Candidate Who Fought Millionaire's Amendment Pays For Voters' Cheap Gas
So now we know what Jack Davis -- who made it easier for rich folks to buy office by getting the Millionaire's Amendment overturned at the Supreme Court -- is doing with all his money.
He's buying gas for voters, the Rochester Democrat And Chronicle reports.
Davis, who is running in the Democratic primary for an open GOP-held seat that he previously ran for in 2004 and 2006, held a campaign event Thursday at a local gas station, paying the difference so that voters driving through could buy gas at $1.50 a gallon, the price before George W. Bush took office.
This tactic was previously used by other candidates in primaries and special elections this cycle, some of them self-financiers and others not. Many of them won their contests.
(Thank you to TPM Reader DW.)
WHY isn't this illegal?????
July 12, 2008 9:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does Davis have any good progressive primary opponents? I wonder if they have enough money to get the message out that this guy made it legal to basically buy your way into office?
July 14, 2008 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
It should definitely be illegal, if it isn't already. Talk about buying votes. Pathetic.
July 12, 2008 10:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's been legal for a long time. It's how Larry Kissel almost beat rubber stamp Robin Hayes in '06, without any help from Rahmbo. It might be a publicity ploy, but it is one that works and gets your name out there.
July 13, 2008 9:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Worst. Sentence. Ever.
Can you please rewrite so it's intelligible? Thanks.
July 12, 2008 11:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Second that. What a tortuous sentence!
July 13, 2008 12:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Even though I lean left, I would never support such pandering and outright bribes to potential voters. How is this not illegal? Why is this even permitted?
Political parties should step in to stop these types of questionable voter give aways.
July 13, 2008 9:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is the height of cheeziness. However, this gas price crap may just be a big winner for the GOP this year. My wife's friend is a long time Democrat/liberal. She was a Hillary supporter. She's now voting for McCain. Part of it is sour grapes but her biggest issue - and she and her family are not very well off financially - is gas prices. She's obsessed with the drilling issue. My wife - who probably isn't even voting for president this year because she'd never vote for a conservative like McCain but also doesn't like Obama (nothing I say will change her mind...I've tried), tried to argue with her friend re: drilling. She was armed with all the facts, how the oil companies are already sitting on millions of undrilled acres, how it won't have any short-term effect - nor, probably, a long term effect either, how it's just a handout to oil companies. This friend - who is far from clueless when it comes to politics - won't hear any of it.
Folks, this energy shit and Obama's shift to "politics as usual" is going to kill him. And I don't know if there's any way out. He can't "flip" back on FISA. And I don't want him to pander on the gas stuff. But look at the polls. Rasmussen has him tied both with and without leaners today. Bad news. Bad freaking news. Rasmussen's polls have been super stable for over a month....and in the last few days, we've seen a significant shift away from Obama and a shift (less significant, but it's there) towards McCain. Rasmussen's favorable/unfavorable ratings have also moved away from Obama and towards McCain.
An inexperienced politician who sounds different = success. An inexperienced politician who sounds like every other Dem candidate in the past 10 years - whether that perception is valid or not - running against a guy most people wrongly view as a moderate maverick = no advantage. Couple that with the propensity for people to overreact to the gas stuff and fall for gimmicks, and we have McCain winning the WH in November.
Houston, we have a problem. And folks, I'm not hyperventilating here. Given his race and background, Obama needs to have a solid 5-6 point lead going into November given the fact that at least 3% of the electorate are going to go with the "safe" option once they step in the booth, regardless of what they say now. He's not there and I don't see a clear path towards getting back. Maybe I'm being too much of a pessimist here but I'm honestly getting very, very worried.
July 13, 2008 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are being a pessimist. McCain is the same party as the ridiculously unpopular incumbent president. The name brand of the GOP has been badly damaged by Bush/Cheney. The economy is also not going to get any better before the election.
The bottom line is that the fundamentals are horrible for McCain. Google Keys to the White House. History teaches us quite a bit about who wins elections and why.
July 14, 2008 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Off topic, but Mark Sanford just lost any chance he had getting the Republican VP nod. When asked by Wolf Blitzer to name a significant difference between McCain and Bush on the economy, he drew a blank. He tried to clean it up by going to NAFTA, but The Beard reminded him that, no, McCain and Bush are McSame on that issue too. So much for the revamped McCain campaign.
It was a great moment to see live on television....
July 13, 2008 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well not sure it is even off topic. there are lots of differences but it depends on which comment of McCain's that you chose. One day he sounds very different and the next day, after Dems have made him sound totally foolish when he responds to Obama. McCain can change points of view in a twinkling of the eye. His so called "straight talk express" is non-existent. McCain is a panderer of the first order and he sold his soul to get the nomination. Even to the point of sucking it up to Bush, the worst President in years. Sad to see McCain sell his soul like that. And to think, I (a Former Republican) wrote in McCain's name twice. But after hearing this McCain talk, I realize he has sold his soul to get the nomination. Sad, sad.
July 13, 2008 10:26 PM | Reply | Permalink