Who really decides US elections?
Slidell, LA - It recently came to my attention lots of folks do not understand who decides elections in this country. The key words for the purpose of this post are "who decides."
When a Democrat speaks to an all Democrat crowd that is called preaching to the choir. Unless that Democrat screws up beyond belief, no one in that room is going to vote for the Republican. If that same Democrat speaks before an all Republican crowd, that is called preaching into the wind. None of them are going to vote for that Democrat no matter what is said.
So there are two substantial groups of people out there that are already decided. Many members of both groups are decided even before the candidate is nominated for the race.
The rest of the electorate is made up of the people that will cast the deciding votes in most US elections. These are the undecided independent voters. In most races neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have a numerical majority by themselves. It takes the votes from those people in the middle to push one candidate ahead of another.
This is why most politicians forget their voting records and put on a game face more palatable to the center during election cycles. Of course once they are done with the election, those campaign statements are promptly "refined" to suit their actual mind set.
This post comes from my expressing concerns the Republicans will run Sarah Palin for President in 2012. Many of my conservative friends are appalled at my doubt she is electable.
But there is no escaping the fact Gov. Palin scares the Hell out of a large number of independent voters. Not only that, some of her message doesn't sit all that well with more then a few conservatives.
The 2010 general election promises to send a lot of liberal representatives home. The 2012 presidential election is in the Republican's hands right now. The conservatives quite literally will have to go out of their way to lose it as things stand now. (Based on current approval polls. Looking at the President's programs, projects and ideology, I don't see any change for the better anywhere on the horizon.)
If the conservatives run an extreme candidate like Gov. Palin, there is an excellent chance we will see four more years of Obama's politics. Hopefully conservative voters will see this in the 2012 primaries. What is left of our future is in their hands.
Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against.
- W. C. Fields