Jimmy Carter's son wins Nevada primary

[metta]

This could be interesting. I also wonder if the influx of Californians moving to Nevada will have an effect on the election.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060816/ap_on_el_se/nevada_primary

Jimmy Carter's son wins Nevada primary By SCOTT SONNER, Associated Press Writer 22 minutes ago



Jimmy Carter's son, Jack Carter, won the Democratic nomination Tuesday to face Republican U.S. Sen. John Ensign (news, bio, voting record) in November in Nevada, where voters also were picking candidates in a wide-open and sometimes-zany pair of primaries to replace popular Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Carter claimed 80 percent of the vote in early returns to defeat political unknown Ruby Jee Tun of Carson City, a middle school science teacher. Ensign won with more than 90 percent of the vote over Ed "Fast Eddie" Hamilton of Las Vegas, a former Chrysler Corp. supervisor.

Tessa Hafen, former press secretary for Nevada's other senator, Democratic leader Harry Reid, won her party's nomination to face incumbent Republican Rep. Jon Porter (news, bio, voting record) in the 3rd Congressional District.
Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley (news, bio, voting record) cruised to victory in the 1st District, where three candidates were vying in the GOP primary.
Guinn, who is leaving office after eight years because of term limits, did not groom a hand-picked successor, locking candidates from both parties in brutal primary contests that included offbeat personal attacks using sock puppets, "Star Wars" parodies and Internet close-ups of an elephant's behind.

Five-term Rep. Jim Gibbons was the favorite in the Republican gubernatorial primary, and his wife was among the GOP candidates seeking his congressional seat.

Gibbons, a former military pilot, gave one of his GOP rivals some ammunition when he told a newspaper that he used his state Assembly office to get rehired by Delta Air Lines. (Gibbons says he misspoke.)

Las Vegas state Sen. Bob Beers responded with an Internet ad starring a sock puppet in a little suit and tie. "Hi there, I'm Congressman Gibbons," the sock puppet says. "I shook down Delta Air Lines."
Gibbons was trying to hold off Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt and Beers. Long shots in that race include a former porn star, Melody Damayo, who performed under the name Mimi Miyagi.
On the Democratic ballot, state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus and Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson waged a bitter battle for the chance to try to succeed Guinn.
Titus accused Gibson of latent Republicanism and created a Web site that included a close-up of an elephant's behind. Gibson responded by sending out a Web cartoon of his opponent wielding a "Star Wars"-style light saber and succumbing to the pull of the Dark Side.
In the GOP race for Gibbons' congressional seat, former state Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons was up against Secretary of State Dean Heller and Assemblywoman Sharron Angle. Jill Derby, an 18-year member of the state Board of Regents, was the lone Democrat seeking Gibbons' seat, which has been represented by the GOP since 1980.

Election officers posted notices at the polls to make sure voters knew former state Comptroller Kathy Augustine died last month, even though her name remained on the ballot for state treasurer. If she wins the GOP nomination, it would be the first time that a dead person has won a primary for a statewide office in Nevada history.
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On the Net:
Nevada Secretary of State's Web site: http://secretaryofstate.biz/

 

[Homoerectus]

I believe Jimmy Carter was and is a very moral and good man but he really sucked as a president. His "Georgia mafia" was a bunch of naive, idealistic Washington outsiders who did not know how to play the DC game and therefore got nothing done. I sincerely hope son Jack will be better as a Nevada governor than his dad was a president of the USA.

 

[crlcxll]

Carter will win the election as Governor of Nevada. I am certain of that. President Carter was one of the most humanitarian and peace keeping presidents which the United Sates ever elected. He was respected globally; and, other presidents have sent him to peace-keeping missions.... He did, afterall, win the Nobel Prize for Peace.

 

[kev]

Correction: all of his humanitarian accolades came AFTER he lost his re-election bid...he was a disgraceful president.

 

[iman]

Carter sacrificed his Presidency to get the hostages out of Iran alive. His only option would have been to go to war with Iran. A war would have ensured his reelection, but would have resulted in the hostages being killed. One can disagree with the choice he made, but it's just silly to call him a "disgraceful President".

