Post by Mutanatia on Jun 16, 2014 1:37:59 GMT -5
Mut's Congressional and Gubernatorial Draft, Round 1: Texas
This is part of a biannual project. The goal of this project is to determine which Congressional Candidates, as well as Gubernatorial candidates, add up to what I believe to be the correct blend. I will take Republicans as well as Democrats. We are dealing with everything on a grand scale, the sum-total of a candidate. I assigned each tangible/understandable "big idea" a value of -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 based on my priorities and overall negative/positive feelings towards these issues.
Background: The very first state to have its House, Senate, and Gubernatorial primaries, Texas is is along the Mexican border. As such, immigration is a hot issue. It is also home to many military forts, the most notable being Fort Hood. As a result, Veterans are also a huge issue in Texas.
Instant Negative 2s: Having had four elderly grandparents and tow family members on the way to retirement, cutting social security and medicare are instant turnoffs. Having many gay friends in my life as well, anything anti-gay or (in the case of women) anti-personal choice with polarizing views--such as overturning Roe v. Wade-- was a negative two as well. Along the same lines, I was in favor of not reserving taxpayer money to fund abortions. This is because a sizable chunk of the American population does not agree with abortion. Amnesty for illegal immigrants was a turn off, as was guaranteed jobs and money because that implies more government growth.
Instant Positive 2s: Anything pro-veteran. I love veterans and always thank them for their service. Pro-veteran is a stance that I can say exists for me unequivocally. So, too, was anything in favor of reducing taxes, as well as anything with deregulation so long as the keyword "burden" was used. Finally, balancing the budget is a priority as well.
No Hyperpartisan Rhetoric: This was an instance negative 2 as well. Hyperpartisan Rhetoric in language that implies anti-Democra, "Teapublican," or anything anti-political using the term "extremists" in terms of US politicians. This is because hyperpartisan rhetoric demonstrates an unwillingness to work across party lines.
Most Negative Candidate: Neugebauer was the only candidate to achieve a negative rating. He went big on social issues and lost. Badly.
Most Positive Candidate: Wesley Reed gets the honors in this case. If you check his website, all of his views are written out in thesis form so not only can you see the blanket statement; you can also see the logic that happens to be behind it.
Note: There are many other issues that scored positive using my system. However, the ones found above seem to be unique or key to Texas.
Races that Need more Research: These are the races that I could not decide on as of yet. The second-round draft, done once we go through the first time, will fix these races. The too-close-to-call races are:
Minter-Thorberry
O'Rourke-Roen
Veila-Smith
Davis-Abbott
Candidates with Websites Broken: In this case, since it would be an unfair result, I abstained from these races and will defer to the Texan people. The deferential races are:
10th District
17th District
18th District
Candidates with No Democrat/Republican Counterpart: In keeping with Politico's website, races without a Republican or Democrat listed default to the Incumbent. Those Districts are:
3rd
4th
5th
8th
9th
11th
20th
21st
28th
29th
33rd
My Choices, My Priorities: These are my choices for Texas's election this year. Remember that this is not a list of endorsements. No candidate is 100% perfect. They just happen to line up the best with me on the whole.
1st: McKellar (D)
2nd: Poe (R)
3rd: (Default)
4th: (Default)
5th: (Default)
6th: Barton (R)
7th: Culberson (R)
8th: (Default)
9th: (Default)
10th: (Defer)
11th: (Default)
12th: Greene (D)
13th: (Too Close to Call)
14th: Brown (D)
15th: Hinojosa (D)
16th: (Too close to call)
17th: (Defer)
18th: (Defer)
19th: Marchbanks (D)
20th: (Default)
21st: (Default)
22nd: Olson (R)
23rd: Gallego (D)
24th: McGehearty (D)
25th: Montoya (D)
26th: (Default)
27th: Reed (D)
28th: (Default)
29th: (Default)
30th: (Default)
31st: Minor (D)
32nd: Sessions (R)
33rd: (Default)
34th: (Too Close to Call)
35th: Doggett (D)
36th: Cole (D)
Senator: John Cornyn
Governor: (Too Close to Call)
Final Ideal "Genetic Political Makeup" of Texas: If I was able to have my way, there would be 19 Democrats and 11 Republicans at first blush. The Senator would be Republican.
