Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0" target="_blank">http://www.time.com/time/natio n/article/0</a>,8599,1224759,00.html >>Johnson ran on a simple platform of ousting McKinney more than on the issues, and surprised her by getting 44% of the primary ballots to force the runoff. So big was the anti-McKinney sentiment that turnout Tuesday was actually larger than in the primary. McKinney ends a political career that began in 1992 when she was then the first African-American woman to represent Georgia in Congress. Her militant stances and attacks on President Bush, even to the point of accusing him of prior knowledge of the 9/11 plot, played well in the district for a while, but "she's been a very controversial figure in the district for a long time," says Abramowitz. "I think the run-in with the capitol policeman added fuel to the fire based on her reaction as being a victim of racism."<<
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom <<You still have to live in the district to vote in that district. It was you who said that district was 90% "of a certain ethnic background." So yes, those people voted her out.>> I appoligize. Her disctict was found to be unconstitutional and Georgia was completely RE-districted a few years back ( as a side note this is what took out Bob Barr as a REP from Georgia ). Her district now is mostly of a certain ethnic background but no where near the numbers it was before. Her disctict now doesn't strech to Augusta. It basically compromises eastern metro Atlanta. As a side note her contender and the Republican contender are both of the same ethnic background as Cynthia McKenny. But in order for anyone of them to win they have to capture the votes of a lot of people. The fastest growing ethnic group in this discrict are hispanic.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/elections/entries/2006/08/09/mckinneys_machi.html" target="_blank">http://www.ajc.com/metro/conte nt/shared-blogs/ajc/elections/entries/2006/08/09/mckinneys_machi.html</a> >>DeKalb County resident Lonnie Smith, 49, helped propel Johnson to victory Tuesday night. "Cynthia McKinney doesn't need to win," said Smith, a businesswoman who voted for Johnson at Avondale Middle School. "She is an embarrassment to the law, an embarrassment to being female, an embarrassment to being black and an embarrassment to being a Christian. She's loud and obnoxious and exhibits no sense of class." <<
Originally Posted By ecdc Hey, even I don't want Democrats to take back power that bad. She lost and she deserved to.
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/washington/10mckinney.html?_r=1&ref=washington&oref=slogin" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08 /10/washington/10mckinney.html?_r=1&ref=washington&oref=slogin</a> >>Her cheering supporters were clearly surprised by Representative Cynthia McKinney’s defeat in Tuesday’s Democratic primary runoff, but those who follow this city’s changing demographics were not. Over the past few years, increasing numbers of affluent blacks have moved into southern DeKalb County, the base of Ms. McKinney’s district, and many were not impressed by her confrontational and occasionally erratic style. Alan I. Abramowitz, a professor of political science at Emory University here, agreed that demographic shifts in Ms. McKinney’s district had favored her more moderate challenger, Henry C. Johnson, a trial lawyer and a former DeKalb County commissioner, who won the primary. “Her base has really kind of eroded,†Mr. Abramowitz said. “One thing that has really happened in this district is a large influx of middle-class black voters into south DeKalb, and if you look at the voting patterns in those areas, they are not McKinney supporters.â€<<
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom They voted her back in two years ago. They must be very recent emigrants ( with in the past two years ) if we are to take that quote seriously.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Hey, even I don't want Democrats to take back power that bad. She lost and she deserved to.> Yes, she did. But it's probable that Johnson, the guy who beat her in the primary, will retain the seat for the Democrats.
Originally Posted By friendofdd I trust machines to deposit my income checks into my bank account, keep an accurate total of my liabilities and assets, and distribute payments to other electronic accounts, but I will never believe that they keep accurate count of the votes for political candidates.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom <<<But it's probable that Johnson, the guy who beat her in the primary, will retain the seat for the Democrats.>>> That district is probably 80% Democrat. So its safe to say he's the next Rep from Georgia. If you have heard he speak then you know that he's going to be an autiotron for the Black Congressional Caucus. <<<trust machines to deposit my income checks into my bank account, keep an accurate total of my liabilities and assets, and distribute payments to other electronic accounts, but I will never believe that they keep accurate count of the votes for political candidates.>>> I share your thoughts. However, it was a Democrat Governor, and Secretary of State that came up with Georgia's voting machines. All scepticism lies with them.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 It's too easy for those machines to be programed to say one thing on the machine (and spit that out in the "paper trail") but actually record something else internally. I'm highly skeptical of them. And I don't put it past either party to tamper with them if they thought they could get away with it. And the more in control they are in any given place - say, Democrats in Boston, Republicans in rural Mississippi counties - the more likely they are to do it.
Originally Posted By CrouchingTigger That's why it should be required to print out a human-readable reciept, which is placed in a conventional ballot box. If there's any reason to doubt what the machine reports, the paper can be counted by hand. Any government agency that buys into electronic voting but ignores that is just plain ignorant and probably falls into the "It must be true, I read it on the internet!" category of technosavy.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <That's why it should be required to print out a human-readable reciept, which is placed in a conventional ballot box. If there's any reason to doubt what the machine reports, the paper can be counted by hand. < you obviously never followed Chicago politics and what can be done with those 'valid' hand votes....yikes !
Originally Posted By CrouchingTigger Oh, I know the hand counting can be corrupt, but it's far better than just saying "Wow, 100% of the people voted for one candidate. Too bad we don't have any way of checking that!"
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Until it becomes a requirement that poll workers see a valid ID from each voter, it doesn't matter if we vote electronically or by punchcard. That's teh biggest flaw in the system (though the other things you all brought up are right behind that).
Originally Posted By CrouchingTigger While I agree that there should be an ID requirement, the point behind the ID is to verify whether you CAN vote. The point behind the paper trail is to verify HOW you voted. Either one can taint the vote.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <Oh, I know the hand counting can be corrupt, but it's far better than just saying "Wow, 100% of the people voted for one candidate. Too bad we don't have any way of checking that!"< here, entire precincts of ballot boxes would just go missing....
Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/MattTowery/2006/08/10/the_untold_story_of_cynthia_mckinneys_final_demise" target="_blank">http://www.townhall.com/Column ists/MattTowery/2006/08/10/the_untold_story_of_cynthia_mckinneys_final_demise</a> >>Media reports have since surfaced of anti-Semitic remarks hurled at media by McKinney supporters as they left the headquarters. One reporter for a major national newspaper claimed she was threatened with being "thrown down the stairs or the escalator" if she didn't vacate an area near where McKinney was holed up. Every corner of that headquarters emanated fear and hatred. I have to make this clear. In last week's column, I recalled the bright and personable Cynthia McKinney I knew back in 1990. And it's not my place to summarily judge her in 2006. But I now know why our polling of this primary runoff election showed so accurately that McKinney would be trounced. Clearly, this heavily African-American district she represented no longer wanted to be associated with her brand of representation.<<
Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/0811edjohnson.html" target="_blank">http://www.ajc.com/opinion/con tent/opinion/stories/0811edjohnson.html</a> >>It was not a Republican crossover vote that doomed McKinney to defeat. It was the inability of the McKinney campaign to mobilize voters in her former base in south DeKalb, along with overwhelming hostility among voters of all political stripes in north DeKalb. For the district's almost certain new representative, Hank Johnson, the challenge will be to expand his own base in south DeKalb. A large majority of the district's voters, and an even larger majority of the district's Democratic voters, live in south DeKalb. DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones already has hinted at the possibility of running for the 4th Congressional District seat in the future, and other ambitious local Democrats also may be eyeing the safe Democratic seat.<<