 

[smelter]

Carter sacrificed his Presidency to get the hostages out of Iran alive. His only option would have been to go to war with Iran. A war would have ensured his reelection, but would have resulted in the hostages being killed. One can disagree with the choice he made, but it's just silly to call him a "disgraceful President".

I agree Iman. In addition, had we followed his call to reduce our dependence on middle east oil, we wouldn't be in the god-awful mess we find ourselves today.

'Disgraceful President' ......... not hardly!

 

[tommyj]

Jack Carter will lose but it will be closer than pundits believe.

 

[TongueTied]

What qualifications does Jack Carter have besides being Jimmy Carter's son? I saw him interviewed on Hardball with Chris Matthews and he was pitiful. He just offered lame answers to every question, had no charisma, and could not articulate why he wanted to be a United States Senator. In other words, a typical Democrat.

 

[helms]

What qualifications does Jack Carter have besides being Jimmy Carter's son?

Quasi-fame is not a qualification for political office, especially when Jimmy Carter is your father.

But seriously, Carter left office over 25 years ago...how many voters don;t even remember the Carter administration, much less care that his son is running for office?

 

[Ramindra]

What qualifications does Jack Carter have besides being Jimmy Carter's son? I saw him interviewed on Hardball with Chris Matthews and he was pitiful. He just offered lame answers to every question, had no charisma, and could not articulate why he wanted to be a United States Senator. In other words, a typical Democrat.

Perhaps one could ask the same question of the current president.

 

[TongueTied]

Perhaps one could ask the same question of the current president.

I agree 100%. I'm not defending Republican politicians here. I am saying there are few politicians of either party that can put a sentence together and actually say something.

Have you ever seen question time from the British House of Commons on C-Span? I am amazed that so many British politicians are so articulate and can think on their feet. They actually express views. I'm sure some of the British posters on this site have plenty of complaints about their politicians, but they should see how virtually all American politicians are pre-packaged, manufactured, automatons. Just wind them up, and they spew a set of poll-tested, regurgitated meaningless slogans. Comes in two shiny plastic versions- Democrat and Republican.

 

[TongueTied]

Huh. And now you say:



Well, which is it, young man, which is it?

Seems to me there are many erudite Democrats and even a few housebroken Pugs, too, though the Republicans have a penchant for talking a bunch of shit and they tilt towards lying like rugs. Some of America's greatest orators were or are Democrats (President Franklin Roosevelt, the late Senator John Pastore of RI, Senator Ted Kennedy of Mass and Robert Byrd among them). And while Jack Carter may not be Shakesperian (though I hear his wife, interestingly, is a pro-gay marriage thespian) in his delivery, he's articulate, bright and of good moral quality. Not everyone can speak with a roar, not every public office-seeker has the pitch and timbre of, say, a Trent Loot ("Massa-TOO-sits," as he calls the Bay State), and not everyone's words leads to jail time, unlike Republican Duke Cunningham.

My point is that BOTH parties stink. Maybe Jack Carter is articulate, but he sure wasn't on the interview I saw. He had no answers for the questions, just some trite sounding slogans. My main problem with the Democratic Party is they have no ideas. What do they stand for? You can't just be against everything Bush does. You have to offer an alternative, but they don't. Look at Kerry, he made the pitch that Bush was a disaster, but he couldn't close the sale. What is the Democratic plan for reforming the tax code? Economic growth? improving public schools? energy? confronting radical Islam? Sorry, but they don't have the answers.

 

[opinterph]

Re: Americans without ANY health insurance

44 million Americans are without ANY health insurance.

According to a new report (released this week) by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of uninsured Americans is now 46.6 million.

 

[TongueTied]

Really? "No ideas," huh? I guess that depends on where you look for answers and on what questions you ask. Seems to me that the Democrats ushered in the longest period of economic expansion in the history of our country (1993-2000), brought discipline to the federal budget by running surpluses for the last three years of the Clinton admin, fought to save Social Security, built the world's best military, wisely used the tax code to promote middle class growth and prosperity, and kept the nation out of war. Compare that to the Republicans -- let me know what you think.



Kerry is not the Democratic party -- he was the standard bearer. Second, Kerry very nearly defeated an incumbent president in time of war, an almost impossible task. Indeed, rather than dissing Kerry, one should recall that Bush had the LOWEST margin of victory of ANY US PRESIDENT since 1918.

