Tag Archives: Elections

Turmoil Spreads to U.S. Embassy in Yemen

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SANA, Yemen — Turmoil in the Arab world linked to an American-made video denigrating the Prophet Muhammad spread on Thursday to Yemen, where hundreds of protesters attacked the American Embassy, two days after assailants killed the American ambassador in Libya and crowds tried to overrun the embassy compound in Cairo.

News reports also spoke of a separate protest in Tehran, where around 500 Iranians chanting “Death to America” tried to converge on the Swiss Embassy, which handles United States interests in the absence of formal diplomatic relations with Washington. Hundreds of police officers held the crowds back from the diplomatic compound, witnesses said.

For a third straight day at the American Embassy in Cairo, protesters scuffled with police firing tear gas, witnesses said, and the state news agency reported that 13 people were injured. In Iraq, a militant Shiite group, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, once known for its violent attacks on Americans and other Westerners, reportedly said the video “will put all American interests in danger.” Protests were also reported at American missions in Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia, where the police also fired tear gas to disperse crowds.

Read more at Washington Times

President Obama’s Chair at the intelligence brief the week before the attacks was empty. But the Muslim Brotherhood is apologetic. Until the next terrorist attack.

GOP Suing to Keep Third Parties Off Ballot in November

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Gary Johnson

Around the country, the Republican Party is mounting legal challenges to keep third-party candidates off the ballot in November.

Writer Karl Dickey reports in the Examiner that “in recent weeks, with the full support and legal assistance of the Republican Party, [Gary] Johnson’s ballot status has been challenged in Michigan, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, Iowa and now Ohio.” Gary Johnson (pictured) is the former governor of New Mexico and the Libertarian Party’s candidate for president of the United States. As of this writing, Johnson is on the ballot in 43 states.

On September 1 the Ohio voters challenging Johnson’s appearance on the November ballot officially withdrew their opposition. In the one-page notice filed with the office of Ohio’s secretary of state, Kelly Mills and Cynthia Rees did not explain their decision to drop their protest.

It could be related to the decision of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision handed down on August 31 dismissing the Ohio state legislature’s appeal of a U.S. district court ruling putting the Libertarian Party on the ballot for 2012.

Read more at The New American

Gallup Sued by DOJ after Unfavorable Obama Polls, Employment Numbers

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Don’t like the poll numbers anymore? Join the California mentality.

Senior Obama Campaign adviser David Axelrod reportedly contacted The Gallup Organization to discuss the company’s research methodology after their poll’s findings were unfavorable to the President. After declining to adjust their methodology, Gallup was named in an unrelated lawsuit by the DOJ.

Axelrod took to Twitter to direct people to an article by the National Journal’s Ron Brownstein suggesting a flaw in Gallup’s methodology. Brownstein compared Gallup’s demographic sampling predictions to previous election exit polls as well as contemporaneous research released by Pew, CNN/ORC and ABC/WaPo.

More at Breitbart TV

Romney’s “RNC Power Grab”: What Really Happened

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By Dean Clancy on August 29, 2012

Determined to neuter the grassroots and head off future insurgencies like those of Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and Ron Paul, Republican party bosses have pulled off an audacious coup, high-handedly turning the Grand Old Party into a much more top-down, centralized party.

Yesterday, the Republican National Committee in Tampa adopted some rules changes that shift power from the state parties and the grassroots to the RNC and the GOP presidential nominee. Former Governor John Sununu of New Hampshire touted the new rules as providing “a strong governing framework” for the party over the next four years. But in fact the new rules should be very troubling and disappointing to conservative grassroots activists, because they move the national Republican Party away from being a decentralized, bottom-up party toward becoming a centralized, top-down party.

The Romney rules effectively disenfranchise grassroots delegates, and will thus tend to weaken and splinter the party over time. They specifically represent a blow to the Tea Party and the Ron Paul insurgency — to “the Republican wing of the Republican party” — to citizens who are strongly committed to economic freedom, fiscal common sense, and smaller, constitutionally limited government — and who want to have a voice in the Grand Old Party. The new rules force these grassroots conservatives to reconsider their future within the GOP.

Party sage and long-time RNC member (and conservative activist) Morton Blackwell led a last-minute effort to stop the changes — an effort FreedomWorks strongly supported, together with Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. Phyllis Schlafly and RNC for Life also got involved, while Michelle Malkin, Mark Levin, and Rush Limbaugh helped sound the alarm.

Read more at FreedomWorks

Primary Election results

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FLAGSTAFF—While the RNC was battling over rules 12, 15, candidates were vying for political positions in Coconino County. There are still two precincts to report as of this writing, but the results are not likely to change much.

In Coconino County, Republicans selected Jeff Flake over closest rival Wil Cardon to represent them against the only Democrat challenger Richard Carmona. The votes were 3,937 to 1,118. Choices statewide were pretty much as expected. Jeff Flake is the choice to face Richard Carmona in November.

Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick is favored to face Republican Jonathan Paton for Representative for District 1; both drawing overwhelming support.

