Sunday, June 03, 2007

Macri comes in big

Mauricio Macri and his Lista 502 came in way big tonight with more than 45% of the vote well ahead of his two closest competitors Daniel Filmus with about 24% despite his backing from K and our current mayor Jorge Tellerman who garnered about 20% despite his incumbency.

Election law says that if no one gets more than 50% the election will go to a run-off (El Ballottage) between the two top vote-getters. But Macri's win was so big that for awhile tonight it looked like Filmus and his Dialogo por BsAs slate might throw in the towel and let PRO have it. It appears certain now that Filmus will force Macri into another electoral round.

Assuming that the conservative supporters of Macri, owner of the Boca Juniors, are not prone to defect to Filmus in the run-off... and that the supporters of Tellerman are not all sufficiently liberal to stay away from PRO... it's looking like tough sledding for Filmus in the next round.

We'll keep an eye on things for you here at Yanqui Mike Election Central. A Macri win in the upcoming ballottage would almost certainly change the priorities of the city's government away from city services such as hospitals and schools and funnel support more to areas of concern to his wealthier backers. Stay tuned.

CORRECTION: this post originally erred in identifying Mayor Tellerman as the K backed candidate. We apologize for the slip. Thanks Frank!

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Saturday, June 02, 2007

Thanks, Steve.

The best is no longer among us. Steve Gilliard of the News Blog passed away early this morning at the age of 41.

I've been reading Steve every day since maybe his first few days. In an email exchange a couple of years ago I begged him to tell me over a beer someday why he wasn't the most popular news/politics blog in the US. He agreed; someday we'd have that beer. Honestly, I've been looking forward to the moment ever since ...and I'm not going to stop.

His motto was "We Fight Back." And he did every time. After more than 20 years of radical, intolerant conservative dominance of US national discourse and the consequent lies, Gilliard put his pen to the new medium of blogging and swore-off the old Liberal tendencies to allow Right-Wing hate, corruption, and destruction to go unanswered because such idiocies didn't deserve a response.

He decided to hit back at least as hard... and at least blow for blow... every time the people that are destroying the old county tried to cram another lie, myth or distortion down our throats.

I fell into formation with him from that very moment. No more assuming that anyone with sense or reason would automatically recognize the obviousness of it all... that had been proved wrong over and over again.

And no going-on-the-defensive, either. That had been proved a trap. We would give as good as we got and better. No shot would go unanswered. We were smarter, better, loved our country and constitution more, and the false populism of the Reagan-Democrats phenomenon was ripe for us to explode. I loved him.

I believe that he influenced everyone. I could hear it, smell it, taste it, feel it, see it whenever anyone fought back. He never got the amount of credit that I believe he deserved... but the great ones never do in their time. That made me feel a little better. I'm not sure but I always had the feeling that that might have comforted him as well.

I hope that his love, Jen, will attempt a foundation or think-tank in his memory... he would often rail at that lack of any of those types of organizations on our side of the tracks. He needs... no, WE need something very alive to commemorate him.

Hold the -30-.

With kisses south of the Equator,
Mike

Here's a little taste for newbies and old fans.

More...

...and here

...and here

...and here

...and here. Thanks, RP

...and here

...and in his own words, here

thanks again, my friend.