Suspense has been high in Connecticut over whether the state legislature will revise the state’s Public Funding law this year. The legislature convened on Tuesday, December 15, but then adjourned after just a few minutes. But it will probably return on Monday, December 21, and at that time it may act.
On December 15, New York state released the final and official vote totals for the special election for U.S. House in the 23rd district. The results are: William Owens, 66,548 on the Democratic line and 6,589 on the Working Families line, for a total of 73,137. Douglas Hoffman, 69,553 on the Conservative line. Dede Scozzafava, 7,260 votes on the Republican line and 1,322 on the Independence Party line, for a total of 8,582.
The Conservative Party’s share of the vote, 45.98%, was the highest for a minor party in a U.S. House race since 1949, when the Liberal Party won a special election in New York state with 50.68%.
The Boston Globe has this story, which says that in the upcoming special election for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, the Democratic nominee, Martha Coakley, wants all the debates to include all three ballot-listed candidates. By contrast, the Republican nominee, Scott P. Brown, is willing to participate in debates at which the sponsors exclude the independent candidate, Joseph L. Kennedy.
The reporter who wrote the article seems to hint that he is not in sympathy with the demand for three-candidate debates. He suggests that the independent candidate is “little-known” and also that the voters may be confused by his name. The best way to educate the voters about Joseph L. Kennedy, obviously, is to see to it that he is included in the debates.
The December 14 issue of the Los Angeles Daily News has this op-ed in support of Instant Runoff Voting, by Gautam Dutta of the New America Foundation.
The Hartford Courant has this editorial, dated December 15, calling on the Connecticut legislature to pass a bill this month, making the state’s public funding law non-discriminatory.
