Marshall Sutherland

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 17:58:18 -0400

dwatney@hub.farthinghalearms.com

#^Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he's suspending his presidential bid and backing Donald Trump

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent campaign for president Friday and endorsed Donald Trump, a late-stage shakeup of the presidential race that could give the former president a modest boost from Kennedy’s supporters.

Kennedy said his internal polls had shown that his presence in the race would hurt Trump and help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, though recent public polls don’t provide a clear indication that he is having an outsize impact on support for either major-party candidate.

Kennedy cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as among the reasons he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states.

#politics

politics

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Sat, 24 Aug 2024 12:30:18 -0400

Marshall Sutherland

dwatney@hub.farthinghalearms.com

I haven't taken the time to watch yet, but I'll put in a link to it below.

This may all seem strange to those less familiar with the US Presidential election system, so I'll add a bit to explain. The presidential election happens at the state level. All but, if I recall, Nebraska and Maine have a winner-take all system whereby the highest vote-getter in the state gets all of that states Electoral College votes. In the exceptions, that happens at the US House district level for each individual E.C. vote. In most states, the political demographic skew far enough red or blue that the winner is a mere formality, so Kennedy's participation in those states will not affect the outcome, given his likely vote total.

But, why bother staying in the race in those states, if he has accepted that he isn't going to win the election? Most states have tiers of ballot access and their specific rules vary greatly. In most states, smaller parties are "2nd class citizens" when it comes to ballot access. They have to collects 10's or 100's of thousands of signatures to get on the ballot. Once granted ballot access, one of the ways to maintain it is to receive a certain percentage (sometimes 2%) of the vote in a state-wide election (President, Governor, other state-wide offices). Because those elections may happen in different years, the Presidential election may be the only state-wide election in 2024. Staying in the race could allow whatever party he is associated with in that state to maintain ballot access for the next election cycle. He may have other reasons, but this is a reason those parties would want him to stay in.

Another note I'll add is that the roughness of his voice is the result of a past medical issue.

#^FULL SPEECH: RFK Jr. major announcement from Phoenix

Robert Kennedy Jr. is making a major announcement from Phoenix. According to Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, RFK Jr. submitted paperwork to remove ...

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 12:33:12 -0400

Marshall Sutherland

dwatney@hub.farthinghalearms.com

I finally started watching it. It isn't as long as it appears because the video starts 30 minutes before he takes the stage.

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 17:56:28 -0400

Marshall Sutherland

dwatney@hub.farthinghalearms.com

I didn't watch the R and D national conventions, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was more content in that speech of less than an hour than the totality of those ~~commercials~~ conventions.