The other candidates in D3 and D 11By Tim Redmond
We poured a lot of ink this week into the races in D1, D3 and D11,, since those are the swing districts.
And while most of what we wrote about focused on the front-running progressives in those races -- Eric Mar, David Chiu and John Avalos -- I don't want anyone to forget that these are ranked-choice voting contests.
That means there will be no runoffs. Randy Shaw thinks that might be a bad thing; he says Avalos would easily beat Safai in a December runoff, but given the anti-Avalos money, I'm not sure that's true.
At any rate, RCV is the process now -- and in every one of these swing races, the outcome will depend on the second- and third-place votes.
So if you live in D1, D3 or D11, remember: It's not enough just to put your top candidate first. It's also important NOT to put Sue Lee, Joe Alioto or Ahsha Safai on your list at all. The don't-vote-for vote is as important as the do-vote-for.
We've endorsed three candidates in D 11 and D 3. And I've urged that in D3, Chiu and Denise McCarthy work together to stop Alioto. As a matter of strategy, I think it makes sense to vote a full ballot in those districts. (I wish I could say the same in D1, but other than Eric Mar, there's really nobody worth voting for, so bullet vote in that one.)
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Comments (2)
Hey Timid,
You're too pessimistic. Mar will win easily in D-1 as will Avalos in D-11 and Sanchez in D-9. I guess better then anyone in town and I'll release my predictions around 4pm on Tuesday. There are 32 measures and candidate slots to be voted up or down and I don't want to influence a single vote with my predictions cause they are often not the same as my endorsements.
You continue to dis Tony Gantner in D-3. He's the only candidate likely to vote a Progressive agenda beginning with the BOS prez.
Bruce Wolfe should have been on your cover. The City College Board deals with, what, 100k students or something? He damned near pulled it off last time and a push from y'all (even if just online) now would be a helper. Luke Thomas says he's gonna give him a write-up and control of that board would be a real coup.
I voted for Nader/Gonzalez for 2 reasons, since you asked. First, they're far and away the best candidates and second, Obama has CA locked up.
I errored on one of my selections (State Bond #3 for children's hospitals) but I'll stand by other 31.
I wish your online presence had more traffic. There's a gaping hole for chat out there, especially just before the election.
h.
Posted by h. brown | November 1, 2008 11:41 AM
Tim is right. D3 voters should rank choice McCarthy, Chiu, and Gantner in whatever order they prefer. All three would be better representatives than Alioto Jr.
It's important NOT to vote for Alioto Jr. If Alioto Jr. wins, he's the type of guy who might be on a trajectory to higher office given his family name and big money support.
Interestingly, Alioto Jr. told the Guardian he never claimed to be a former prosecutor, yet just watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCgg3kgk8fI
Now Alioto Jr. is lying about him lying about being a former prosecutor. Keep digging Joe.
Posted by Joe The Prosecutor | November 2, 2008 01:16 AM