The problem is that it seems the only way to raise enough money and enthusiasm for a signature/proposition campaign is to have a clear political motive behind you.
Does Elder have any redeeming qualities? Does his candidacy have any purpose other than letting Republican barkers proclaim “Step right up folks! What we have on display here is a GEN-YOU-WINE black Republican!” I mean seriously, a black guy who would have opposed the Civil Rights Act?
It looks like Newsom is going to avoid recall quite handily. But California has got to change this recall process. The rules now seem to be insane.
Those in favor of the recall have drunk the Flav-r-ade that the right-wing news outlets have been suppling, and then they went back for seconds. The general drift is that Newsom has done an absolutely horrible job with the pandemic. A quick look at Worldometers indicates California is 36th in Cases/1M pop, 33rd in Deaths/1M pop, and 10th in Tests/1M pop. Even if these stats are off by a few percentage points, it appears CA has done relatively well in managing the pandemic, and well below the national average in these stats.
The other things they are harping on is the current state of affairs regarding the homeless, taxes, wildfires, the price of gas, etc. etc. - all due to Newsom. Could Newsom have done better on those things, maybe - it’s all just a matter of politics at this point. But as far as the response to the pandemic, which is what got the righties animated in the first place, I am not seeing much there.
And by this, they mean imposing requirements on businesses and individuals to reduce the spread of disease. Their success is defined by lack of personal responsibility, not the number of people infected.
What got them animated in the first place is Newsome being a Democrat.
I was just looking at that site as well, comparing the graphs for “Daily New Cases” and “Daily New Deaths” between California, Texas and Florida, as the charts showing per-million numbers include everything going all the way back to the original outbreak in March 2020, hence the northeastern states still show up among the highest death rates.
While California definitely did not do well during the winter, we now have significantly lower numbers than the next two largest states, especially in deaths (CA’s 7-day average has been just a little over 100 deaths/day while TX has been over 250 and FL over 300).
In the meantime, my phone has been spammed like crazy by pro-recall messages, and interestingly enough, they haven’t been mentioning his Covid policies.
Those two states being Florida and Texas (I’m assuming on Florida) - it’s hardly a fair competition when your opponent is actively trying to lose.
An interesting analysis:
For anyone interested, 538 is live blogging about the election today.
Indeed, Elder entering the race gave voters something to vote against. Back when Gray Davis was recalled, and Arnold jumped in, it probably had the opposite effect.
Have you seen his website? It basically is a clearing house for all the worst clickbait on the internet.
There you have your answer. Larry Elder is the electoral equivalent of bullshit clickbait.
Larry Elder has already given up, before election day even started. Now he’s started a webpage for people to report “election fraud.” He’s nothing more than a mindless Trump wannabe.
I went to that webpage and reported the massive voter fraud I’ve witnessed today. I told them where I saw it: straight up Larry Elder’s ass.
removed a call to action
Haha! Yes, I just went out there and submitted some choice comments!
In other words – “Does Elder have any redeeming qualities, or is he just a traitor to his race?”
43% reporting, no on recall is 70%. I assume this will tighten, but wow.
61% in, 68% no. I’m feeling pretty good about this.
Edit: and while I was typing this post, CNN just called it. Newsom stays.
CNN has projected the “no” will prevail.
Awesome. Currently in Los Angeles County, home county for both candidates, with 100% of precincts partially reporting, Angelyne is beating Caitlyn Jenner by over 1100 votes.
Oh, yeah, and the recall is failing bigtime.
What a lost might-have-been opportunity! Now we’ll never know what kind of governor (governess?) Angelyne could have been. Maybe in 2026?
No. The question is simply “Does Elder have any redeeming qualities?”
And the answer is: yes, he does. He is so odious that he gave Newsom a big boost. What might have been a close recall election turned into a landslide for Newsom.