America!

I’m not sure that I really “made freedom count,” but the grandiosity of the phrase appeals to me somehow.  There was a primary election today, entirely for local offices and more or less serving as a surrogate for the actual election this fall.  For the most part the Republicans refuse to run remotely credible candidates and whoever gets out of the primary is virtually certain to win election in the fall provided that they are still alive at the time– and whether that is actually necessary has yet to be tested empirically.

I happen to know the Republican candidate for mayor.  Her daughter is a former student, in fact.  She is madhouse, bugfuck, shitheap crazy, and is less qualified to be Mayor than I am to give birth.  Luckily, she’s also less likely to be Mayor than I am to give birth; she’s managed to raise $225 for her campaign so far and the Republican establishment is running from her as fast as they can.  When I say the Republicans refuse to run credible candidates, this is what I mean, as she’s running unopposed.  The last time they ran a credible candidate for Mayor was eight years ago, I think; the last time round they ran an assortment of local malcontents and an actual, no-bullshit hobo.  The guy eight years ago came reasonably close to winning, especially considering that he made a critical mistake in his campaign and ran against the city instead of running against the mayor.  This has always seemed to me to be a common problem with Republicans; “this thing sucks and is terrible and unnecessary so put me in charge of it” is not a winning proposition.

But anyway.  Mayor Bootyjudge will coast past his primary opponent, and so I’m mostly looking at the City Clerk’s race and the City Council.  I’ve met five of the candidates, which seems weird.  It’ll be interesting to see how quickly the races are called tonight.  Polls close at seven; I’m betting it’s all over by eight.