville did not take kindly to being told who to vote for and selected a Democrat, and I hope the people of South Dakota choose their votes on their own as well, be it for a Democrat or a Republican. Ms Herseth, meanwhile, has received almost as much money from individual contributions as she has from PACs, and while some money does come from blog readers, the vast majority of her individual contributors are still from South Dakota.
But while money may be important in running a campaign, in the end it is the voters who are important on election day. More than anything else, I encourage everyone to vote in the upcoming June election, and take part in the great American democracy.
Sincerely,
Nick Beaudrot
Seattle, WA
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updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 05:28 16 February 2005
