The Ecchoing Green

I’d rather not post anything on the whole Green thing until it becomes clear quite what’s going on. In the meantime read this.

Aubry by the shaving of the tip of a fingernail.

Last time I looked, Aubry’s lead was about eight votes. Things are likely to get very nasty, sadly. Here’s a map;

Aubry v Royal

Royal v Aubry

Second round of the PS leadership election was today; the votes are still being counted and it’s not clear who’s won. I’m not sure of the details, but I gather that both sides have claimed victory. Early on it looked as though Royal had won, maybe even easily, but as more results came in, Aubry was able to overturn her lead. Not only is this very close, it’s also looking rather nasty.

More soon.

Debs defeats Obama

One part of America where Obama did badly was the southeast of Oklahoma; a poor, working class (there even used to be mining in parts) rural area full of “Yellow Dog” Democrats* and appropriately known as “Little Dixie”. There is a county in Little Dixie called McCurtain. In a two way race (Oklahoma has the meanest ballot-access laws in America; apparently the powers-that-be there are still afraid that the Socialists might come back) Obama polled 26.5%. This is amusing because Eugene Debs polled 31.6% in McCurtain (finishing behind the Democrat but knocking the Republican into third) back in 1912.

*A term now well past its sell-by date, but useful for the lazy…

Glenrothes and the Means Test

Just a thought but… one of the planks of Labour’s succesful campaign in Glenrothes was vocal opposition to Fife council’s policies towards the elderly (Fife council is controlled by a coalition led by the SNP; the SNP candidate in the by-election is the Leader). From what I’ve heard, one of these policies was introducing a means-tested system of home care stuff (replacing a flat rate).

Now, much of this constituency is old mining territory and many of the families in Glenrothes itself came from mining areas originally (though the Lanarkshire, rather than the Fife, coalfield) and old people there will presumably remember the sadistic and hated Means Test of the Depression. A strong emotional reaction against means testing isn’t exactly unusual amongst older working class people in Britain, especially those who grew up in the coalfields.

Glenrothes

Wow. For now, that’s all I have to say. Wow.

Record low turnout in WV

If the numbers I’m hearing (the turnout of registered voters in West Virginia was around 58%) are right, then turnout in WV has just hit a record low. I can find data on this going back to 1960 and 58% is lower than any election since then; even lower than 2000. It’s possible that the figure might nudge up slightly, but it seems unlikely to reach even the levels of 2000 (when it was at about 61%). This is at once fascinating, extraordinary and predictable.

Bade news… [edit: maybe]

Goode seems to have pulled ever-so-slightly ahead. Damn.

Edit: and is now behind by about thirty votes… better… but…

Virgil Goode lost!

Haha! Wonderful!

The witch Musgrave went down as well. And in a district that would usually vote for Satan (R) over Jesus (D) as well.

Kanjorski hangs on

This is, aha, good news to say the least. Saved by Scranton it seems.