Incumbent Chester Crandell will face Democratic challenger Tom Chabin for State Senator for District 6. They were the only candidates for their respective parties.

For District 7, Jack C. Jackson was the only Democrat listed and there were 93 write in votes for a Republican candidate which is not enough to get the name on the ballot in November.

For State Representatives, District 6 selected Democrats Doug Ballard and Angela Lefevre to face Republicans Brenda Barton and Bob Thorpe.

Democrats Albert Hale, Jamescita Peshlakai and Phil Stago were the only candidates running for State Representative for District 7. Phil Stago appears to have been edged out of the running.

The big battle over a choice for Judge for District V court appears to be settled. Justice of the Peace Cathleen Nichols forced out Joe Lodge who gave up his bid to run as a Libertarian and then a write in. Republican Gary Robbins stepped in as a write in candidate. 1,162 votes were cast and if all went for the official write in candidate, Gary Robbins’ name will appear on the November ballot facing Cathleen Nichols.
Sheriff Bill Pribil, the only Democrat, took his primary. Glen Davis filed as the only official write in candidate for Sheriff and there were 371 write in votes. If all were for Davis, his name will appear on the November ballot as he has to receive 361 votes.

Although there were no Republican challengers for the board of supervisor positions, Art Babbot was the Democrat selected in the Board of Supervisors District 1 to face Gail Dent of the Change Status Quo party.

In District 3, Matt Ryan will face Independent candidate Jack Duram of Flagstaff.

Democrat Patty Hansen will face Independent Troy Troutman of Parks for the office of County Recorder.

There were write in votes for Libertarians, Green Party and Americans Elect party, but their names are not known or if they garnered enough votes to appear on the ballot in November.

Statewide, with not all precincts reporting, it appears that only about 23% of voters turned out to vote in the primary. Coconino county is sitting at about 22% of voters.

ELECTION UNCONFIDENTIAL

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True election stories from the south-west.

A friend of mine went in to vote in the August primary. Showing her drivers license (since she is a naturalized American, she has to show one.) the campaign volunteer noticed the expiration date of December 2012. Curiously (since this is August), the campaign worker asked if her license was expired.

My friend, not one to mince words, replied, “If it was December, that damn Obama wouldn’t be in office!”

The polling station became quiet.

Fox News poll: Voters want Uncle Sam to ‘Leave me alone’

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A Fox News poll asks which of two messages voters would send to the federal government. A 54-percent majority would tell Uncle Sam to “leave me alone,” while 35 percent would ask Washington to “lend me a hand.”

That’s just one of the findings from the poll, released Thursday, that asks likely voters about the role of government, the Democratic and Republican tickets and the future of the nation.

Democrats (59 percent) are nearly four times as likely as Republicans (15 percent) to say they would tell the government to “lend me a hand.”

Likewise, Republicans (80 percent) are about three times as likely as Democrats (27 percent) to say “leave me alone.”

Read more at FOX news

Northern Arizona schools consider bond and override issues in November

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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Coconino County voters within the Page Unified School District #8 (PUSD) and Williams Unified School District #2 (WUSD) will consider override election questions, while those within the Flagstaff Unified School District #1 (FUSD) will decide a special bond election.

In November, Flagstaff voters will decide a Special Bond Election, which will allow the district to issue and sell Class B general obligation bonds in the principal amount of not to exceed $20,790,000 to fund capital improvements.

Williams Unified School District voters will decide the issue of an override election to exceed its revenue control limit by 10 percent. They will be asked to vote on whether, “To adopt a General Maintenance and Operation Budget which exceeds the revenue control limit specified by statute by ten percent for fiscal years 2013-2014 through 2017-2018, such percentage of the District’s allowable revenue control limit will be phased down by one-third in fiscal year 2018-2019 and two-third in fiscal year 2019-2020. The override is a continuation of the existing ten percent override that was previously approved by the voters in fiscal year 2006-2007. If the override is not approved for continuation, the existing ten percent override will phase out by reducing one-third for fiscal year 2013-2014 and another one-third in fiscal 2014-2015.”

Page voters will decide to exceed its revenue control by 15 percent and, “To adopt a General Maintenance and Operation Budget which exceeds the revenue control limit specified by statute by fifteen percent for fiscal years 2013-2014 through 2017-2018 and in fiscal years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, the amount of the proposed increase will be ten percent and five percent, respectively, of the District’s revenue control limit in each of such years. The 2013-2014 budget override authority represents an extension and increase of the existing ten percent and five percent budget overrides. The District’s existing ten percent override is currently in its first year of the phase out period and has been reduced by one-third for fiscal year 2012-2013. If the override is not approved for continuation, the existing ten percent override will phase out by reducing by another one-third for fiscal year 2013-2014. The existing five percent will phase down by one-third in each fiscal year 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.”

For information on the issues in Flagstaff, Williams and Page you can call 928-527-6062, 928-635-4473 and 928-608-4157 respectively.