I ask you: What is the republican plan for reducing the federal debt, a debt they DOUBLED in five years? What is the Republican plan for combatting wage stagnation? What is the Republican plan for increasing employment in the US -- after all, Bush was the first president since Hoover to have NEGATIVE employment growth during their first term? What is the Republican plan for health care -- 44 million Americans are without ANY health insurance. What is the Republican plan for reducing global warming? How are the Republicans going to undo what they have done in Iraq? What are they doing to increase domestic security?

The facts are clear: the Democrats have a history of SOLVING problems, the Republicans have a history of CREATING them.[/QUOTE

The Democrats can't claim all the credit for the budget surplus for the years 1993-2000. You conveniently left out the fact that Republicans controlled Congress (and spending) for 6 of those 7 years. But now that the Republicans control everything, they have spent faster than any Democrat. They have lost any credibility as the party of fiscal conservatism. But can you honestly say the Democrats would do any better? They criticize Bush (rightly) for not submitting a balanced budget but then cry over every program he proposes to cut. And by the way, most of those "cuts" are just decreases in RATE of growth in spending, not actual cuts. You mention wage stagnation. If you want to give those on the lowest end of the wage scale a raise, in addition to raising the minimum wage you need to close down the border and put an end to illegal immigration. With an endless supply of cheap labor pouring over the border every year, wages at the bottom level will NEVER increase. What is the Democratic plan for that? The last time I checked out the offficial Democratic Party web site ( a couple of weeks ago) , there was nothing on there about illegal immigration. The middle class in this country is getting screwed big time. Social security is going broke ( the Democratic plan? ), traditional pensions are all but dead, health care is at the mercy of your employer, federal, state, and local taxes take up a huge part of everyones paycheck, and jobs are being outsourced right and left. The Republicans aren't going to solve these problems, but neither are the Democrats. Hence my point- both parties stink.

 

[snapcat]

Are there any polls on who is favored to win the election?

 

[opinterph]

Another hurdle for Jack Carter is money. The GOP candidate has something like $3 million cash-on-hand and Carter has about one tenth that amount …

The prospect that whichever candidate can afford to purchase the most redundant series of media-based advertisements (e.g. “cash-on-hand”) intrinsically translates to a “winning proposition” is certainly a testament to the sad state of our electoral process in the United States.

Yeah, okay~ let’s not overlook the fact that money can also buy telephone harassment, charismatic minivans to transport folks to the polling station, and a variety of other machinations to influence the outcome. (Yada, yada)


Is the candidate who demonstrates a capacity to garner and exploit the greatest sum of money necessarily the most qualified to represent the important/essential contexts of our societal objectives?

The Dems have bailed America out before, we'll do it again

Consider this analysis from The Social Security Network, featuring research conducted by The Century Foundation, a nonprofit and “nonpartisan ‘think tank’ committed to offering reason and facts in the pursuit of national progress” …

The surprising message of [National Debt as a Percentage of GDP (Figure 2, <above>)] is that every Democratic president [in the past half-century] (Kennedy-Johnson, Carter, and Clinton) left office with the ratio of national debt to income below where it was at the beginning of his administration, while the last three Republican administrations (Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush) have presided over explosive growth of the national debt relative to national income. Since 1960, Republican administrations have added 38 percentage points to the national debt/GDP ratio, while Democratic administrations have subtracted 23 percentage points from that ratio. This record stands on its head all the clichés about who is fiscally responsible.

I wonder .. Do the Republicans truly promote economic freedom, or do they engage in some sort of routine exploitation of monetary policy in order to ensure that their political counterparts must suffer the somewhat unpopular [corrective] role of a “cyclical maid-service” to clean up the mess of their ongoing agenda?

 

[snapcat]

From Desert-Beacon, a NV blog ...

...
Carter - Ensign Statistical Dead Heat



Think the last poll was a fluke? Try the Wall Street Journal/Zogby poll that has Jack Carter's campaign in a statistical dead heat with incumbent Republican John Ensign in the Nevada Senate race.
Ensign 48%
Carter 45%
Ensign's lead is listed as 3.4% and noted as within the margin of error +/- 4.3%.

Democratic Party candidates are shown leading in Washington, New Mexico, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Florida.