Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Time To Vote!

I'm off to the polls shortly. In fairness, I will disclose my vote.

First an FYI for our non-Georgia readers. We are not "registered" to any party in Georgia. Instead, when we vote in a primary we simply tell the poll worker which ballot we want.

After much thought, I've decided to pull Democrat. It was sorely tempting to pull Republican just to be able to vote in the Reed-Cagle race. But the proverbial straw was the Democratic primary in my congressional district. I have to vote for Hank Johnson. Maybe it's a vote against Cynthia McKinney but so what.

I do not like Cynthia McKinney. I do not like her politics. I do not like her father. I know that shouldn't matter but it does. Mostly, I do not like the way she represents my district. I've made a lot of fun of her on this blog in the past few months but the serious matter is that she is an embarassment. The only thing anyone outside my area knows about my district is that it's represented by a crazy woman. That is something nobody wants.

End of rant. Here is how griftdrift will vote.

Governor - Cathy Cox. This is a personal vote. I don't like Mark Taylor and some of his shenanigans in south Georgia politics.

Lt. Governor - Jim Martin. This is a tough one. I was actually impressed with Greg Hecht in the debates. I think he has some solid ideas and he could have a bright future. But his harsh turn negative in the final days of the campaign made me want to vomit. I just can't in good conscious vote for him. Sorry Greg.

Secretary of State - Shyam Reddy. Oh I have soul searched over this one. From a certain perspective this race has three times the talent of the other combined. As I said before I met Shyam Reddy and that's big in my book. I like him. It really comes down to that. But I also was able to look him in the eye to search for a spark. I found it. Scott Holcomb has hugely impressed me in the final few days of the campaign and his ideas are rock solid. Also, Scott is holding his results party at one of my favorite bars. It would be a helluva lot of fun to go there and watch the first bright day in what should be a bright future in politics. But I have to stick with my initial guy. I'm going for Shyam.

State School Superintendent - Nobody. I will skip this one. As a resident of the 4th, my loathing of Denise Majette for her betrayal in 2002 will carry on for years. I'm not sure when it will end and I cannot vote for her. Her opponent would be a disaster. It's a stupid position any way and should be abolished.

I think that covers all the big ones. On most of the others, I will be following griftdrift's first rule of politics: if the incumbent hasn't screwed up, they deserve the benefit. That sounds goofy but my logic is that in most cases if the incumbent is doing an adequate job then they are staying out of the news. If I haven't heard anything about them recently they are doing their job. Given all things being equal, I'll vote for an incumbent over a challenger about which I have absolutely no clue.

So I am off! I'm going to drive around a bit and see what I can see of campaign workers in Dekalb and Fulton counties. Back later with pictures and a poll report!

3 comments:

Blackjackk said...

My first (and hopefully) only time choosing to vote a primary as Republican. I felt dirty.

I stuck my card in the machine, voted for Cagle and got the hell out of there as fast as I could.

I felt my vote against Satan (Reed) was more sorely needed than my vote against Anti-Semite (McKinney).

Then I had to explain myself to my 6 year old as we left the polls. What a country!

Sara said...

"Now let me explain why you should never, ever do what Daddy just did..."

The only time I ever voted Republican was for John McCain in the 2000 Massachusetts primary. If I could take it back today, I would. Along with the money I gave him. Friggin' sellout.

Anonymous said...

James: You may be giving the local news a little too much credit here.

I may vote a split ticket now and again, but I would never, ever, ever vote in the Republican primary. That just feels wrong.