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Mar 25

How do you pronounce ‘moderate’?

Category: Misc

By Denise Ross

OK, so I’ll be moderating a discussion amongst Pennington County Democrats on Thursday evening (tomorrow). And it just now struck me the double entendre (not the naughty kind, tho) inherent in the word “moderate” and “moderator” when it comes to political parties, especially these days.

The Dems are asking themselves why their local legislative candidates did collectively and individually worse than the top-ticket Dems, Herseth and Obama. The fun begins at 6 p.m. at the labor temple on St. Patrick Street in Rapid City. It’s open to the public.

I haven’t studied the numbers, but my impression from a few conversations is that Obama - while perhaps not winning - did better than the local guys. Plus Herseth cleaned up, winning almost everywhere if not in fact everywhere and, therefore, did way better than the legislative folks.

A few factors to consider:

  • Newly registered voters in 2008 were heavily Democratic, perhaps as high as 9 to 1 (I’m told).
  • One might think that undervoting - where the newbies voted for the top-ticket Dems and then abandoned ship - might explain a whole lot of this, I’m told the undervote on the GOP side pretty much matches for the Dem candidates.
  • This likely means that either Republicans crossed over to vote for Herseth and some for Obama, or Democrats crossed over to vote for GOP legislative candidates.

Also, I’d like to note that I’m doing this to hone my public presentation skills - and because I’m a junkie for this kind of analysis - and not out of any allegiance to the Dems. I’d do this or something similar just as readily for the GOP, should they ask.

Meanwhile, there’s a much more pointed discussion about this situation by Sam Hurst over at Dakota Day, if you haven’t seen it. 

Here’s a taste:

“If you were a west river Democrat, what would you do next?” …

“(F)irst I would dip the barrel of my pistol in a jar of honey. Then I would put it in my mouth, suck on the honey, and blow my brains out.”

Thank goodness I’m not a West River Democrat! Are you?

3 Comments so far

  1. Todd Epp March 25th, 2009 7:19 pm

    Good luck in your attempt at cat herding ;)

    Thanks. I think I’ll need it. -Denise

  2. Rebekah Cradduck March 26th, 2009 7:38 am

    This could be an excellent opportunity to actually talk about voting and trends. Either the West River Republicans are voting in our National Democrats or the West River Democrats are not supporting their local Democratic candidates. Slicing and dicing the voting data would be very useful. Good luck, I will expect some sort of update after the discussion.

  3. Lee Schoenbeck March 28th, 2009 9:54 am

    Denise — we political junkies will await your analysis. Are you sleeping through the night yet, and do all your clothes now have the white stain on the shoulder - after 4 children I can asure you that the suits and shirts come clean after they stop catching all that formula :)

    Lee - Analysis is forthcoming. Had baby’s shots on Friday, so that was sort of a long day, but I haven’t forgotten the Hoghouse. (Preview - SD as purple state and redistricting are in the mix.) Yes, the white stains are on many clothing items. All part of the joy of parenting! -Denise

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