I still haven’t decided if I’m running for alder, mayor or just working the media angle for this spring . . .
With the fall elections, there is no point in trying to break through the noise to get people’s attention or with the massive fundraising going on to find out what my fundraising prospects are, so I’ve made no decision and won’t until after the November elections. And, I swear, I change my mind about what I want to do every time I talk to someone. There are good reasons to do all three. There are some good reasons not to do a couple of them.
Meanwhile, I continue my media work with WORT 89.9 FM (A Public Affair every other Tuesday), WYOU channel 95 or 991 (Monday’s at 5:00pm, Tuesday 6:00 am, 8:30 pm, Wednesday at 10am, Saturday 5:00pm, Sunday 4am) and my blogging here.
And . . . THIS is the main point of my post. I won’t be making endorsements for any candidates for now. And, I will try to continue to be as transparent as possible. Everyone knows I am a long time Green Party and Progressive Dane member and advocate. So, I have biases towards third party candidates. And I am also lefty, with progressive politics and I’m decidedly not a democrat. So that will color my posts. But, I will try to report fairly when reporting and make my biases known when voicing my opinions. If I decide to run for office, I will likely make endorsements after that decision has been made.
Meanwhile . . . things are getting VERY interesting for this spring! Makes me very tempted to go with the media/blogger role!
Brenda, I’d like to hear your (or other’s) thoughts on how it might be possible to break the stalemate of the near impossibility of electing someone outside of the top 2 political parties.
I’ve thought it would be good to have a second choice option in the voting booth, so people can vote for their top pick, as well as a their next choice, and assuming the top one didn’t get elected, their vote would revert to their second one.
I understand that would be a dream for some and a nightmare for others, but there must be some way of voting for who you really want without diluting the count for your second place party.
What other thoughts have been discussed over time. I really would love to see a lot more potential for third party candidates to have a shot at getting elected, on all levels.
IRV or Instant Runoff Voting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting
Excellent. I’d never asked the question before, tho the idea has been in my mind for a long, long time. Nice to hear that there is something reasonably workable in place already.
Next good trick is getting people firmly entrenched in the big two parties to agree to consider it.
One of the articles I followed mentioned it being used in school elections. Got me thinking it would probably be something that might take a number of generations to before it would end up in common use. I.E.: not in our lifetime.
But, there is hope, long term.
Any short term implementations on the horizon that you are aware of?