Yeah, it's been two days since Primary Day, but we've been under the weather, so better late than never. Besides, sometimes it's better to wait a day to analyze a situation than to jump in and make predictions early - especially when it's concerning Democrats... We follow them about as much as we follow the NBA.
First things first.... We would like your opinion on what to call SC Democratic Party Chair Dick Harpootlian. I read where Bill Pickle called him Hardpoot.... Not bad, but we're picky on these things, and there's no 'D' in his name, so we thought of a couple others. Here's our suggestions:
Poot
Pooter
Harpootliar
Hardy Har Harpootlian
Feel free to submit a suggestion.... Now, onto Tuesday's big surprise - the big win from Gloria Bromell-Tinubu.. It just rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it? When every media outlet can't seem to spell or pronounce your name correctly, you have a problem - we should know. Despite getting the backing of nearly every current and Dead Wood Democrat in South Carolina (they did forget to ask Fritz Hollings), Preston Brittain wasn't able to keep Tinubu from getting to 50%, much less winning, on Tuesday. Or did he? It all depends on who you listen to...
It all depends on how the 2200 votes that various idiots from across the 7th gave to Ted Vick - who dropped out weeks ago - are dealt with. We do find it a bit ironic that Florence County stated at last week's court hearing that they could correct the ballots in one week, but this month old error wasn't fixed... Uhhh, does anyone have an answer. We again go back to that wonderful thing called hindsight, and say 'Gee, if they corrected the ballot, it'd be a moot issue'...
Vick's 2200 votes ended up being almost nine percent of the vote - and changed the victory margin from 52-39 Tinubu to 49-36 , or vice versa, whichever way you prefer to look at it.... Well, Harpootlian went immediately to the warpath, and contested the SC Elections Commission's view that the votes were null, and Tinubu will not need to face Brittain in a runoff. To say that his crying foul comes off as being 'insensitive' to African-American voters is obvious.
You see, as much as we like to think race doesn't play a part in who people support or vote for, it is still a part of it all. Republicans are viewed by many minorities as not caring about them at all, which may be true in some cases, but not as an absolute. However, Democrats aren't much better. In very few cases are there white Democrats who have truly shown that they don't just take that black vote for granted. In South Carolina, that battle still goes in, even within the party in contested races.
On paper, Tinubu would seem to have the better resume - the bag full of carpeting not withstanding: she has previous legislative experience, and her specialty was in Economics - though we fear it is in Keynesian Policy. Yet Brittain got all the endorsements , except for the AFL-CIO nod. Still, in the Democratic Party, minorities rule the roost, especially in the 6th and 7th. The BVAP in the 7th overall is 27.6%, so in the Democratic Party, it has to be a solid majority. Winning a contested primary there without winning the black vote is almost impossible... Tinubu held serve, and won.
Now, the big question is not what does Pooter want to do, but what does Preston Brittain want to do? On the surface, it seems like a lost cause.. Even at it's worst, she got 49%. To win, he'd have to change some minds, and get some people to show up on the 26th that didn't on Tuesday. As poorly attended as the Primary was, that'd be the better chance.. But is that what Brittain wants to do? We're not sure, but we'd skip if we were him...
First off, his chances are slim. This is the first example where someone got over 50% of votes cast, and STILL is getting challenged. Add to that, the extra cost of running a second campaign for the runoff that he will most likely lose, and both he and Tinubu will have nothing left to run against Tom Rice or Andre Bauer... He probably should take one for the team. Brittain is young, and he doesn't need to ruin his reputation inside the party by joining Poot as a bad loser. He might be the better November candidate, but if he can't get past June, he shouldn't be on the ballot.
Like most issues involving voting law, we're not sure what rule will decide this. Our guess is if the Elections Commission said beforehand that Vick votes are null and void, then Tinubu will be declared the winner. If not, then we may have a runoff on both sides. We'll sound partisan here, but the bigger winner out of this will be the Republican runoff winner.. Yeah, he'll be broke too, but the GOP isn't in disarray within itself - at least not over this race. Bauer or Rice will be running against a candidate that will not get any crossover votes, or one that could piss off the entire African-American section of their party by stealing the runoff that maybe shouldn't have been...
The biggets loser of this, of course, is Harpootliar... Rather than sit back for a day, and make a bunch of phone calls, he decided that HE was the Democratic Party, and protested by sunrise.. Nice job, Komrade Hotpooperscooper!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsYJyVEUaC4
Editor's Note: We corrected the BVAP overall, which we had at 37%, to 27.6%. Thanks to John Demetre for the info. However, in the Democratic dominated Pee Dee counties, it is 37% or more in all of them..
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6 comments:
He just wants a do-over because he knows Tinubu has major problems with electability. But Brittain came in so far behind that I don't see any way that he can keep her from bumping across the 50% line in a week and half.
However, if I'm presented with the opportunity to see Democrats turn on each other, inflict major wounds upon their own and allow us to pick up the pieces - I just have to decide if I'm going to sit and watch quietly or sit and watch and laugh my ass off.
Tough decision, I know.
How about Harpy.
I call him "The Pooter"
Mike--as long as I have been around its always been Poot...teg
Mike--there is precedent for Preston to admit defeat with dignity. In the 1990 democrat race for the governor, Mike Daniel wound up with 40+% in a 4 way field that included Hugh Leatherman and Judge Frank Epps. A runoff was anticipated but all 3 of the challengers behind Daniels withdrew so Daniels could avoid the costs of a runoff and proceed to face Carrol Campbell.
Poot/Brittain are taking a huge risk in that if they get the runoff they desire nothing good can come out of it. If Tinubu wins she leads a divided ticket and the white vote will most likely gravitate to the GOP nominee. If Brittain wins the African American vote most likely skips him if they turn out to vote at all. Either way it hurts the democrat ticket--top to bottom.
Poot may be a dangerous state chairman when its election time but this election cycle I think he's a bigger danger to the democrats. Then again when your nickname is also the same as a stale fart, why should we be surprised??...teg
"Harpo" is an insult to the weasel that now looks the other way on dope smoking that, in the 1970's, wanted to prosecute USC students for even walkin near someone smokin a jay.
How 'bout Janus, the two faced idol of Democratzi korrekt politikmusness? Can't be any worse that hailing him as a bag of Brown Kow composted manure, unless you own Brown Kow.
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