One more day

I know that there will be a ton of Monday morning quarterbacking beginning tomorrow, but aren't you glad that this political campaign season is over? This has to have been a candidate for the lowest quality campaign season ever. Even more negative ads, screaming debates, trivializing of candidates without money or backing by powerful forces, brouhahas over trivial issues, very few good - let alone original - ideas, hardly any serious discussion of how we can start to solve some of our problems. What kind of a world are we leaving the people of the 21st century?

Despite the fact that Deval Patrick has almost been inaugurated by the pollsters, Kerry Healy is still spending money on her attempt to become governor of Massachusetts. So far, she has spent almost $10,000,000 of her own money. That's a lot to spend on what was an overly negative campaign. In contrast, Grace Ross, the Green Party candidate and the most impressive contender, has spent a grand total of $13,919.

While, at $42,800,000 and counting, this has been the most expensive gubernatorial race in Massachusetts history, the liquor and supermarket industries have spent over $11,500,000 trying to convince us to vote the right way on a ballot question as to whether wine should be sold in supermarkets.

In many states the media has made a big deal about the races for Congress and the Senate. Not so here. There is no way Kennedy and our incumbent Congressmen will not return to Washington. All have been challenged, but I'll wager 90% of the voters do not know who the challengers are.

Here on Martha's Vineyard there are few compelling races. I think the Democratic representative and Senator will be returned to the State House and Sollitto to the Clerk of Courts.

County government is another matter. I find it hard to see any of the incumbent Dukes County Commissioners being reelected. At the last minute some activists are mounting a write-in campaign to win a seat on a commission to study the Dukes County Charter. The County Commissioners are held in such low esteem that people can't believe that the problem is the people rather than the system, hence the study commission. While the Martha's Vineyard Commission, a regional planning agency, generates some controversy every so often, I think the incumbents have the upper hand.

My predictions:

County Commissioners - Gatting, Israel, Williams, Hefler
Martha's Vineyard Commission - the incumbents plus Flynn, Strauss and Toole. However, the election of a commissioner is complex in that at least one must be elected from each town no matter what her vote totals and no more than two can be elected from one town.
Charter Commission - not enough people signed up to run so all should be elected plus a few of the write-in candidates.
Up-Island Regional School District - there are five openings and five candidates.