Sunday, January 17, 2010
Tuesday's Senate election: The forecast is for Republican weather in Massachusettes*
Back in the day, bad weather on election day was thought to be good for Republicans, a larger percentage of whom are said to vote out of a sense of civic obligation and are therefore not so easily deterred (perhaps some evidence contra here, but I'm going with the old wisdom). That, and employed people have to leave the house anyway, so why not stop by the polling place on the way to or fro?
Well, in what ought to be good news for Scott Brown and freedom loving Americans everywhere, the weather in Boston on Tuesday is forecast to be ugly. Same in Springfield. Snow all morning, followed by rain. What demoralized Democrat would make a special trip down to the precinct with all that stuff falling from the sky?
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*I kill me.
10 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Jan 18, 12:34:00 AM:
I believe the dems control the snow removal equipment. Perhaps this will not be republican weather.
By 
JorgXMcKie, at
Mon Jan 18, 01:12:00 AM:
Yes, but they're union labor, so who knows if they'll show up on time or even show up at all?
By , at
Mon Jan 18, 01:13:00 AM:
That's not a joke either. Albany NY politicians during the Corning era routinely used (lack of) snow removal as a weapon to punish any precinct that voted the wrong way in the last election.
By Unknown, at
Mon Jan 18, 02:40:00 AM:
Maybe if it snows enough it'll get people thinking about the global warming scam on the way to the polls.
By Andrew X, at
Mon Jan 18, 03:07:00 AM:
Tough call. Some say it will benefit Dems.
It might be a wash.
City polling booths are closer to voters than rural ones. Benefit: Dems
Civil authorities control snow removal. Benefit: Dems
Bad weather favors the voters who are motivated to By God vote, hell or high water. Definite benefit: GOP.
I'm leaning toward the latter being the deciding factor.
By , at
Mon Jan 18, 06:38:00 AM:
By J Scott, at
Mon Jan 18, 07:22:00 AM:
As someone who drove up 1 and 95 this morning north, the fact that the Dems control the plows cuts only one way. If the plows are not out in force this morning (and it appeared they were, natch) then it just reminds alot of voters how incompetent the Dems are the day before the election.
As far as the weather tomorrow, it usually takes a few snowstorms for the plows to work out the scheduling kinks, so I expect that tomorrow the roads will be clean and ready to go.
By dougf, at
Mon Jan 18, 08:16:00 AM:
Frankly I would rather have the weather be a complete non-factor in this vote.
I think ,with Independents breaking almost 2:1 for Brown, Republicans almost 100% behind him and Democrats evidently losing almost 20% of 'their' voters to him, that he will win no matter what.
In that scenario, it is far better to leave no excuses on the table, and along that line I hope the turnout is at least 50%.
A 'cheap' win is clearly better than a loss but a COMPLETE Win is almost invaluable.
By , at
Mon Jan 18, 08:40:00 AM:
That, and employed people have to leave the house anyway, so why not stop by the polling place on the way to or fro?
Now, now. As my old commander at Ft Yukon used to say, "Don't be ugly, Lt." Even if accurate....
Eric Hines
By , at
Mon Jan 18, 11:35:00 AM:
Interesting Tuesday. Might be snow. Might be another example how people are just fed up with politics.
