Political Updates

I was surprised by the criticism of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's Republican Response to Barak Obama's address to the Joint Session of Congress. The reformist governor suggested a good dose of fiscal conservatism and liberty as the antidote to Obama's taxing, spending and socialism. The criticism focused primarily on Jindal's delivery, but I only had read the transcript, which proves that much of politicians' popularity or unpopularity is based upon the impression they give through appearing on television instead of their ideas. The most famous example was that a majority of those who only listened to the Kennedy-Nixon debate of 1960 on radio believed that Richard Nixon won, while a majority of those who only watched it on television believed that John Kennedy won the debate.

The bill that would grant the District of Columbia a Representative in Congress is even more unconstitutional than I first realized, as the offsetting provision for the second seat in Utah would also be an at-large seat, like Utah's current one. Two at-large seats, instead of seats from two districts, would violate the "one-man one-vote" principle, as every citizen of Utah would thereby be represented by two members of the House of Representatives.


Pennsylvania Political Update

A Republican won the special election for the Pennsylvania Senate yesterday, giving the GOP a 31-19-vote majority in the upper chamber of the General Assembly. The Republican victory represents a net-gain of 1 seat in the 2008 election cycle, as the vacant seat had been held by a Republican, despite Obama/Biden’s half-million-vote victory in the Keystone State.