2010 Primary Craziness

I want to write a quick post about last night's primaries here in New York State. Overall, I would say I am mostly satisfied with the outcomes. And there was plenty of excitement.

Let's start with the GOP governor's race. Paladino. Crazy. But don't be fooled. This is one of those races where a candidate won because his opponent was so bad. Lazio was hoping to ride an earned advertising wave based on his Mosque opposition to make up for his anemic fund raising. Unfortunately, that issue won him national media attention, but not much favor among NYS Republicans (despite it being popular among that group). He blew the race big time.

What is going to be really interesting come November is whether these far right candidates, like Paladino, Christine O'Donnell, Rand Paul, and Sharron Angle, can win in a general election. In one corner, you have unpopular Democrats who seemed to go a bit too far toward government expansion during a recession and have lost the independents. In the other corner, you have some real wingnut conservatives. Moderate liberals who went too far versus extreme conservatives. It is going to be an interesting November.

Now let's look at corruption and ethics issues. I would say in New York State it was a little more positive than negative. Sure Charles Rangel won in the primary. Then again, his next closest challenger struck most as little better. But that can be forgiven since Pedro Espada lost and Hiram Monserrate did not win in his race for the Assembly. In those two races, I have gained more faith in voters than I lost seeing Rangel win. And hey, maybe when Rangel finally retires, he'll support someone really deserving, like Joyce Johnson (who really should have a better Google presence). Also, Bill Perkins won reelection - although part of me wonders if I had him wrong or maybe oversimplified the situation. So I am at peace with that outcome as well.

To conclude - New York State (so long as it doesn't actually elect Paladino) took a step forward last night. But nationally, we have some interesting races to look forward to. Buckle up.