Left In Lowell

MA-05 Race: Is anyone listening and watching?

8 Responses to “MA-05 Race: Is anyone listening and watching?”

1. FifthObserver Says:
   August 17th, 2007 at 10:36 am

   Perhaps people have already made up their minds:

   http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=3f9e767e-1af2-4d7b-9b1a-2167e94cb057&c=24

2. waittilnextyr Says:
   August 17th, 2007 at 11:04 am

   But that (likely voters) is such a small percentage of the people, which may be the issue to be discussed.

   The majority is disgusted with national politics, starting with the Administration that expanded the terrorism problem into an unjustified war, grossly overspends the budget while giving significant tax breaks to the rich, and stomping on the Constitution whenever it suits their purposes. But then the people said “enough”, and what has the change of last November brought us? A “surge” in Iraq, a big jump in arm sales throughout the Middle East at our expense, and the passage of the Protect America act, giving an untrustworthy Administration far more power than they deserve. Apathy is the answer to your question, and it is based on the hypothesis that “they are all the same”.

3. MikeC Says:
   August 17th, 2007 at 11:05 am

   Interesting. I’d love to see the geographic breakdown of the poll.

4. MikeC Says:
   August 17th, 2007 at 11:09 am

   Sorry, hit “submit” too soon.

   My experience going door to door and making phone calls hasn’t been anything like the poll would indicate. Among people that vote, Donoghue was stronger in Lowell than Niki.

   Of course, I haven’t talked to 1500 people, so that’s why I’m curious about which areas were polled.

5. Anonymous Says:
   August 17th, 2007 at 12:43 pm

   There just boring.

6. Eleanor Rigby Says:
   August 17th, 2007 at 1:27 pm

   Actually the media laws (consolidation) are partly to blame.

   Look at Mimi’s post, she mentions THE TWO radio stations in Lowell.

   There are 4 radio stations licensed to Lowell, the other two WCRB and WLLH are both owned or operated by major corporations that are based elsewhere and the only thing they acknowledge about Lowell is once and hour they are required by law to say Lowell in their station ID. (You may have read the article in today’s Globe about the corporation that
   owns WEEI trying to buy WCRB to prevent their morning show from going there. That’s their “local” committment $!

   Lowell once had a TV station and cable news outlet as well. There are a number of reasons the TV station (now based in Derry NH) failed, the cable news outlet went dark when AT&T was bought out by Comcast. Comcast promised “local” coverage and developed CN8, not exactly local is it?

   So the 4th largest city in Massachusetts is down to a newspaper, the last independent AM radio station in the state, and a college radio station. That is the media in this town!

   Sure, they can do a bang up job getting the word out but the fact of the matter is all three outlets are “also rans”, if they can even be called that, when it comes to readership and listenership.

   Few people read or listen to them, so “no one” knows about it.

   With the Globe starting to take an interest it might increase the vote total slightly on Sept 4th, but a lot of people are still on vacation.

   I guess the real question is why did Marty submit the letter when he did rather than wait and try to time it to coincide with the CC and SC election? At least then folks would be aware and not still on vacation!

7. lucy the dog Says:
   August 17th, 2007 at 2:17 pm

   speaking personally, i can’t get too worked up to elect a congressman or congresswoman, as sad as that is. i don’t think i’m saying anything original here given congress’s abysmal approval ratings. but as decent as these candidates seem to be, i don’t see any of them - or anyone for that matter - making any significant waves in washington.

   if you believe, like i do, that the problem is not so much the people, but rather the system that is basically corrupt and incapable of facilitating any real work getting accomplished, then this race just isn’t all that enticing. whoever gets in, we’ll still be in this ridiculous war, we’ll still be broke, we’ll still have a rapidly growing pile of domestic problems. and they’ll still spend 90 percent of their time trying to get re-elected.

   so sorry if i can’t be inspired to dig into each candidates’ positions on health care. i’ve been hearing candidates promise for my entire adult life that this is a problem they’ll fix. it’s not even close to being fixed. in fact, it’s worse.

   this may be a defeatist attitude, but that’s where i’m at and that may be where others are at, too.

   but it’s not to say i won’t vote. i think you can make an educated guess as to who will make the best rep without following the day-to-day progress of the race.

   wake me when george is gone.

8. Mr. Lynne Says:
   August 17th, 2007 at 5:16 pm

   The cure for the system is daylight. You want to be electing someone you think will work to shed daylight. There are people and positions in the house that can work toward that goal (god bless Henry Waxman). Look at the Powers Fasteners decision indictment. The $1,000 hardly seems appropriate and I think the public outcry will get that statute amended. I really am on board with your thoughts Lucy and thats why I intend to vote for a reformer. We really need to be electing people who, while open to discourse and compromise, work toward reform of current the current policies that don’t work and isn’t afraid to say so.

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