Blogmore Challenge Offers Valuable Information to Undecideds
Knock on those doors, Alan and Sam! Nielson Brothers Polling has released a poll on the Rapid City mayoral runoff election, which vote takes place this coming Tuesday, June 28. The results from 461 Rapid City voters:
- Incumbent Alan Hanks: 43%
- Alderman Sam Kooiker: 42%
- Undecided: 15%
Margin of error is 4.6%, so as far as we know, Hanks and Kooiker are tied. And a whole lot of voters are on the verge of flipping a coin. One call, one knock, one well-placed sign can make a big difference. Go get 'em, fellas!
Those undecideds might do well to work through the electoral exercise hosted by Kevin Woster on Mount Blogmore. He challenged Kooiker backer Don Frankenfeld (and any other interested voters) to take this challenge: say five good things and five bad things about each candidate. Frankenfeld responded with gusto and sincerity. Read his reasonable rundowns of Mayor Hanks and Alderman Kooiker.
I'm curious: how many of us could do the same? How many of us could look at any race on our ballots, local or larger, and list five pros and five cons about each candidate? In the 2012 election, will I be able to compose such a list about Rep. Kristi Noem? Snarky backhanded compliments---She very effectively dodges questions!---don't count.
Mr. Woster has laid down a fine challenge for all advocates and voters in general. I commend Mr. Frankenfeld for rising to it.
One take-away from the Rapid City mayoral election is how effectively people can be and have been driven out of the voting pool by the power of negativism by smart campaign engineers. The GOP is so much better at this than Democrats are.
Are you ready to run up the BIG snark flag yet, Cory? Or is ip all by herself?
Think Eli Gold, Democrats.
Speaking of polling, my son got a call in Rapid City from "Dick Morris". The polling was grossly slanted against Obama. My son told him that he supported an Obama position. The next question was, "Are you an Obama supporter? Son answered "Yes". Phone call ended immediately.
Cory. Scroll all the way down to read what attorney Pat Duffy thinks of Frankenfeld's "objective" take. Pretty heavy. Better take a deep breath first.
How does Kooiker loose this race when he almost won a few weeks ago?
The poll boost for Hanks compared to his second-place showing in the general vote did surprise me, too, Mike. The dynamic could be much like the Staggers–Huether race in Sioux Falls last year. Staggers beat Huether in the first vote, but other candidates' supporters glommed on to Huether. But that dynamic should be different in RC: a lot of the people who voted for the 3rd or 4th place guys in the first vote were likely voting against the incumbent Hanks. I would think that group in this case would lean toward Kooiker.
Bill, without judging the merits, I will say that Mr. Duffy impresses me with his passionate rhetoric and with his willingness to step out from behind the façade of "I can't comment outside of the courtroom" solicitor's restraint and goes all out publicly for his client and for what he believes. I wish more people would do that.
This is the same group that had Daugaard and his challenger (what's his name?) pretty close near the end of the campaign. Sorry, but this bunch has zero credibility. And if you really believe there are that many undecideds...come on! There might be a total of four people who haven't decided yet. The rest of us know exactly for whom we are pulling the lever. But I can understand why you would want to believe their numbers.