Total Count so Far:
1 Republican, 0 Democrats in Senate
19 Democrats, 11 Republicans in House with 6 unknowns/defers
1 Unknown Governor
This is part of a biannual project. The goal of this project is to determine which Congressional Candidates, as well as Gubernatorial candidates, add up to what I believe to be the correct blend. I will take Republicans as well as Democrats. We are dealing with everything on a grand scale, the sum-total of a candidate. I assigned each tangible/understandable "big idea" a value of -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 based on my priorities and overall negative/positive feelings towards these issues.
Background: The very first state to have its House, Senate, and Gubernatorial primaries, Texas is is along the Mexican border. As such, immigration is a hot issue. It is also home to many military forts, the most notable being Fort Hood. As a result, Veterans are also a huge issue in Texas.
Instant Negative 2s: Having had four elderly grandparents and tow family members on the way to retirement, cutting social security and medicare are instant turnoffs. Having many gay friends in my life as well, anything anti-gay or (in the case of women) anti-personal choice with polarizing views--such as overturning Roe v. Wade-- was a negative two as well. Along the same lines, I was in favor of not reserving taxpayer money to fund abortions. This is because a sizable chunk of the American population does not agree with abortion. Amnesty for illegal immigrants was a turn off, as was guaranteed jobs and money because that implies more government growth.
Instant Positive 2s: Anything pro-veteran. I love veterans and always thank them for their service. Pro-veteran is a stance that I can say exists for me unequivocally. So, too, was anything in favor of reducing taxes, as well as anything with deregulation so long as the keyword "burden" was used. Finally, balancing the budget is a priority as well.
No Hyperpartisan Rhetoric: This was an instance negative 2 as well. Hyperpartisan Rhetoric in language that implies anti-Democra, "Teapublican," or anything anti-political using the term "extremists" in terms of US politicians. This is because hyperpartisan rhetoric demonstrates an unwillingness to work across party lines.
Most Negative Candidate: Neugebauer was the only candidate to achieve a negative rating. He went big on social issues and lost. Badly.
Most Positive Candidate: Wesley Reed gets the honors in this case. If you check his website, all of his views are written out in thesis form so not only can you see the blanket statement; you can also see the logic that happens to be behind it.
Note: There are many other issues that scored positive using my system. However, the ones found above seem to be unique or key to Texas.
Races that Need more Research: These are the races that I could not decide on as of yet. The second-round draft, done once we go through the first time, will fix these races. The too-close-to-call races are:
Minter-Thorberry
O'Rourke-Roen
Veila-Smith
Davis-Abbott
Candidates with Websites Broken: In this case, since it would be an unfair result, I abstained from these races and will defer to the Texan people. The deferential races are:
10th District
17th District
18th District
Candidates with No Democrat/Republican Counterpart: In keeping with Politico's website, races without a Republican or Democrat listed default to the Incumbent. Those Districts are:
3rd
4th
5th
8th
9th
11th
20th
21st
28th
29th
33rd
My Choices, My Priorities: These are my choices for Texas's election this year. Remember that this is not a list of endorsements. No candidate is 100% perfect. They just happen to line up the best with me on the whole.
1st: McKellar (D)
2nd: Poe (R)
3rd: (Default)
4th: (Default)
5th: (Default)
6th: Barton (R)
7th: Culberson (R)
8th: (Default)
9th: (Default)
10th: (Defer)
11th: (Default)
12th: Greene (D)
13th: (Too Close to Call)
14th: Brown (D)
15th: Hinojosa (D)
16th: (Too close to call)
17th: (Defer)
18th: (Defer)
19th: Marchbanks (D)
20th: (Default)
21st: (Default)
22nd: Olson (R)
23rd: Gallego (D)
24th: McGehearty (D)
25th: Montoya (D)
26th: (Default)
27th: Reed (D)
28th: (Default)
29th: (Default)
30th: (Default)
31st: Minor (D)
32nd: Sessions (R)
33rd: (Default)
34th: (Too Close to Call)
35th: Doggett (D)
36th: Cole (D)
Senator: John Cornyn
Governor: (Too Close to Call)
Final Ideal "Genetic Political Makeup" of Texas: If I was able to have my way, there would be 19 Democrats and 11 Republicans at first blush. The Senator would be Republican.
Total Count so Far:
1 Republican, 0 Democrats in Senate
19 Democrats, 11 Republicans in House with 6 unknowns/defers
1 Unknown Governor
