Election Reflections: Thoughts on the 2006 Elections
Nov/22/2006 07:45 PM | Thoughts from Purple
Land
The election
is over. It's been several weeks now. Pundits have
about exhausted their ability to analyze the
election, and/or used up our ability to tolerate
their views. The public is moving on. So, of course,
it's just now time for me to sit down and write.
As most of you know by now, the election went very well for Dennise. Judge Garcia won re-election as a state district judge in Dallas County. But, not only did she win, she won by an overwhelming margin. Statistically speaking, she won 54-45. In terms of sheer vote count, she won by a margin of more than 31,400. This was as close to a landslide as anyone gets in Dallas County judicial races. And I mean anyone.
For some perspective on this, consider these facts about her win:
Fact: It was the largest statistical win for any judge in this cycle.
Fact: It was the largest vote count difference for any county-wide election in this cycle.
Fact: No other state district judge (Republican or Democrat, Family, Civil, or Criminal) has won by that wide a margin (statistical, or vote count) in any of the last five elections*
The point is, Dennise won big.
Lots of you told us that she would. Lots of you told me not to worry about it. And I can admit to you now: you were right.
But, as you will see in some of what follows, we had our reasons for being concerned.
What follows now are links to a series of essays where I spew-out not only the stuff I've been thinking about since November 7th, but also stuff I've been thinking about since the last election. Nobody else in the world may actually be interested in reading all of this. But, like all my writing, it helps me to get it out. And although it's a lot to post all at once, it about catches me up on blog posts for the month of November.
Since I appear to have so much to say, I've spread these entries out over seven essays, listed below. Here's a brief description of each:
To read my thoughts about election night itself, click here.
To read my thoughts and analysis on why Dallas County turned Democratic in such dramatic fashion, click here.
To read the full extent of my anger over disgusting mailers put out by the Republican Party of Texas, click here.
To read why this election was actually more difficult than the last one (personally, at least) click here.
To read my thoughts on why, despite such disgusting partisanship, I still believe judicial elections are a good idea, click here.
To read my concerns about free speech, political signs, and tolerance in the City of Dallas, click here.
And to read my thoughts about why, despite the flaws of elections, this election restored my faith in democracy, click here.
Read any or all of it. Personally, I think the analysis of Dallas County is especially good. It's the piece where I am able to step back and be as objective as a I can. I analyze actual data, look at trends, and even have a view or two you might not have heard yet from other analysts.
For the opposite end of the spectrum, the piece on the Republican mailers is personal and angry. There's nothing objective about it, and it comes from a place of real personal, righteous anger on my part. (Just keep that in mind...)
The piece about "free speech" tells you some of the stories I've heard over the past two election cycles, and I hope gives us all some reason to pause about how free, or not free, we are to express our political views in this country.
Feel free to click through, and to leave a comment or two at the end. And, as always, thanks for reading. And it's good to be back to something regular like blogging again.
Eric
* It should be noted that several other candidates did almost as well as Dennise in this current election. But before this, you have to go back to 1996 to find Judge Manny Alvarez winning by both a wider total-vote and statistical margin. Besides him, and the several candidates from this year, no one else is close to these numbers, going all the way back to 1992. BTW, I briefly compliment Judge Alvarez for standing up to disgusting Republican tactics in part of this essay.
As most of you know by now, the election went very well for Dennise. Judge Garcia won re-election as a state district judge in Dallas County. But, not only did she win, she won by an overwhelming margin. Statistically speaking, she won 54-45. In terms of sheer vote count, she won by a margin of more than 31,400. This was as close to a landslide as anyone gets in Dallas County judicial races. And I mean anyone.
For some perspective on this, consider these facts about her win:
Fact: It was the largest statistical win for any judge in this cycle.
Fact: It was the largest vote count difference for any county-wide election in this cycle.
Fact: No other state district judge (Republican or Democrat, Family, Civil, or Criminal) has won by that wide a margin (statistical, or vote count) in any of the last five elections*
The point is, Dennise won big.
Lots of you told us that she would. Lots of you told me not to worry about it. And I can admit to you now: you were right.
But, as you will see in some of what follows, we had our reasons for being concerned.
What follows now are links to a series of essays where I spew-out not only the stuff I've been thinking about since November 7th, but also stuff I've been thinking about since the last election. Nobody else in the world may actually be interested in reading all of this. But, like all my writing, it helps me to get it out. And although it's a lot to post all at once, it about catches me up on blog posts for the month of November.
Since I appear to have so much to say, I've spread these entries out over seven essays, listed below. Here's a brief description of each:
To read my thoughts about election night itself, click here.
To read my thoughts and analysis on why Dallas County turned Democratic in such dramatic fashion, click here.
To read the full extent of my anger over disgusting mailers put out by the Republican Party of Texas, click here.
To read why this election was actually more difficult than the last one (personally, at least) click here.
To read my thoughts on why, despite such disgusting partisanship, I still believe judicial elections are a good idea, click here.
To read my concerns about free speech, political signs, and tolerance in the City of Dallas, click here.
And to read my thoughts about why, despite the flaws of elections, this election restored my faith in democracy, click here.
Read any or all of it. Personally, I think the analysis of Dallas County is especially good. It's the piece where I am able to step back and be as objective as a I can. I analyze actual data, look at trends, and even have a view or two you might not have heard yet from other analysts.
For the opposite end of the spectrum, the piece on the Republican mailers is personal and angry. There's nothing objective about it, and it comes from a place of real personal, righteous anger on my part. (Just keep that in mind...)
The piece about "free speech" tells you some of the stories I've heard over the past two election cycles, and I hope gives us all some reason to pause about how free, or not free, we are to express our political views in this country.
Feel free to click through, and to leave a comment or two at the end. And, as always, thanks for reading. And it's good to be back to something regular like blogging again.
Eric
* It should be noted that several other candidates did almost as well as Dennise in this current election. But before this, you have to go back to 1996 to find Judge Manny Alvarez winning by both a wider total-vote and statistical margin. Besides him, and the several candidates from this year, no one else is close to these numbers, going all the way back to 1992. BTW, I briefly compliment Judge Alvarez for standing up to disgusting Republican tactics in part of this essay.
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