It's not over yet, and Kari Lake is currently around 25,000 votes behind fellow candidate Katie Hobbs (who is also, suspiciously, the chief manager of the Arizona elections*), but with over 95% of the votes in Arizona counted, it's no longer looking as if Lake stands a chance.
Back when several hundred thousand votes were uncounted, people were saying that 2/3 of those votes would likely be Republican because Republicans were more likely to hand-walk their votes to the polling stations (COVID-fearing Democrats were more likely to mail their votes from home). But with the number of uncounted votes now dwindling, no GOP wave is in sight, and it sure seems that Katie Hobbs—with her Karen haircut, Backpfeifengesicht face, and high-pitched girly voice—is likely to become Arizona's next governor (the current governor, since 2015, has been Republican Doug Ducey). And that's a shame.
Of course, Arizona got screwed up long ago during the John McCain era; the man was a RINO who deserved the skewering he got from Trump, and McCain proved he deserved his skewering when he became obsessed, in his final years, with taking Trump down. Trump might be venal and petty, but McCain was more so. Meanwhile, Arizona dug itself into a leftist hole, and only someone with Kari Lake's force of personality can help the state unfuck itself.
Lake is young, and she can run again, so this is not over. I hope Lake remains as a thorn in Katie Hobbs's side for the length of Hobbs's gubernatorial term. If Lake has the money, she can buy air time to wreak all sorts of havoc. Same for online ads, etc. Lick your wounds, Kari, and live to fight another day. Arizona needs you, as does the rest of the country. I hope to see you running for president one day.
NB: the original post repeatedly said Katie Hobbs was running for a second gubernatorial term. That was incorrect. She is the current secretary of state of Arizona, and she is running for her first term. Is Arizona ready to be governed by a coward who is terrified to face Kari Lake directly? Is Hobbs really going to be the face of Arizona for the next four years?
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*Katie Hobbs is currently secretary of state in Arizona, and she had a chance to recuse herself from election surveillance but refused to do so. If you don't see a huge ethical problem with this, you and I have nothing to say to each other. Normally, according to Arizona law, the secretary of state is also the so-called "election chief," but with Hobbs also running for governor, this ought to represent a clear conflict of interest. To me, it feels as if a loophole has been exploited, and the more I learn about Arizona election law, the stupider it seems to me. Arizona badly needs to clean house. Kari Lake would have done that, but things are looking grim for her right now.
Very disappointing; I had really liked what I saw of Ms. Lake. It looks like the Arizona citizens are going to get it good and hard, which is exactly what they voted for. Of course, that assumes there was no fraud, but even there, if the voters don't stand up and insist on transparency, they are complicit in the cheating.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's good to remember that it's up to the people either way: either they voted for this, or they rolled over and let the fraud happen. Or both.
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