Sunday, September 19, 2010
1st Congressional District comment
by Larry Geller
Apples and oranges, I know, but notice the final vote count in the 1st Congressional District primary (all results are on the Office of Elections pages here):
US Representative, Dist 1 - D
HANABUSA, Colleen 80,300 70.0%
DEL CASTILLO, Rafael (Del) 21,473 18.7%
DJOU, Charles 20,292 93.2%
Del Castillo ran at a disadvantage—financially, of course, but he also faced media stonewalling. His remarks were excised in newspaper reports of the debates he was allowed to participate in. Yet he actually got more votes than Djou did.
More indicative is the relatively good showing against the leading candidate, Hanabusa. Despite a disadvantage he polled more than a quarter of the well-financed leading candidate’s votes.
I’m not saying that the comparisons are worth much.
How much better would he have fared if the press reported on candidates other than the top two?
Whatever the count might mean, I hope we see the name Rafael del Castillo on the ballot again in the future. And at the debates, of course, and in the news.
This is how politics works in America. Without publicly financed elections this game is for the big boys and girls with deep pockets. I don't see Del Castillo having more votes than Djou as significant, with the crossover vote being traditional in Hawaii the general election will be a close one.
: September 20, 2010 at 8:56:00 AM HST << Home
Post a Comment
Requiring those Captcha codes at least temporarily, in the hopes that it quells the flood of comment spam I've been receiving.