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I'll be writing a diary about whatever response I get.
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by DemocraticLuntz on Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 05:39:07 PM PDT
[ Parent ]
If he DOES run as a Green I'd be seriously torn. I am no fan of the Greens, but I am a fan of Chris and see him as sincere in his beliefs. Many NYC races have runoffs if no one gets over 50%. That is not the case with this race. So, with 4 candidates, the "winner" of the primary may only have some 30% of the vote. A third party run would take the place of a runoff vote.
Is that okay? I don't know. Again. I look to Tish James who I am very happy is on the City Council. But I am no fan of the Greens and I realize that the comparison with Lieberman (who I have not condemned for a third party run) is inevitable.
Fair enough asking him and fair enough requiring consistency among Democrats. But...for me it's all about the candidate. I have done my duty to the party when it came to helping out, for example, Ferrer. When I see a candidate who is a friend and really dedicated, I consider that a rare opportunity to fight hard for somone I am CONVINCED will be good in Congress. That is my main focus.
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by mole333 on Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 05:51:38 PM PDT
with him running -- if he wins the Dem primary -- on both Dem and Green tickets? Or (if he gets the chance) on even more tickets than that? The New York system seems odd to those of us in other states, but if a bunch of parties in New York think one person is the best candidate (and that candidate agrees to be supported by them), it looks like a win/win situation to me.
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by sardonyx on Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 06:26:48 PM PDT
that in order to get one of the third party lines in New York (and they are valuable out of all proportion to their actual representation) you generally have to promise to run on that line even if you don't get the major party nomination. And you have to promise to run hard because those parties want to maintain their ballot access, for which they need 50,000 votes (I think) in each election.
So, to even entertain accepting a minor party line in New York you essentially have to violate the Lamont pledge of supporting the Democratic primary winner.
John McCain, you are _not_ my friend.
by LarryInNYC on Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 06:30:42 PM PDT
Most incumbents are also on the WFP line. It is very common. In fact, WFP endorses most Dem incumbents.
I know what you are getting at, but in general cross-endorsements are common in NY.
by mole333 on Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 06:33:27 PM PDT
Yes, cross-endorsements are common. But, in general, to get the minor party line the candidate must pledge to that Party that he or she absolutely will run on their line even if he or she is not the major party candidate. So the endorsements are common but so are those pledges -- and those pledges automatically violate the new dKos standard.
If I recall correctly it was Andrew Cuomo's screw up (withdrawing from the race so as not to lose the primary) which wound up costing the Liberal Party it's ballot line in New York.
by LarryInNYC on Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 06:37:42 PM PDT
What it sounds like to me is that the dKos standard your refer to may be inappropriate to NY given the common practice of cross-endorsements. If we are going to cut off both our Senators and most of our Conrgessmen, then it doesn't work for NY.
Of course my opposition to Lieberman is not because of his running as an Ind. It;s the issues.
by mole333 on Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 06:42:53 PM PDT
since the votes a party gets in the governor's race are what determines ballot status.
And Cuomo withdrew as the Liberal Party candidate so he wouldn't take votes away from Carl McCall, the Democratic Party candidate. Had he been running for a different office than governor, it wouldn't have had an impact on the Liberal Party ballot line.
by Steve WFP on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 10:37:05 AM PDT
But it's not usually an issue re WFP, because they are so often in sync with the Dems.
And Brooklyn really is different - this is a one-party town (or county, more accurately), and as I have mentioned before, that leads to all the same abuses of power that we see in Washington today. Just because they are being perpetrated by Democrats doesn't make them better. The former leader of the Brooklyn Democratic Party is in jail. There are Democrats, and then there are Democrats.
If we had no third parties here, our only hope for change would be through internal reform, and while we're working on that, you know it's not going to happen overnight. I'm perfectly OK with supporting WFP candidates when I see them as being truer to the spirit of the Democratic Party than some machine-bred crook who's got the Dem line on the ballot. This is because I see their goals as being pretty much the goals of the National Democratic Party. I would, however, have a very major problem with supporting someone who was running solely as a Green.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
by sidnora on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 04:19:17 AM PDT
I'm assuming that the candidates have to have filed for each party's ballot line before the September primary...which would, indeed, violate the post-primary Democratic unity support if they lost the Democratic primary but won another party's nod.
by sardonyx on Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 09:02:55 PM PDT
wide narrow
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