In Nevada, we have early voting. A lot of votes are long since cast. In fact, 40% of our votes are already done. We have some races with national impact, so please indulge me.
Multiple candidates have ads running against them that basically say “Votes like Pelosi.” Hmm, maybe my thoughts that Pelosi is part of the problem with the modern Democratic party have some merit.
Let’s just talk about Dean Heller for a minute. Last year, the President said “He wants to remain a Senator, doesn’t he?” This implied that he would tow the party line or else. The ironic thing is that in kowtowing to the party, he alienated all the centrist and mostly-but-not-rabid Democrats that had voted for him in 2012, all the people who had said “well, he’s done a decent enough job for Nevada so far.” This race is a toss-up.
One candidate for Congress is Republican Danny Tarkanian. Notice the long list of times he’s tried to get elected — including twice in 2018. Now look at the long section on legal issues. As nearly as I can tell, the only good thing this guy has done in his entire life is be born the son of a popular basketball coach. Oddly enough, this race still appears to be a toss-up too.
And that brings me to the concept of The Perfect Candidate. I first noticed this problem in the 2016 elections, and it’s gotten worse. The New York Times encourages us to “vote anyway.” Democrats are already being warned to suck it up and vote for the chosen one whoever it is or else. Oh, for completeness, here’s the other version. Well, ya know, maybe if the Democrats didn’t insist that they had the right to rig primaries they could have had a better shot in 2016. And stop with that “most qualified candidate in history” nonsense. The so-called “most qualified candidate in history” forgot that only electoral votes win Presidential elections, a mistake that no high school government student with a passing grade would make.
So I guess what I’m saying is I don’t need a perfect candidate, but I do need a good enough one. I don’t want to hold my nose to vote. I don’t want to “Be reasonable and vote for who we tell you to.”
And let’s just not get started on the mud-fest that is our Governor’s race.