After this, one really has to wonder what is going on with Democratic voters in Tennessee. They just nominated a complete whackjob — a right wing whackjob straight out of the John Birch Society — to run against Sen. Bob Corker in November. The Tennessee Democratic Party has condemned their own nominee, but what the hell were the voters thinking?
Mark Clayton believes the federal government is building a massive, four-football-field wide superhighway from Mexico City to Toronto as part of a secret plot to establish a new North American Union that will bring an end to America as we know it. On Thursday, he became the Tennessee Democrats’ nominee for US Senate.
Clayton, an anti-gay-marriage activist and flooring installer with a penchant for fringe conspiracy theories, finished on top of a crowded primary field in the race to take on GOP Sen. Bob Corker this fall. He earned 26 percent of the vote despite raising no money and listing the wrong opponent on his campaign website. The site still reads, “DEDICATED TO THE DEFEAT OF NEO-CONSERVATIVE LAMAR ALEXANDER,” whom Clayton tried to challenge in 2008. (That year, he didn’t earn the Democratic nomination.)
On his issues page, Clayton sounds more like a member of the John Birch Society than a rank-and-file Democrat. He says he’s against national ID cards, the North American Union, and the “NAFTA superhighway,” a nonexistent proposal that’s become a rallying cry in the far-right fever swamps. Elsewhere, he warns of an encroaching “godless new world order” and suggests that Americans who speak out against government policies could some day be placed in “a bone-crushing prison camp similar to the one Alexander Solzhenitsyn was sent or to one of FEMA’s prison camps.” (There are no FEMA prison camps.)…
Clayton has another intriguing theory. This one involves a former governor of California: “Schwarzenegger, born in Austria, wants to amend the Constitution so that he can become president and fulfill Hitler’s superman scenario.”
Clayton is the vice president of Eugene Delgaudio’s loony group the Public Advocate of the United States, which appears to be little more than a fundraising scam. WTF?
37 comments
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eric
August 7, 2012 at 1:09 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Open primary + large field = shennanigans rule the day?
jws1
August 7, 2012 at 1:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Maybe they were longing for the good ole days of the Stephen Douglas Democratic Party.
jamessweet
August 7, 2012 at 1:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Does Tennessee have open primaries by any chance?
Even if not, Shenanigans cannot be ruled out. If the Democratic candidate was going to lose anyway, primary turnout might be low enough that a coordinated effort to nominate a nonviable candidate might just succeed. What was the name of that guy in ’08 or ’10? You know who I’m talking about…
matty1
August 7, 2012 at 1:19 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This is why I don’t get your primary system. Essentially members of the public can tell a political party who their candidates will be.
It would surely be more honest and less confusing to give everyone a choice of all the people who want to stand at the main election and if that means some candidates have to run as independents instead of for a party they have nothing in common with, what is the downside?
lofgren
August 7, 2012 at 1:26 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Could be another case of a “fuck you” candidate getting the vote because the field was already so unappealing to voters that they went for the absolute craziest option they could.
eric
August 7, 2012 at 1:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
How is that functionally different from the open primary system we have now?* I can vote for at most one person who will run for president, because I am only allowed to vote in one primary. The losers of the primaries may run as independents.
I’ll grant the less confusing part. There’s no need to put the votes for some candidates on different days/locations than the votes for other candidates, which is what happens under the current system. But in essence, we do exactly what you would like us to do: make one choice out of all the people who want to stand in the general election.
*Not all states have open primaries.
eric
August 7, 2012 at 1:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Matty1,
Let me back up and explain the standard ‘open primary’ system in the US, in case you’re unfamiliar. Under the standard sytem, a voter may vote in any primary regardless of their party affiliation, but they can only vote in one. They can’t, for example, vote in the democratic primary and then in the GOP primary.
This basically means that every voter can vote for any one candidate in the primary season. You can’t vote for more than one, but you are not limited by your party affiliation in who you can vote for.
