Len Bernardo is running around Ulster County claiming the title of king maker. Let's scratch the surface a little and see if has a legitimate claim shall we?
In the end, it was a sub par year for the performance of the Independence party line. The line usually has a greater impact on races. Bernardo can claim a lot of back room deals that allowed his wife to be elected, but as far as the rest of the county goes, the line could have disappeared and there would have been only one discernible difference in the election results.
I will post my analysis of the county level races based on how the candidates would have done without the Independence party line. I encourage you to dissect it and come up with your own conclusion.
Here is the link with the detailed results:
2009 Election results in detail
Supreme Court Judge - no impact
County Judge - no impact
County Clerk - no impact
Legislature
District #1- no impact
4 seats, basically unopposed and they all won on the Democratic line.
District #2- no impact
2 Seats, basically unopposed and they won on the Democratic line.
District #3- no impact**
3 Seats, No Independence candidates on the ballot.
** Bernardo endorsed 2 of the 3 winners, but they did not get on the ballot and 4th place was behind by 500. So I guess he can claim a +1 for this race for the endorsement only.
District #4- no impact
4 Seats,since the 4th and 5th place candidates had the endorsement, it was a push for the last seat.
District #5- impacted the race, but a push for Bernardo*
2 Seats, this one is interesting. Cahill the endorsed candidate lost the line and then lost the general. So is this a lose for Bernardo or a win? I say the line performed regardless of Bernardo's decision to endorse Cahill. The party gets the win and Bernardo gets the loss.
*This is the only race that would have changed a seat on the Legislature.
District #6- potentially - but no impact
2 Seats,since Madsen had the line, he could have been a spoiler had Dart prevailed in the primary. woulda, coulda, in the end, no impact.
District #7- no impact
3 Seats,since the 3rd and 4th place candidates had the endorsement, it was a push for the last seat.
District #8- no impact
3 Seats,since the 3rd had the endorsement, 4th didn't. It was not close enough even if 4th got all of the votes.
District #9- no impact
4 Seats, no impact on results.
District #10- no impact
2 Seats, unopposed.
District #11- no impact
2 Seats, 2nd had the endorsement and 3rd didn't. It was not close enough even if 3rd got all of the votes.
District #12- no impact
2 Seats, no impact on results.
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More than 1/2 of the races were unopposed, or had opponents that had no chance. It is easy to start off when you are garaunteed to be over 50% correct.
ReplyDeleteSecondary lines never really have any impacts on elections. Most voters vote on the Dem-GOP lines and for the candidate on those lines. Issues AND emotionalism cause voters to select.
ReplyDeleteWhy do these politicians trip over themselves to get these lines? They should ignore them one and all. Or better yet, NYS should require each party to put up it's own candidate up or the line is blank. That would end all of this nonsense once and for all.
ReplyDelete