James J. Zogby | Elections to Watch

[WilliamPitt]

Elections to Watch
By James J. Zogby
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Tuesday 24 October 2006

There are a number of important contests that will be decided on November 7th. Like many Americans, I'll be up late into the night awaiting final results.

Not the least of my concerns, of course, will be the macro-outcome, as in which party will control the House of Representatives and/or the Senate. Let me be clear from the outset - I am a Democrat, proud of the political philosophy of my party, though not always pleased with the positions taken by and performance of some of its leaders and standard bearers.

Despite the fact that some Democrats folded in the face of the administration's pressure on critical issues like the Iraq war and the protection of civil liberties, I am confident that after four years of single-party rule, the US will be better served by Democratic control of Congress. I, like many others, am deeply troubled by the 12 Democrats who supported the shameful administration-endorsed legislation on detainees, but it is inconceivable that such a bill ever would have seen the light of day had the Senate or House Judiciary Committees been under the leadership of the likes of Patrick Leahy, Ted Kennedy, or John Conyers.

No doubt there will be Democrats who will advise caution, warning that, should they gain control in November, it would not be wise to pursue impeachment or investigations into administration behavior with regard to the Iraq war. But there will be pressure from other leading Democrats to use their positions to hold the administration accountable for the lies that led us into war and the many failures and deadly miscalculations that have defined the conduct of that war.

But in addition to this big picture, there are some exciting individual races I'll be watching as well...

More, well worth reading: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102406C.shtml

[greeneyedboy]

1. i thought he was a Republican. in any case, not super-reliable.

[keta11]

2. This is not the pollster

This is his brother

[greeneyedboy]

3. ah. thanks. i get my zogby's mixed up sometimes. :-)

[Peace Patriot]

4. Zogby the pollster is one of the good guys. He said Bush could not win in

2004--Bush's numbers had been too low for too long--and he never backed down, like Edison-Mitosky did-- fiddling their exit polls to match the results of Diebold/ES&S's secret vote "counting" formulae.

I think Zogby knows what's what, and I would tend to trust his methods and analysis over all others.

[Peace Patriot]

6. Note: This is not Zogby the pollster. James J. Zogby is head of the Arab-

American Institute. He is analyzing the election from an Arab-American perspective. I don't know if they are related, but I don't think so.

[endarkenment]

7. Brothers. nt.

[Generator]

5. 64 million dollar question

Are they doing exit polling this time? We know how "unreliable" it was last time.

[endarkenment]

8. I thought not but it seems perhaps yes.

The network pool subsidized election exit polls are cancelled as usual, but there is an independent effort to do this.