This blog is pleased to announce that SWNID endorsed candidate and SWNID neighbor Mark Mallory last night was elected mayor of Cincinnati.
The underreported story in the local media is the crucial role that this blog's endorsement played in the campaign. Mallory's slender margin of victory (51.8% to 48.2%) approximates the total number of hits received by this blog since its inception. Assuming that all hits represented new readers, that all readers are registered Cincinnati voters, and that all voted yesterday for Mallory--reasonable assumptions all--we lay claim to having won the election for the new mayor.
Ward-by-ward results show that Pepper's strength came, predictably, from Price Hill, Covedale, Hyde Park, Mt. Lookout and Mt. Washington/California. Mallory had overwhelming support in predominantly African American wards but also strongly carried the bellwether Ward 25 (Mt. Airy/College Hill), Clifton, and other areas with diverse demographics. Mallory clearly had support that cut across conventional political lines, having earned the endorsement of prominent Republicans and conservatives as well as left-wing groups.
This result will also be called the victory of positive campaigning over negative, the victory of an outsider over an insider, and the victory of grassroots campaigning over big money. The facts support all those assertions.
In other Cincinnati election results, City Council will continue to have as a member a man who has shamelessly promoted an organization involved for more than thirty years in terrorism, namely, Irish Republican Army supporter David Crowley. Four new council members may restore some semblance of order to that chaotic body.
Perhaps the most excellent news is that Issues 2-5, the so-called reform measures for Ohio elections, were soundly defeated. If Mallory's election proves anything, it's that big money is way overrated in politics. All of Pepper's fundraising among his daddy's friends in the Fortune 500 and his buddies from Yale Law School were powerless against the long-term reputation that the Mallory family has in local politics. This is exhibit A in demonstrating that Issues 2-5 were at best unnecessary. Of course, they were fundamentally undemocratic, but that's another matter.
Certainly the future of the Queen City is brighter today than it has been for the last four years.
2 comments:
Not all readers voted for Mallory.
Cincinnati should not have to settle for a mayor chosen from the evil of two lessers. That's why I voted my conscience and wrote in Charlie Winburn.
Good for you. Personally, I am very relieved that Charlie Windbag will not spend the next four years embarrassing Republicans, conservatives and Cincinnatians with his wacky behavior.
As far as SWNID is concerned, we're not settling with Mallory. He was the best candidate, period. Review earlier posts for evidence and persuasion.
Let's remember the limits of politics. It's the art of the possible, by means of coalition and compromise. As a Christian and conservative, I'm committed to the idea that human nature can only be affected so much by political matters.
And let me say that I am shocked ... SHOCKED ... that all readers of this blog do not fall in line instantly with everything that we write. We are, after all, seldom wrong.
But I'll wager that in four years we'll see a more conservatively governed Cincinnati than any of us would have expected under any other mayor.
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