Surprise!

Here is a big surprise.  Both parties and their talking heads have trouble wrapping their arguments simply around plain and simple fact.  Distortion abounds from the right and the left, and neither has any right to claim the moral high ground.

I am myself presently in a personal "political" turmoil.  I really don't know what to do with the Presidential race.  For one to switch horses is a serious decision.  The one you have now may not make you happy, but there is no guaranty a new one is going to meet your needs.

I am not convinced either candidate for the office in the White House has it.

What sets me off sometimes though is the holier than thou attitude by both sides!

What gets me going is when something is done that is simply plain wrong.  The "wrong" may be in my opinion only, but I would like to think more often than not it is a bi-partisan opinion.

Because you believe in something does not mean that I, or anyone else, must also so believe.  It doesn't make anyone dumb, stupid ignorant or per se evil.  The saints in this world are saints because of the (D) or (R) after their name.  For every lousy politician in one party, it isn't hard to find his or her counterpart in the other.

I encourage all of you to check into all the statements made, all the ads.  A great resource for this is FactCheck.  The Washington Post also does a pretty good job with it.

The other races, those are pretty easy for me.  With the primary over, I will be voting for Keating in the Congressional race.  All past comments aside, measuring him up against which ever Republican is declared winner in the very close GOP primary, I feel he is the best person for the job.  It doesn't mean I will agree with his positions on some things.  It means what it says.

The Senate race, well there is no secret there.  Sen. Brown will get my vote for re-election. Not because he is a Republican, but because in my opinion, based on the two candidates in the race, based upon the fact that he has in my mind, and it may only be in my mind, a substantial record for voting across party lines, the Senator is the candidate most likely to actually work toward a consensus on issues.

He may lean right on some matters more than I like, but his opponent leans far too left on far too many issues in my opinion.  That is the difference for me.

I am middle class, despite the fact some feel I have no class.  I am acutely aware of the potential votes in the Senate and the House will have on life for all of us.  I see what goes on around me each day.  I don't buy into either party line.

Believe it or not as much as I lean right on some issues, I lean left on just as many.

But for me, when it gets down to the nitty gritty, my choice for Brown is based upon an overall believe that he is the best candidate to represent this state.  He may very well lose this election.  Indeed I firmly believe the debates are going to swing this.

Not Menino trying to be some kind of power broker, not Obama's coattails.  The debates.  If Brown stumbles in them, he falls.

But absent something out there that comes to light, he will still get my vote.

Enough of that for now.

Back to the primary ...

As noted, Keating won.  No real surprise.  Too much of his old district was included in this new one.  Ever wonder how it is New Bedford and other South coast communities that seem to get "moved"?  That's for another day, in the mean time, it is what it is.  For Keating to lose this one will take a monumental blunder on his part.  He could probably pull a Coakley and still win.

The governor's council results are very interesting.  While the S-T site had the race too close to call, with Walter Moniz leading, the results on Channel 5 and from one of the other candidates, Nicholas Bernier, had the third candidate, Oliver Cipollini in the lead.  Channel 5 had Cipollini with a 165 vote lead over Bernier, with Moniz in third trailing by 569 votes.

Doing some quick math, and rounding off, the vote difference is within what one would consider valid for looking for a recount.  Rule of thumb anything within a 1/2% should be recounted.  Absent a defective voting machine, the results from the machines, at least the ones in Fairhaven, are pretty dead on.  Absentee ballots certainly will come into play a bit, but if a recount is requested for this one, there shouldn't be anyone with a qualm about it.

Be interesting to see the news play that race gets leading to November if Cipollini comes on top.  I predict national attention.

Brother vs. brother in the general election.  I know, the whole political farce argument will be heard for the next two months and more. Well before we jump on any bandwagon, we may have a few weeks to see what a recount brings.

Anyway, if anyone gets updated results as they stand now, let us know.