Special Election Musings
Thursday is the special election to fill the New Castle County Council Presidency position that opened up as a result of Chris Coons’ victory in November. Tim Sheldon (D) and Tom Kovach (R) are the candidates. Their campaigns have picked up steam in the past week with accusations by Sheldon that Kovach hasn’t disclosed potential conflicts of interest. Kovach has launched an ad campaign tying Sheldon to Paul Clark and the skullduggery of county council at-large.
Let me say that I know, and like, both of these guys. I would be proud to have a beer with either of them and I think that they would both be great public servants.
Sheldon has the upper hand here, as a Democrat in a very Democratic part of the state. He will probably be pretty weak below the canal where County Council is often viewed as the least responsive governmental body in the state. That said, his labor ties will help him get out the vote tomorrow and could make the difference.
What interests me are the ramifications of a Kovach win or loss. If Kovach wins, what does it say to the 9/12 crew or the other Tea Partiers? Do they learn to STFU in New Castle County or do they claim that they got Kovach elected?
If Kovach loses, does this put him out of elective politics? Does it cost Tom Ross his job and hand it over to the Protack’s of the party? As a Democrat, which is a better outcome?
What are you looking for tomorrow?
Tags: New Castle County Council President, Tim Sheldon, Tom Kovach
*raises hand to answer question*
If Kovach wins the 9/12 crew will take credit for the victory, and if Kovach loses the 9/12 crew will claim an I told you so victory.
“He will probably be pretty weak below the canal where County Council is often viewed as the least responsive governmental body in the state. ”
Bill Bell is the least responsive body in the government. C’mon DEGOP , if you can’t beat this sack of mud, you need to disband.
I’d have a Beer with George Bush, Hell I’d have one with John Atkins if he was buying.
that sort of statement means nothing when it comes to voting. IMO
I used as shorthand for the fact that I like both of them on a personal level.
Does anyone know where I go vote if I just moved. I changed my driver’s license but don’t have a new registration. Should I go to the old place, or figure out the new place?
AQC:
http://pollingplace.delaware.gov/
This will tell you where the election board has you registered.
If Kovach wins {don’t rule it out; snow on the ground is not conducive to a big union turnout}, it’ll be worth watching what he says to the teabaggers.
Let’s pray he doesn’t thank them and say, “I’m you.”
A Kovach victory is likely to have a greater impact on county government {keeping watch on Paul Clark} than on the state GOP. He might give them hope, but remember, it’s only a special election, where turnout is almost always low, held the day after a snow day in the dreariest month of the year.
Far more important would be Kovach’s answer to a great trivia question: Who won special elections to separate offices two years apart while losing a re-election campaign in between?
I listened to a chunk of the WDEL debate on Monday night. The upshot of Kovach’s position is that we should slash county employee positions and cut employee pay and use the savings to fund tax cuts for business persons. That stock GOP position is revolting and ineffective. Although I have supported some GOP candidates before, Kovach is not even close to having my support.
The NRA is robo-calling on behalf of Kovach.
I’m surprised that Kovach can make the case for making the County more business-friendly while condemning the development impulses. There is a good-sized overlap between business and developers. It isn’t especially credible to me that he is going to stand in the way of some of the worst practices. Paul Clark needs serious watching, but I suspect that any watching Kovach will be doing will be just enough to play to the cameras — not especially effective, but good newspaper or radio copy.
Just got a robo call for Sheldon from Senator Chris Coons.
This is a GOTV election, pure and simple. If the Democratic Party does its job, Sheldon wins. The numbers are too daunting.
While R’s have generally been more effective in mobilizing their base for special elections than the D’s, the internecine warfare in their camp has got to hurt that effort this time.
I don’t think either Sheldon or Kovach has made the kind of argument that would bring people over from the other side. And I’s notoriously don’t vote in specials.
So, I see Sheldon winning handily. By whatever the registration edge that D’s have over R’s in NCC.
I got a robocall from Chris Coons in support of Tim Sheldon.
I got the Coons call too. But most people I talked to this evening didn’t even know there was an election tomorrow. The turnout will be very low, but Sheldon should win pretty easily. It’s one thing to turn out the vote in a single Rep district, as Kovach did two years ago. It’s quite another to do it across the entire county — particularly with the creaky, outdated GOTV machinery the GOP must rely on.
Republicans in general do well in low turn out elections. This one will be abysmal, I think.
The real reason Tim lost is the incredibly low turnout. Less than 10 percent should not even be considered a valid election. I can not believe voter particpation was so low. Well it isn’t like anybody spent much money on publicizing it. The only way any GOP candidate in New Castle County should win any election is the democrats were asleep on election day.