As long as I live in Nixonland, I expect to have to vote for centrist triangutards in presidential elections. But I will be damned if I have to vote for Andrew Cuomo as governor of New York State. He’s slashed support for education, helped Republicans keep control of the State Senate, and, well, I just think he’s an asshole.
So I’m exited about the possibility that the Working Families Party will put a serious third-party candidate to oppose him. I will vote for that candidate, as long as it’s not Ralph Nader or someone like that, and probably do some volunteer work as well.
Right now, the candidate they’re talking about is someone named Zephyr Teachout. I don’t know that much about her. Kos doesn’t like her, albeit partly for Inside Baseball Judean People’s Front type reasons. I’m iffy on her as well and you may not like the reason: the name Zephyr Teachout sounds too much like a stereotype of a candidate crazy hippies would vote for (and I will vote for her if she’s the WFP candidate). I mean, it’d be a great name for someone mistermix discovered on that music blog he reads, but not for a politician.
Running against Cuomo is a great opportunity for the WFP. It’s a perfect storm — a very shitty Republican candidate and a right-wing Democratic candidate. The WFP candidate could easily finish second. They won’t get many opportunities like this. There’s no reason to think Democrats will nominate someone as conservative as Cuomo again and the Republican party suffering from Teamentia right now, but they could easily get their shit togetherish (as least to the point of breaking 40% in state-wide elections).