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Watching the Election Outcomes
Part One of Three By Dave Andrusko Good afternoon. Part Two looks at the pro-abortion response to the great news from Gallup. Part Three examines Planned Parenthood's disturbing new way to perform chemical abortions. Over at "National Right to Life News Today" (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org), we talk about a New York Times's discussion of "a father's reproductive rights" and how adult stem cells stimulate the healing of bone. Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you'd like, follow me at http://twitter.com/daveha. I have a sneaking suspicion that many of us--and there are many of us--hooked on "American Idol" and the NBA playoffs will be switching channels furiously tonight, not just between reality television and athletics but between these popular forms of entertainment and another kind of "reality" television--elections. By the time you read this, a sizeable bloc of voters will have voted in primary elections. The states getting the most attention are Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Arkansas, which have senatorial contests. All the races are either close or VERY close, with the "undecided" vote likely to play an even larger role than usual because, it is said, there are plenty of them. We'll talk specific outcomes tomorrow. Today just a few general words about what everyone is telling themselves in advance these elections will "mean." We have learned from Republican Scott Brown's colossal upset victory in Massachusetts to succeed the late Sen. Ted Kennedy that even the "safest" seat can switch hands from one party to the other. Voters do not like being taken for granted, but often inertia and habit means they allow their elected officials to assume they have little to fear from an aroused electorate. But in 2010 the ordinary citizen is much more alert to what is going on in Washington, DC than anytime in my adult lifetime. Every election has its own dynamic, but nonetheless the range of explanation for today's outcomes have already been fitted largely into three predetermined categories: as a reflection of anti-Obama, anti-Washington, or anti-incumbent sentiment. And there is some truth to each, and, likely as not, each race will reflect a combination of all three. But whatever happens tonight, come November, to an almost unprecedented extent, citizens from one end of this country to the other will likely be heavily involved. To make the right judgments it is imperative that we inform ourselves where the candidates stand. I have every confidence you will do just that. Please read "National Right to Life News Today" (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org), and send your comments on any article to daveandrusko@gmail.com. |