Republicans, Libertarians see gains amid losses in county
Election Day 2009
Although their causes came up short on Tuesday, Republican and Libertarian leaders in St. Louis County claimed some progress in defeat.
In Clayton, county GOP Chair Rich Magee liked what he saw — even though Republican Dan O’Sullivan lost by a broad margin to Democrat Stacey Newman in the race to replace Steve Brown in the 73rd State House District.
Last November, O’Sullivan lost to Brown by about 31 percent of the vote. On Tuesday, he managed 38 percent of the tally against Newman.
“You can’t turn an aircraft carrier on a dime. We at least see it as a clear reversal of a trend in St. Louis County,” Magee said Tuesday night. “Now we are starting to swim upstream here. And showing some improved results in an historically Democratic district. I think we’ve made some inroads.”
Specifically, Magee and other Republicans hope those inroads lead to better outcomes in 2010, when voters in the Clayton area will fill the open seat currently held by state Sen. Joan Bray, who will be at her term limit.
Meanwhile, county Libertarian chair Thomas Knapp issued a statement today on behalf of the party expressing “gratitude to the more than 40,000 county voters who stood for freedom by casting ballots in opposition to Proposition N,” the county smoking ban.
Of course, the 47,000 voters who opposed the ban were far outnumbered by the 89,000 that supported it.
Even so, local Libertarians are poised to join other foes of the ban who may be seeking alternative venues to overturn the prohibition before smokers are forced to butt out in Jan. 2011.
“While we are saddened by the passage of Proposition N,” Knapp said, “we look forward to working with the metro area’s pro-freedom voters and activists over the next 14 months to overturn this ill-advised law before it takes effect.”
Florida beat Georgia 49-10 last season. This year it was 41-17. I’m sure the Bulldogs considered it a moral victory.
I hope some of these “pro-freedom voters” Thomas Knapp is so enamored with take the opportunity to blow some smoke in his face tonight.
I don’t smoke tobacco. I believe it is the business owners RIGHT to determine what goes on at their property. What ever happened to so-called freedom of choice? Does it only apply to an unwanted baby? I wonder what will be next on the big brother list?
A significant factor in this election might have been disillusionment. What have Blue Dogs Democrats done to merit all this courting by the Party? They weren’t among the people who phone banked, canvassed door-to-door, registered voters and donated money to the campaign that elected Obama and majorities in both chambers. And it’s a safe bet that they won’t be among the energized in future campaigns. I and the volunteers with whom I worked are perplexed, dismayed or fuming. We thought we sent a clear message in 2008. There was another on 11/03/09 when we stayed home. What reactions did Democratic leadership expect?
It seems to pander to orchestrated publicity stunts. All the honor cards were removed from the deck early health care reform negotiations. Lobbyists for a financial services sector that demonstrated incompetence and lousy judgment get to block attempts at updating regulatory standards. That’s not what activists and independents voted for in 2008!
Perhaps Blue Dogs are inadequate at informing their constituencies as well as listening. In future elections, we’ll probably hold our noses and vote for you vs. the other guy – that is, if our manicure appointment doesn’t run late. It wouldn’t be smart to count on us!