The nation’s only two gubernatorial races are in New Jersey and Virginia. In New Jersey, U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine has faced off against Republican businessman Doug Forrester, with the latest polls showing Corzine up by 5%. (Sounds like his victory may depend on turnout today.)
“Virginia Is for Close-Race Lovers,” coos the National Review Online. And Bush made an “election eve gamble” by stopping in Virginia to greet GOP candidate Jerry Kilgore and 5,000 “squealing” Republicans. Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine has closed the gap, but Virginia remains a Republican state.
However, reports MyDD, “Tim Kaine leads Jerry Kilgore 52-43 in the final tracking poll by Survey USA. Mark Warner was up 10 and only won by 5 in 2001.” Is Bush dragging down the Republican candidates? We shall see.
Fernando Ferrer is (yawners) running 38 points behind incumbent NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg.
There’s a hotly debated proposition in my own tiny county (about 70,000 people) that is getting national attention — including stories on NPR and national papers — for its attempt to save farmland and small farms from obliteration by avaricious real estate companies.
It calls for a 0.5% buyers excise tax on property purchases to buy up and preserve farmland, but real estate companies have outspent Prop. 1 by 3 to 1, and sent in armies of agents from around the state to doorbell. The real estate giants have plastered signs everywhere — “Save the American Dream!” — as if a buyers’ tax will harm property owners.
Do you know about other exciting races, referendums or initiatives — large or small — out there in this vast country?
