{"id":6064,"date":"2018-05-21T14:51:20","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T19:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=6064"},"modified":"2018-05-22T13:50:19","modified_gmt":"2018-05-22T18:50:19","slug":"2020-vision-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2018\/05\/2020-vision-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 Vision in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Arkansas
Wikimedia Commons<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Remember Conner Eldridge? He was the Democratic opponent to Republican Sen. John Boozman in the 2016 general election. Because Republicans are hot stuff these days and it\u2019s tough to tackle an incumbent he lost. He\u2019s back to lawyering<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s any number of good people like Eldridge who at least for the moment end their political aspirations once defeated. This is why I\u2019m not stating which candidate I will choose in Tuesday\u2019s party primaries.<\/p>\n

Also, my record on endorsements and election predictions is under 50 percent so I likely could jinx my pick.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, I posted a problem on Facebook<\/a>. My neighborhood is in the 86th District of the Arkansas House. If you\u2019re on the liberal side of things, we rock: It\u2019s so traditionally Democratic there\u2019s no Republican candidates. Whichever Dem wins the May 22, 2018, primary heads to Little Rock in January.<\/p>\n

[UPDATE, May 22, 2018: I was reminded at the ballot box today that we live in the 85th District<\/a>, represented by Democrat David Whitaker, who faced no competition today and has\u00a0no GOP<\/a> opposition in November. Otherwise, the rest of this column is cq<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

This time out, the 86th is considering two similar candidates, Fayetteville City Council member Mark Kinion<\/a> and community organizer Nicole Clowney<\/a>. (Names are linked for their vitals.)<\/p>\n

Both would be strong legislators for Northwest Arkansas.<\/p>\n

The response was lively. Supporters of both, and opponents of either, wrote in public comments and private messages.<\/p>\n

A third side also wrote in, calling for \u201cstrategic voting.\u201d As Arkansas has open primaries \u2014 a voter asks for the party ballot on signing in, rather than being on the record as D, R or I \u2014 we can for the moment belong to the other party. In this case, choose a Republican to the right of incumbent Gov. Asa Hutchinson and one to the left of 3rd District U.S. Rep. Steve Womack. This mid-term year has few contested races. In this neck of the woods, little might be lost by crossing over this time.<\/p>\n

Strategic voting gives me the willies, although I see the point. Elections have so many variables, I just don\u2019t see how they can be gamed consistently.<\/p>\n

Consider this article by friend Bobby Ampezzan, “Republican Dominance, Open Primaries Makes One Party’s Picks Ripe For Crossover Vote.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

A cross vote might make sense if the candidate is near critical mass<\/a> and your choice is a few votes short. Otherwise, it\u2019s 2016 again, where Bernie Sanders fans who so resented Hillary Clinton they didn’t vote for anyone for president or voted for Trump or a third-party candidate. They’re to blame for DJT, too.<\/p>\n

This field, this primary, actually is worth voting in. Look at these candidates for the 86th and what\u2019s being said, and choose. It IS important. This is where your vote counts the most.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the deal, though. On Wednesday the 23rd, one of these fine choices will be the loser, no matter whom I\u2019ve chosen or if I\u2019d asked you to join me.<\/p>\n

That person \u2014 I\u2019m begging \u2014 should start to consider this week what to do for 2020. I hope that\u2019s a run in a strong race for an area or statewide position.<\/p>\n

We need both Mark and Nicole to help repair our state and nation from the damage caused by flaccid fascist Donald J. Trump and those who work for him, support him or acquiesce to his policies and their flip-flops and his decisions, hesitations and reversals.<\/p>\n

\u00a92018 Ben S. Pollock Jr.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember Conner Eldridge? He was the Democratic opponent to Republican Sen. John Boozman in the 2016 general election. Because Republicans are hot stuff these days and it\u2019s tough to tackle an incumbent he lost. He\u2019s back to lawyering. There\u2019s any number of good people like Eldridge who at least for the moment end their political […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-body-home-street"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5487,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2016\/11\/cloakroom-talk\/","url_meta":{"origin":6064,"position":0},"title":"Cloakroom Talk","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Endorsing Conner Eldridge for U.S. Senate Let's leave the 2016 presidential race a moment. It'll continue without us. Let's consider Congress. From an Arkansas view. The Republican Party has had majorities in the House and Senate the last two years. The party has worked hard to oppose most of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Conner Eldridge","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Conner-Eldridge-240x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":237,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/09\/baseball-takes-a-walk\/","url_meta":{"origin":6064,"position":1},"title":"Baseball Takes a Walk","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"September 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The multipart sale-tax increase passed in Fayetteville on Tuesday. Those who love to taunt the city doubtless will mock the smaller percentage approving the bit for continued construction of trails, as compared to the 3-to-1 majorities for the sewage treatment and road improvements. Specifically, according to the NWA Times (and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6705,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2020\/11\/more-than-three-little-words\/","url_meta":{"origin":6064,"position":2},"title":"More Than Three Little Words","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When I have taught or trained in editing or writing or somesuch, I always bring out a personal lesson: What is wrong with the headline \"Suspect Arrested\"? For those who did reasonably well in high school English, you'll recall having been taught that such sentences or phrases are in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Presidential election result headline in the Nov. 8, 2020, editions of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/biden-called-victor-adg-110820-e1605053523458.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/biden-called-victor-adg-110820-e1605053523458.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/biden-called-victor-adg-110820-e1605053523458.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/biden-called-victor-adg-110820-e1605053523458.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":146,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/05\/confusing-the-issue\/","url_meta":{"origin":6064,"position":3},"title":"Confusing the issue","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Wednesday, May 11, 2005: Morning after a local millage election. The Fayetteville Public Schools lost its request for a property tax increase of 43 mills. This is one Arkansas town that doesn't hate tax increases. What was wrong with this one? The things this one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":241,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/10\/election-in-heat\/","url_meta":{"origin":6064,"position":4},"title":"Election, in Heat","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"October 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Third District Congressman John Boozman. He's always seemed goofy for reasons I couldn't put a finger on, plus he's a Republican, but now, running for his fourth two-year term (first elected in November 2000), I'm starting to like the guy. Very much. His Democratic challenger, Woodrow Anderson III (from my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1677,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/09\/cant-vote-or-dont-vote\/","url_meta":{"origin":6064,"position":5},"title":"Can’t Vote or Don’t Vote?","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"September 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, bored with NPR and between audio books, I had the radio scan for AM talk radio and ended up at KURM-AM, 790. Despite being a Rogers station, longtime host Kermit Womack kept getting calls about today's Fayetteville school millage election. It's not a vote on building a new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6064"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6086,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6064\/revisions\/6086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}