The 9th Primary

Well, the Democratic primary for Jr’s seat is over. Here are few of my passing thoughts.

-When did anti-Semitism get so common?
Was it Mel Gibson’s Jesus snuff film from a couple years ago? At least we know now that film was anti-Semitic. But as a campaign tactic, how does it help a candidate to play the Jew-hating card if several others of the candidates do it too? Doesn’t that just split the African American bigot vote? One candidate should have just called dibs on the bigots and just run with it. It’s confusing to bigot voters to have multiple hate-mongers to vote for.

-Economic efficiency of the campaigns?
Bolton raised $179,000 and got 8,000 votes. That’s $22.38 per vote.
Tinker raised $521,000 and got 19,000 votes. That’s about $26 per vote.
Stanton raised $208,000 and got 6,900 votes. That’s a whopping $30 per vote.
Cohen raised $31,000 and got 23,600 votes. Now this is a model of efficiency. It works out to be $1.31 per vote. How much is a record of achievement and name recognition worth? Priceless

-Tinker Campaign
Personally, I think it was terribly run and strategically flawed. She raised a king’s ransom worth of money. She was in the race since August 2005 but she didn’t campaign until the last 2 months, and even that was half assed. By not introducing herself to voters until so late, she allowed bloggers to characterize her and give the campaigns their talking points about her campaign. What really caught my eye and made me go after her, was A) her contempt for voters and B) the amount of money she raised, especially from out of town. She represented everything I don’t like about the American political system. Wealthy, corporate interests buying lackey politicians devoid of ideals. That really was the last thing we needed here in Memphis. One thing I have learned from Tinker and JW Gibson, political signs with a candidate’s picture on them are invaluable. Linking a face with a name connects with voters and pays off on election day.
I know everyone in the Cohen campaign is celebrating today, but Tinker is going to be back in 2 years. Bloggers and campaign workers, save your postings and research. There will not be a dozen candidates to split the vote either. Someone may run her campaign better next time as well. I’m not sure she could have won this primary, but she could have come a lot closer than she did. Cohen is going to need to spend almost every break from Congress back here in Memphis working in the African American community if he wants to hold onto that seat. I glad Cohen won the primary. If /when he beats Jake Ford, I think Cohen will be a star for actually standing up for the interests of the 9th. I can’t wait to see the fiery speeches on CSPAN.