apomonis's blog

 Republicans Stayed Home=Obama Wins

Report: '08 turnout same as or only slightly higher than '04

A new report from American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate concludes that voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was the same in percentage terms as it was four years ago — or at most has risen by less than 1 percent.

The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country.

“A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. Compared to 2004, Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent, while Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008...

“Many people were fooled (including this student of politics although less so than many others) by this year’s increase in registration (more than 10 million added to the rolls), citizens’ willingness to stand for hours even in inclement weather to vote early, the likely rise in youth and African American voting, and the extensive grassroots organizing network of the Obama campaign into believing that turnout would be substantially higher than in 2004,” Curtis Gans, the center’s director, said in the report. “But we failed to realize that the registration increase was driven by Democratic and independent registration and that the long lines at the polls were mostly populated by Democrats.”

And I will remind you again about the popular vote differences for McCain who received 56,904,214 popular votes and Obama who tallied 64,644, 293. That's a difference of 7,740,079, millions less than the population of Los Angeles county, and about half a million less than the population of New York City.

Perspective, people, perspective. The vote on Tuesday was a rejection of Republicans, not, I repeat not an embrace of the man who was endorsed by Hamas. This nation remains conservative and Obama is the recipient of a protest vote against fake conservative poseurs who found it more fun to dabble in "The New Global Order" and to have their pockets lined by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than to honor the legacy of Reagan conservativism, it's that simple."

---excerpt taken from tammybruce.com

(Reproduced here due to the News-Gazette's one letter per month policy)

I would like to thank Alan Kurtz of Champaign for calling to attention the fact that I've never formally introduced myself (in print) to our community.  Thus, if you haven't caught one of my interviews on the Channel 3 or 15 News, heard me talk on WILL 1400, listened to one of my speeches at community centers across the county, seen me at a County Board meeting, talked with me while I'm cooking at Merry-Ann's Diner or managing Taffies Restaurant, read one of my previous letters to the News-Gazette, or been among the over 5,000 residents of District 7 whom I've met or dropped literature off to: Hello! 

My name is Tony Pomonis and I'm a product of this area.  I attended Unit 4 schools and the University of Illinois where I earned my degree in 2001.  Soon thereafter I opened Merry-Ann's Diner downtown.  

The answer to the question, "Why does candidate have so many signs?" is simple: people believe in what I'm doing.  They enjoy the fact that I'm running a positive campaign built on transparency, hard-work, and accountability.  I appeal to a broad base of voters because I refuse to engage in the politics of fear. 
As such, feel free to vote for one of my opponents: they are all nice people whom I like. 

However, I would not be running for County Board if I did not think our County government needed my help.  If you'd like to engage me in further discussion on local politics, please feel free to seek me out at either Merry-Ann's Diner or Taffies Restaurant.  

Oh, and by the way, about those annoying yard signs.  I need more.  The local GOP implored me to purchase 100, I actually purchased 200 (for less than $2000.00 before sales tax, thank you Woody Iles!) and I'm fresh out.  If anyone would like to help please feel free to make a donation on my website, www.stephandtony.com!!!!  I imagine I'll need another 50 to put up before November the 4th.

THANK YOU!

<<<NOTE: I think the N-G may publish this letter soon, and I wish to present it here in case it is edited or chopped up a bit.  Thanks!  >>> 

American politicians are either immoral or principled only in a very particular sense. They are products of our free society. They are like us in almost every imaginable way--they are born and they die--they experience all of the inherent pains, accomplishments, and heartaches that life offers in between.

Yet they are regarded by the citizenry as a class of beings that are totally different.

This is wrong.

In our representative democracy, the power of the politician resides only in their ability to act on our behalf. It is not inherent, and it certainly does not last in perpetuity. Politicians are mere actors temporarily playing parts that are real only for us--they are the symbolic masks behind which we see our own faces.

If you disapprove of the current local, state, or federal landscape, get active.  Volunteer.  Share ideas. Run for office.

This sense of ‘otherness’ that pervades America is a lie that segregates us and distances us from the processes of empowerment.

Americans are increasingly living in compartmentalized, like-minded clusters. Whether these communities are liberal or conservative matters not a jot.

The overall trend is dangerous and un-American.

Our shared freedoms and dreams should unite us in civil discourse.

I have yet to meet one American that did not dream of a better life for future generations. If America is splintering into culturally incomprehensible, balkanized communities, I for one am proud to live in such an open and politically diverse arena as Champaign-Urbana.

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