Congratulations to the winners, and I'd also extend thanks to the non-
winners. It is very hard to run for public office these days, even
at the local level, and without people willing to do it democracy
would suffer.
I have to chew on the results before I make any substantive comments
about the election. It's clear now 2001 was not an aberration caused
by an unpopular incumbent - the city's voting patterns have changed.
Part of the turnout decline this year was due to Republicans and
Independents staying home. This may be a relatively permanent
feature of the new political landscape, given how difficult it is for
a Republican or Independent candidate to survive the open city-wide
primary.
My other tentative theory is that the internet is becoming more and
more effective for grassroots organizers to identify and motivate
supporters, while at the same time, traditional media is becoming
less and less interested in city issues. The result is a noticeable
increase in turnout amongst identified issue partisans, but a
substantial decline in turnout in other voters who don't get enough
information from radio, TV, newspapers, etc.
So we have lower turnout, but a higher concentration of voters who
are left-leaning ideologues, motivated by issues and not so much by
party or group affiliation.
But this is tentative, and there are many, many variables that go
into election results.
Again congratulations and good luck to last night's winners.
Greg Abbott
Linden Hills
REMINDERS:
1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If
you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL
PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list.
2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html
For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn
E-Democracy
Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org
Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
