Musicmystery
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OK, in keeping with the fun but serious purpose in looking at the nature of political discourse genesis of this thread--
Let's see where my election campaign stands.
I expect to carry my home state of NY -- that's 31 electoral votes. Likewise, I expect GreedyTop to bring along Florida, another 27 votes, and if I didn't think Rich could deliver California's 55 votes, I'd fire him. Further, since my campaign began after I was caught with Ben & Jerry's, I think we can count on Vermont's 3 votes. That's 116 out of 538 electoral college votes--almost 22% of the vote already, with just that!
Now, given that my campaign is about good ice cream and the American way, I think we can count on dairy states--after all, the Dairy Lobby is a powerful force. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, each of these states have dairy as their #1 commodity, and produce in terms of total receipts in this order (i.e., importance to that state): California (already counted), Idaho (4 votes), Maine (4 votes), Michigan (17 votes), New Mexico (5 votes), New York (already counted), Pennsylvania (21 votes--and an important swing state!), Vermont (already counted), Washington (11 votes), and Wisconsin (10 votes). That's now 188 votes--almost 35% of the vote!
Sugar is another important lobby--just as milk has strong price supports, imported sugar is subject to heavy tariffs, and domestic sugar is heavily subsidized (world wide, sugar is cheap). Most sugarcane production in the United States occurs in Florida (already counted--but an important swing state) and Louisiana (9 votes), and to a lesser extent in Hawaii (4 votes) and Texas (34 votes). 235 votes total--almost 44%. If we add major sugar beet producing states: Minnesota (10 votes), Idaho (already counted), North Dakota (3 votes), Michigan (already counted), Montana (3 votes), and Wyoming (3 votes)--we have 254 votes, 47% of the vote.
Since I was caught eating Cherry Garcia on peach pie, we might count on cherry and peach producing states. Major cherry producers are Michigan (already counted), Washington (already counted), Utah (5 votes), New York (already counted), Wisconsin (already counted), Pennsylvania (already counted), Oregon (7 votes), California (already counted), Idaho (already counted), and Montana (already counted). Add the three largest peach producing states, California (already counted), South Carolina (8 votes) and Georgia (15 votes), and we have 289 votes--almost 54% of the vote, and a clear win (more than Bush won either time) by carrying just those 22 states.
And I think we'll do far better. This is a map that cuts across "red" states and "blue" states, something that will appeal to those all important independent voters. We have the hispanic vote and the youth vote. We have supporters of the causes Ben & Jerry's promote. All that produce promotion will certainly win the support of the Teamsters. If I play up sugarcane ethanol as part of an energy platform and bundle it with corn ethanol, I'll have additional support from Colorado (9 votes), Illinois (21 votes), Indiana (11 votes), Iowa (7 votes), Kansas (6 votes), Kentucky (8 votes), Maryland (10 votes), Michigan (counted), Minnesota (counted), Mississippi (6 votes), Missouri (as goes Missouri, so goes the nation...11 votes), Nebraska (5 votes), New York (counted), North Carolina (15 votes), North Dakota (counted), Ohio (capturing the final swing state--20 votes), Pennsylvania (counted), South Dakota (3 votes), Tennessee (11 votes), Texas (counted), and Wisconsin (counted).
That's 432 votes, winning those 36 states at least, for just over 80% of the vote--better than any president since Reagan.
As my favorite cereal is reportedly Shredded Wheat, that will strengthen our support in major wheat producers Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. And with all that emphasis on agriculture, we'll have strong support from petrochemicals too--campaign contributions will roll in, allowing us to focus a campaign on the rest of the states. As Rich noted earlier, we also have the "health-nut" non-partisan voters, another important independent block. Let's not forget the Dead Heads--Baby Boomers are aging, and older voters are more likely to vote.
Additionally, as Vendaval has pointed out, speech and appearance are important. Well, I'm already an excellent public speaker, including thinking on my feet, and Rich is working on my appearance, starting with my profile avatar. I'm also Internet saavy, so we can tie in to that important new channel, for both contributions and distributing information. We'll run away with this election.
Oh, and yes, I actually have positions, proposals and plans--on education, health care, labor management, government reform, economics (domestic and international), trade, the environment, security, defense, the wars, revamping social security and medicaid/medicare, natural resource management and conservation, agriculture (starting with species diversification, which we ignore), energy, housing, disaster preparedness, international relations and more. I believe the government should stay out of social conventions--the bedroom, abortion and so forth. I support freedom of religion but firmly believe it should be separate from government. I favor lean government but also feel it needs the resources and funding to do its job. I believe justices and judges should be chosen for their judicial talents and impartiality, not their party affiliation and specific positions. I favor free access to firearms but with reasonable controls and regulation--including limiting semi-automatics. And I believe we are headed for a deep economic crisis if we don't address continuing problems with much of the above--including spending more when we have to do so, even as I strongly feel we need to get our budget, national debt and trade deficit under control and on the path to balanced. And I don't think we can tax cut our way out of it.
And after all, the entire above election strategy is rooted in economics. Superficial connections and special interests will get me elected. Small minded adherence to turf and pet issues will sink us, however, in the long run, and our political discourse needs to rise above that level before we elect ourselves into oblivion.
I'm asking for your vote--because everyone deserves good ice cream of his or her choice. It's the American way.
< Message edited by Musicmystery -- 8/19/2009 6:44:05 AM >
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RE: Why I cannot attain elected office - 
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