Gail Parker Live Blog

By: Josh
Published On: 7/4/2006 6:47:30 AM

Independent US Senate candidate Gail Parker will live blog at Craig's Musings tomorrow night. 

Here are some details:

I am very excited to announce that Independent candidate for Senate Gail Parker has agreed to do a live blog on Craig+óGé¼Gäós Musings Wednesday July 5th at 7:00 PM EST. Mrs. Parker will be competing with James Webb (the Democratic nominee) to unseat Republican George Allen in November and her accomplishment of getting on the ballot is a pretty impressive feat. Mrs. Parker+óGé¼Gäós campaign for Senate collected 20,000+ signatures from registered voters in order to secure a place on the ballot.

Gail Parker is a business woman with 22 years of service to this country as an officer in the Air Force Reserve, and a total of 34 years of service as Civil Servant including a position as an Executive Budget Analyst at the Pentagon. Mrs. Parker holds an undergraduate degree in Business Management, a graduate degree in Business Administration, a certificate in Software Engineering Administration (equivalent to a second master's degree), and is a Certified Information System Security Professional. She is also a mother of three and has four grandchildren.

More info at [Craig's Musings].  Head over and make Ms. Parker feel welcome.

Comments



Are you being sarcastic? (Lowell - 7/4/2006 6:58:00 AM)


I'm interested to see what she has to say. (Josh - 7/4/2006 7:23:52 AM)
Craig's been a long-term contributor.  I'm happy to hear other independent voices.  Webb's not the only one.


Uh..... (Brian - 7/4/2006 8:59:46 AM)
Who is most likely to vote for her - would-be Webb voters or would-be Allen voters?


Let's just make sure... (thaddaeus toad - 7/4/2006 10:14:58 AM)
She won't hurt us, if Webb makes sure it isn't close.  The independent candidate for Governor last year (his name escapes me), didn't effect the outcome 'cause Kaine trounced Kilgore by 6.  If Webb can do that, Ms. Parker will remain a footnote.  I understand the spoiler scenario.  Bobby Scott jumped down my throat when I told him I was helping my freind in Columbus, OH run as an independent in OH15.  But, at this point, if we let these races stay within MOE than the Republicans are gonna vote fraud it anyway.  We have to blow these guys out of the water.  Then no amount of "3rd party spoilers" or "Diebold shenanigans" will stop us.
Webb in a landslide!


Independent candidates should not be seen as spoilers (cvitter - 7/4/2006 1:49:11 PM)
I personally am a strong believer that the current two party system in this country is part of what is wrong with politics. The Republicans and Democrats so polarize the electorate with their rhetoric that our government at all levels gets stuck on issues like gay marriage and flag burning as opposed to getting the peoples' business done.

I also believe that our system is stagnating due in large part to apathy. Independent candidates like Gail Parker run in part to fight apathy and gridlock.

Getting on the ballot as an independent isn't easy, especially for a Senate race. We as voters should really cheer the effort and do our best to support them by listening to their ideas if not voting for them. You never know, they just might have something important to say that would otherwise get drowned out in the rhetoric of the race.

The last thing that we as active participants in the political dialogue should be doing is suggesting that people shouldn't try to run for office as Independents.



Cvitter, In theory I agree with you ... (AnonymousIsAWoman - 7/4/2006 3:21:26 PM)
But as a practical matter, unfortunately, independents often are spoilers. And what's worse is that they often aid the worst of the Republican candidates.

Please consider this.  If it hadn't been, in part, for Ralph Nader's candidacy in 2000, we might have Al Gore as president rather than George Bush.

If that had happened, at the very least, we would not be mired in a war in Iraq right now.  We would be doing far more to protect the environment and fighting global warming, which Bush does not even acknowledge as a problem created by human activity.

I know that the 2000 election was lost because of the voting irregularities and problems in Florida.  But Nader served to weaken Gore, push him further right than he would have been, and made the election closer than it should have been.  Nader's candidacy hurt Gore with the very liberal flank of the base and led to the perception that Gore and Bush were alike.  All in all it weakened Gore's candidacy just enough that other factors pushed it over the edge.

Is anybody truly happy, today, that Nader ran in 2000?

And if Webb loses to Allen in a close race, and we fail to take back the Senate by one state, will anybody be equally happy that Gail Parker ran just to challenge the two party system?



I disagree (cvitter - 7/4/2006 4:25:54 PM)
Candidates lose not because more people participate in the system but because of any number of reasons. A good independent candidate should draw more participants into the process not take votes away from other candidates. If they take votes away from a candidate it is because they do not want to vote for that candidate. Gore was a weak candidate in my opinion. I regret now that I did not vote for him for many reasons but I would not have voted for Gore or Nader in 2000.

Neither the Republican of Democratic Parties is representating a large portion of disenfranchised voters currently. There should be more than enough space for third party candidates to come in and make a positive impact. If you do not feel this way then please feel free to come and ask Gail Parker about this. This is an important issue.

The bottom line is, if your candidate is the right candidate for you support them. Do not put down third party candidates for trying to be a part of the process though. They are working hard to do what they believe is right. We should support them even if we do not vote for them.