In yesterday's poll something happened which I haven't seen done in such an obvious and blatantly stupid way in any other poll before. The voting on the next Sec. of the Interior was pretty much done, maybe a vote here and there was still coming but it was pretty much over. Then I noticed how the vote total for Les AuCoin (who had somewhere between 5 and 8 votes before this started) was slowly rising. At first it looked as if someone just wanted him to surpass Olypia Snowe who was in second place with 11 votes at that time. But that person didn't stop there. While the vote count for everyone else remained pretty much stagnant (Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s went from 60 to just 63 in this time frame), Les AuCoin's went from the single digits to a total of 42 votes. So, one person actually took the time to vote for him more than 20 times to get him into a runoff with Robert Kennedy, Jr.
I have thought a while about this and what to do. I found Les AuCoin a pretty interesting candidate for Interior, and still do. So, I don't want to punish him but I feel that this blatantly stupid freeping of this poll, even if it may just be for our entertainment's sake, should have consequences, so I have decided to exclude Les AuCoin from the final vote count. Results of the Sec. of the Interior poll - and this entire polling series - plus today's candidates for Sec. of Agriculture can be found below.
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With the Obama Veepstakes poll now concluded and Gov. Bill Richardson as your chosen running mate (which was covered by the Santa Fe Reporter) it's time to take this a step further:
Who would you like to see in an Obama cabinet?
Today you can vote on the next Secretary of Agriculture:
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Here are the winners of previous rounds:
Vice President: Bill Richardson
Secretary of State: Joe Biden wins with 77% (162 of 210 votes) in the runoff against Chuck Hagel.
Secretaty of the Treasury: Michael Bloomberg wins with 55% (95 of 172 votes) in the runoff against Chris Dodd.
Secretary of Defense: Jim Webb wins with 50% (114 of 224 votes) in the runoff against Chuck Hagel.
Attorney General: John Edwards wins with 52% (158 of 301 votes) in the first round.
Secretary of the Interior: Robert Kennedy, Jr. wins with 51% (63 of 123 votes) in the first round.
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Here's the list of current cabinet positions and cabinet level administration offices that will be polled in the coming weeks:
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Commerce
Secretary of Labor
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary of Transportation
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Secretary of Homeland Security
White House Chief of Staff
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Director of the National Drug Control Policy
United States Trade Representative
Who will be included: a maximum of 15 candidates (max number of positions in Dkos polls), I'll try to make each round as diverse as possible, always keeping in mind competence and knowledge required for the respective position. Therefore, I'll include men and women, minorities, sitting and former elected officials, appointed officials, academics, people from the non-profit and private sectors, Obama as well as Clinton supporters, and, yes, also Republicans and Independents.
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The results of yesterday's Sec. of the Interior poll:
Total votes cast: 123
- Robert Kennedy, Jr. 51% (63 votes)
- Olympia Snowe 10% (12 votes)
- Carl Pope 7% (8 votes)
- Maria Cantwell 6% (7 votes)
- Peter DeFazio 4% (votes)
- Raul Grijalva 4% (5 votes)
- Bob Miller 4% (5 votes)
- Ken Salazar 3% (4 votes)
- Jon Tester 3% (4 votes)
- Stephanie Herseth Sandlin 2% (3 votes)
- Ron Wyden 2% (3 votes)
- Neil Abercrombie 2% (2 votes)
- Rodger Schlickeisen 2% (2 votes)
Ed Schafer received no votes.
Note: Les AuCoin was excluded from the final vote count because of freeping. See Intro.
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Today's candidates for Secretary of Agriculture are (in alphabetical order, links lead to bio):
fmr. Sen. David Boren (OK) - fmr. member of the Senate Agriculture Committee
Gus Douglass (WV) - West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner
fmr. Sec. Dan Glickman (KS) - fmr. Sec. of Agriculture
Ellen Haas - fmr. Undersecretary of Agriculture, CEO of FoodFit
Sen. Tom Harkin (IA) - Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD) - member of the House Agriculture Committee
Jim Hightower (TX) - fmr. Texas Agriculture Commissioner
Lt. Gov. Patty Judge (IA) - fmr. Sec. of Agriculture, current Lt. Gov. of Iowa
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (AR) - member of the Senate Agriculture Committee
Sen. Ben Nelson (NE)
Rep. Collin Peterson (MN) - Chair of the House Agriculture Committee
Rep. John Salazar (CO) - member of the House Agriculture Committee
Sec. Ed Schafer (R-ND) - fmr. Gov. of North Dakota, current Sec. of Agriculture
Ron Sparks (AL) - Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture
Sen. Jon Tester (MT) - farmer
fmr. Gov. Tom Vilsack(IA) - fmr. Gov. of Iowa
Note:A candidate needs 50% or more to win, otherwise a run-off between the top two will be held the following day. Also: each candidate can only win one poll. Whoever wins today's poll will not be a candidate for any other position!
I would also like to ask you to nominate candidates for all cabinet positions not yet polled, for several of them I'm still well short of 15 candidates.
Enjoy voting!