| Behold, Representative Michael Jackson's strategy for victory, even though these numbers didn't hold up in the primaries: Our opponents are suggesting that we are the spoiler in the race; however, we would like to share the facts. The November 4th election provides the only opportunity to cast your vote for Congress in the 6th Congressional District. Winning the race requires a plurality of the votes cast. A plurality requires that the winner only receive 1 more vote than his opponents. This is different from most other elections which require a majority of the vote (50% + 1) in order to win.
Here are the 6th Congressional Districts Demographics:
African Americans = 34.9%
Republicans = 33%
White Democrats = 32%
In the Democratic run-off for Congress in April, Michael Jackson received 90% of the African-American votes and between 10%-20% of support from white voters. If we maintain these percentages it will be more than enough to win this election. 40% WINS IT! Therefore, every vote counts.
Michael Jackson is not the spoiler, he is the only candidate who has a real chance of beating the Republican in November.
Politico.com is on top of the story, and they seem to understand the central problem with Representative Jackson's logic-- fundraising. Jackson is calculating that he will win the votes of the vast majority of African-Americans in the Baton Rouge-area district — a highly unlikely proposition, given that Cazayoux is the Democratic incumbent. The more likely prospect is that he will take away enough African-American votes from Cazayoux to tip the race to Republican Bill Cassidy. And if he was serious about winning the race, Jackson would be amping up his fundraising efforts. He only raised $15,200 in the last filing period (from July 1-Aug.17) — and his campaign coffers are virtually empty. By contrast, Cassidy has over $300,000 in campaign cash, while Cazayoux has banked $212,000.
There seems to be a lot of strong feelings surrounding this election, and based on the numbers, those feelings seem justified. To me, the strategy doesn't seem hopeful or inspiring; it appears to be cynical and divisive. The real question, as Politico points out, is given Jackon's abysmal fundraising efforts, is Jackson serious about securing a victory? Beside the attempt to pick apart this election by reducing voters based on their demographic, what, exactly, is the strategy? I understand there are ideological differences between Cazayoux and Jackson, but I haven't really heard much about them. Based on Jackson's numbers, I doubt we will hear much at all. |
