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Have people learned nothing from Nader, still? Vote for the best candidate that has a chance of winning, and then once the really bad candidates stop getting elected (Orange) three's time to focus on trying to make better canddiates more electable; if Orange pulls this thing out it will be the worst possible result for the goals of GGW, an entirely predictable result of Shapiro siphoning votes away. That's what the endorsement process should have been focused on, not some "we're better than politics, vote for the best candidate" crap.

That is one interpretation of the situation. Another would be that there is unlikely to be any meaningful change so long as candidates know that they can lock up the progressive vote due to political expediency merely by coming as as marginally less corrupt than the other guy. Political calculus like this is what leads to situations like the Ward 4 race or the most recent council chair race or even, to some extent, the Gray/Fenty showdown, where voting for any candidate requires a degree of nose-holding. It's one thing when the candidate you're voting for doesn't entirely line up with your own views - that's natural. It's another when you have no candidate to choose from whom you don't consider to be significantly corrupted and liable to abuse the office.

Biddle had to clear a relatively low bar of two points with those looking for an alternative to Orange:

1. Make a convincing case that he is not part of the corrupt business as usual, pay-to-play, political machine (specifically, that he is not a wholly owned subsidiary of M. Brown & Sons Urban Political Solutions, LLC).
2. Offer a reasonably coherent and compelling vision for addressing the city's challenges.

That he failed to do either among 10% of the electorate says more about him and the way he chose to run his campaign than any spoiler role Shapiro played. That Biddle seems to feel that he was entitled to every non-Orange vote only cements my dislike of his attitude and approach.

If we're lucky, Ron Machen has a big ol' case file on Vinny Citrus that is just crying for grand jury attention. I'd almost rather take my chances with an increasingly radioactive Orange than with an indeterminately shady and beholden Biddle.

by Dizzy on Apr 4, 2012 10:33 am • link • report