Here's why Kokesh's candidacy is interesting
Posted 7/13/2009 09:29:00 PM
Here’s an example of why Adam Kokesh’s bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., next year is so interesting.
On Sunday night I posted a poll on this site asking whether Luján or Kokesh would win a potential battle between the two next year. Mid-morning today, about 45 people had voted, with about 67 percent picking Luján.
As of the publication of this posting, the poll has 609 votes. Kokesh is winning with 539, or 89 percent of all votes cast in the poll.
What happened?
As I’ve written before, Kokesh, an Iraq war veteran turned antiwar activist, is an active member of Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty. It’s a nationwide movement of libertarian-believing people who are passionate about their support for Paul, a congressman and former presidential candidate, and his vision for America.
And, from all over the nation, they have their eyes on Kokesh’s campaign.
Kokesh tweeted earlier today about this site’s poll.
“Vote NOW! Kokesh vs. Lujan poll on popular local political blog!” he (or someone from his campaign) wrote on his Twitter page, and included a link to this site.
That alerted Kokesh supporters, who posted links to this site on two Paul-supporting message boards (here and here) and asked people to vote in the poll.
That’s all it took for Kokesh to leap way ahead in the poll, which is obviously unscientific.
Such people are also giving to Kokesh’s campaign. He has a donation counter displayed on his home page that indicates he’s already raised an impressive $50,000. The counter is cycling through names and locations of people who have contributed, and virtually none of them live in New Mexico.
Kokesh’s candidacy should be one of the most supported by people living outside the district he’s seeking to represent of any in the nation next year. Will that help convince voters living in the district? Time will tell.
Labels: 2010 election, 3rd Congressional District race, Non-scientific polls, Washington
11 Comments:
I guess it's flattering that your polls have received nationwide attention, but most of the people who voted in this one (and in the Teague-Pearce matchup) probably are not residents of New Mexico and will not be voting in the poll that counts come next November.
How is Lujan doing with fundraising. Will the party come to his resue if Kokesh keeps the pressure on.
I am sure this candidate is better than Ben Ray Lujan, (I think any candidate would be...) I feel that we need someone that brings more than anti-war sentiment to the table. We need someone with the knowledge and ideas that can help the people of Northern New Mexico.
This includes job creation and economic recovery. I don't think either of these guys have the experience on these issues.
My advice to Kokesh is get a party affiliation. Let's remember Ron Paul lost duh!I will be glad to give this guy a brown paper bag to wear over his head,he can be the unknown candidate. The other things he is going to have in order to win in that district is to be hispanic and have a father that is the state's speaker of the house. Then maybe he can play in a level playing field. Until then i don't give the poll must credence.
Certainly, La Politica is very powerful in CD3, thus Lujan is very entrenched even as a freshman thanks to his "politics". But if and when the majority of CD3 voters wake up and see the Democrats we voted for last time, who promised things like a balanced budget, reduced deficits, and an end to the useless, wasteful (in money and human lives and suffering), unnecessary wars, were just lying about doing anything about them, they will vote for someone who will do something. Maybe this new guy is it?
Ben Ray Lujan:
Voted more money for the occupations abroad.
Refuses to support the bill to audit the Fed: HR 1207.
No leadership on peace and freedom, no vote.
Leland Lehrman
J. Ramiriez:
"This includes job creation and economic recovery. I don't think either of these guys have the experience on these issues."
If you want a job like this then by all means look toward government to create them:
• sitting in a cubicle bossing people around about how they can landscape their yard or how many shots full of mercury their children are mandated to get in school
• spying on your fellow citizens for the NSA or in Obama's "civilian security force"
• digging ditches for the next "bridge to nowhere" project
Adam Kokesh realizes that as a politician it's not his place to "create jobs". He knows that the only way to see that real jobs which require brains, drive, and creativity get created is to get government out of the way so that business owners can create them.
Adam does need a part affiliation - sooner or later. I suppose that's just the way business is done. But it's exciting to see a young man garner this much support and coverage this early ON HIS OWN STEAM alone, and without being bankrolled by an established political base. There's one thing you can take away from such a fact: nobody owns Adam Kokesh.
If a voter requires a candidate have red or blue bumper sticker before he can be taken seriously, that voter isn't voting for what counts. Not supporting an awesomely qualified candidate because he doesn't have a party affiliation is like not inviting the neighbors over for tea because they don't own a Mercedes or wear Louis Vuitton. Get over it. I'm tired of those kind of people running the world the rest of us live in. Adam represents an honest and novel departure from politics as usual, and I've got a sneaking suspicion he could just pull this one off.
Flavaflame -
No kidding. Politicians don't crate jobs. Democrats are trying their hand at that as we speak, and look how that is turning out. We are near double-digit unemployment numbers.
We need politicians that will focus their policy on job creation. This means taxing less and getting more employees on payroll.
And what is up with Kokesh's signs all over town (Santa Fe). The election is still several months away; don't we have laws against campaign signs on public display when it is not campaign season? What an eyesore.
J. Ramirez:
"We need politicians that will focus their policy on job creation. This means taxing less and getting more employees on payroll."
How can a politician get more employees on payroll? Whose payroll? His? The government's? The lobbyists who try to buy his favors?
The fact is, a politician can't create a single job without destroying a corresponding job that would have been created competitively in the private sector (lobbyists' efforts notwithstanding). The only properly created job by government is one that is specifically allowed for in the constitution (military, courts, etc.). Every other job should be created in the private sector, keeping prices for the end user competitive in the process.
Flava -
Perhaps I wasn't too clear.
Lower taxes = Less Cost for the PRIVATE SECTOR.
Lower Costs for the Private Sector =
MORE JOBS.
Believe it or not, there are some of us that think that job creation should be made through free market activity, not by politicos that hire their cousins for important jobs.
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