From Adam Bitely:
I read this earlier on the Mises Institute blog. I figured I would share it with all of you. This is a very interesting argument that no one on either side is making. It is also important to point out that Deeds’ GOP opponent in the fall has even less support using this logic. Bob McDonnell, the Republican nominee for Governor, was nominated at a convention where only 6-7,000 people came out and voted. McDonnell was unopposed, therefore he was nominated unanimously.
From Mises Economics Blog:
R. Creigh Deeds, a Virginia state senator, won the Democratic primary election for governor yesterday, defeating his two opponents with relative ease. Deeds received about 160,000 votes out of 320,000 cast, just under 50%. State election officials had projected a 5% turnout, but the final number was a bit higher: about 6.5% of all eligible voters. (In Virginia, Republicans could vote in the Democratic primary, as the Republican nomination was not contested.) So in state with about 7.8 million residents, a group of less than 2% chose one of the two men who will become governor come January 2010. This is what government-paid school teachers refer to as the “consent of the governed.”
It would be an interesting experiment if news outlets reported election results in these terms. The Washington Post and other Virginia-area papers touted Deeds’ “blowout” victory, but if the headline read, “98% of voters declined to support Democratic nominee,”* then few would deem that a blowout or landslide. Then again, mainstream news outlets generally aren’t in the business of making the state — and its electoral ceremonies — look foolish.
*Actually, re-examining the election results, Deeds received votes from 3.1% of the total number of Virginia registered voters. So a more accurate headline would read, “96.9% of Voters Don’t Support Virginia Nominee.”
