2016 Statewides–LG–Handicapping a Scrum

2016 Statewides–LG–Handicapping a Scrum

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We have a Republican style free for all in the primary for Lt. Governor. For the first time in many decades, the office is open with no obvious "next in line" candidate running, hence the scrum. State Senator Bethany Hall Long seems to be the favorite, or at least, the establishment favorite, as she has garnered significant support from Legislative Hall, which of course is natural given her current job, including 14 of her fellow Democratic legislators, led by Patti Blevins and Dave McBride. But, trying to handicap this primary is more difficult than the Congressional primary because the lanes of the primary is not as obvious.
Wednesday Open Thread [12.16.2015]

Wednesday Open Thread [12.16.2015]

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Dylan Matthews reveals the real winner of the GOP Debate last night: Hillary Clinton.
If you asked Hillary Clinton to rank her preferred general election opponents in order, odds are that Cruz and Trump would top the list. Trump is a candidate almost tailor-made to energize Latino turnout and turn the demographic even more strongly pro-Democratic. And Cruz has most of Trump's substantive liabilities plus has proposed a massive 16 percent sales tax on everything. Both of them are extremely potent boogeymen to get base Democrats enraged/energized. And none of them have the ability to make inroads with young and Latino voters that Marco Rubio has. And so when Trump and Cruz win a debate, Clinton implicitly wins the debate as well. She's getting exactly the Republican primary she wants, and it shows no signs of getting worse for her anytime soon.
In Which We Find That Bud Freel Was Right

In Which We Find That Bud Freel Was Right

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So jump to now, where we discover that the WFD is 6 months into its budget and $300,000 over its overtime budget for the year. What does that mean? It means that the rolling company shutdowns are back as a cost cutting measure AND both Goode and Williams are now quite open to eliminating those vacant positions: The higher-than-average overtime cost was blamed on five vacancies in the department and coverage for personnel out because of injury or extended sick leave. As a result, Goode said one of the city's fire companies will regularly be shut down on a rotating basis to offset the costs and he could move to eliminate a handful of vacant positions in the agency. [...]