Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Election Reflection
Just a few brief points I'd like to make about yesterday's election. It combines pure opinion and some fact/research (but mostly opinion).
First congrats to Mr. Mallory. I was a supporter of David Pepper. I believe he would have done wonderful things for the city, and that was based on confidence in his record and his plans. Mr. Mallory was, and is, more of an unknown (at least to me). I have high hopes for what he can do with this city and with the council candidates that were elected. The show is yours Mr. Mallory, I hope you end up with a standing ovation.
Now on to my Council Election round up:
Now on to my Council Election round up:
- Voting on Issues - I think the overwhelming desire for voters going to the polls was for change. You see that with the election of Mr. Mallory and of 4 new council candidates (well, really only 2 unseated incumbants - Pepper and Reese ran for mayor and couldn't run for council).
- Voting by Race - Part of the news coverage was about only 2 African American nominees being elected. While this is a fact, I don't believe it to be a conspiracy. The two incumbents that didn't get re-elected where those most decisivie (on the right and left) on council. Smitherman was much more radical than his campaign revealed when he was elected 2 years ago. Malone, was far to the right, but more importantly had issues surrounding his arrest for beating his kid looming over his head.
- Show Me the Money! - While I congradulate the voters for bringing the change everyone seems to talk about, when you look at it, it wasn't that astounding. As I mentioned earlier, 2 seats were open (Pepper/Reese), and 2 seats were embattled (Malone/Smitherman). Now compare that to the money trail. The top 8 money raisers were elected. Only Cecil Thomas got elected outside that range, finishing 16th in the money race, and 9th on the returns.
- Endorsements - Do they matter? Jury is mixed. Certainly in the Mayor's race it did not. All the major newspapers, the major police and fire unions backed Pepper. But in the Council election perhaps it did. The Enquirer missed only on incumbents Crowley and Cole, suggesting the election of Wendell Young and John Eby. I think probably the election of Thomas was in large part due to the endorsement. He raised little money and had few campaign commercials, so this probably did a lot for people making that final selection.
