Vote for me!

I heard there are 11 people on the ballot to be the Democratic candidate for state representative of my district. The primary is Tuesday and the incumbent isn't running. I have a pile of campaign flyers and I don't think I've gotten one from each of the candidates yet. The flyers list qualifications and endorsements, then give general platitudes. However, they say little about their views on what I think are important issues.

Twice now when a candidate has been at my door I've stepped out and talked to them. I've asked them about privatization and adding sexual minorities to the Michigan civil rights bill.

The first candidate was pleased I spent the time talking and she thanked me for broadening her view of privatization. She had originally thought lots of things could be privatized given enough legal oversight. I said that when schools are privatized taxpayers now have to pay for profit. When prisons are privatized, the company has incentive to lobby for harsher prison terms. She got the point, but why did she not understand that before? Should I favor her because she gets it now?

The second one was this evening. He understood what I meant by privatization (his wife is a teacher). But he was unaware that sexual minorities are not covered by the state civil rights law. Should I vote for him because he gets it now? Or avoid him because he needed to be educated? This one campaigned with the chief of the fire department, who stood quite straight during our discussion.

A third stopped by a few days ago. I heard her put her flyer in my door, but figured it was a sales flyer. I didn't retrieve it until later. I'm annoyed because my desk is close to the door and if she had glanced in the window she would have seen me and perhaps made a bit more noise. I suppose I should get the doorbell replaced. Alas, her flyer doesn't list contact info.

This is a chance to broaden the diversity of the state House. But in which way? One of the women? The African-American? The Arab-American?

With the way the state is gerrymandered, many of the big races, including this one, will be decided in the primary. Whoever wins the primary will get my vote in November. Which reminds me, I've heard nothing of GOP candidates.