Which is, I believe, the system you were espousing.
didgen
August 7, 2012 at 1:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Since they’re not going to build the superhighway, I wonder what the chances are that they might use some of the huge stockpiles of material to fix the potholes in the road behind my house. Is there somewhere I can apply for a place in the queue? I am thankful everyday that I live somewhere on the slightly more sane edge of the country.
Abby Normal
August 7, 2012 at 1:38 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You may be right. He may be crazy. But he just may be the lunatic we’re looking for.
(If his campaign hasn’t secured the rights to use that song for his ads and rallies than someone’s asleep at the wheel.)
Anyway, I imagine if I were a Democrat living in Tennessee I might go a little cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs too.
matty1
August 7, 2012 at 1:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The system I’m suggesting is that you have one public vote for each position aka the election. Every candidate who wants to be on the ballot goes on without the need for primaries and if they want the support of a political party for their run they go out and convince those who are actually members of that party.
Not that I feel strongly about ending primaries if that is what you prefer they just seem a confusing and potentially unfair blurring of the lines between the internal workings of a party and the public election.
lofgren
August 7, 2012 at 1:47 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
matty1, the system you are describing would end up working like this:
1. Party bosses choose the candidates.
2. Party bosses put as much money as possible behind their candidates in order to shout down competition with similarities.
3. The wealthiest two parties build a coalition that unites widely disparate positions into polarizing tribal identities.
I.E., exactly what we had before the primary system as we know was created. We’re still recovering from this system; it will likely take at least another century. Going backwards is not the answer.
deborahbell
August 7, 2012 at 1:56 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I live in Tennessee. Now granted I don’t watch television, but I am on the internet many hours a week, I work with the public every hour of my work, and I listen to the radio all the time I’m driving, a mix of my local NPR station and a soft rock station. So it is mystifying to me that I had no idea that the Democratic primary was last week. I’m a registered voter, although not a member of either party. I don’t even recall getting more than one or two mailers, none addressed to me and if I had to guess, none were Democratic.
Obviously I should have put more effort into figuring this stuff out. But I think it’s indicative of why my generation or maybe people like me who aren’t motivated to spend a lot of time researching are being missed by the political process. We ignore silly obvious mailers, we don’t watch television live with the advertisements, we don’t watch local news, we don’t have home phones to get robo calls. I tried to subscribe to the local independent paper’s mobile app but it was garbage (the app, not the content). I won’t read a physical newspaper so no sense spending money on one. I haven’t found a local radio station that does local news.
Obviously I can’t blame anyone for my own ignorance. I could spend time searching out the issues and I always plan to. But my point is that the old ways of doing things aren’t reaching me and I’d argue people like me, and I would say people like me tend to be more liberal than not.
Skip White
August 7, 2012 at 2:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Mark Clayton believes the federal government is building a massive, four-football-field wide superhighway from Mexico City to Toronto as part of a secret plot to establish a new North American Union that will bring an end to America as we know it.”
Not sure how secret anything 400 yards wide could be.
eric
August 7, 2012 at 2:35 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You mean something like this?
As far as I know, nobody – unaligned or party member – thought that that system was very good. Certainly worse than the standard system.
I’m actually a big supporter of more parties and more competition against incumbents. But some sort of winnowing procedure is needed, either via an early vote, internal party selection, or even just a requirement for massive numbers of signatures. Otherwise you just get the chaos I linked to.
lofgren
August 7, 2012 at 2:43 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Also: ‘Round these parts we call that “the primary.”
Abby Normal
August 7, 2012 at 2:49 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You forgot random selection, like jury duty. I’m increasingly convinced that any person who would want run for office is precisely the worst type of person to hold it. Voir dire is good enough for the justice system. Why not give it a shot for the other branches?
/joking
/Ok, half joking
/Ok, 33% joking
/Ok, I really want to see what happens.
jws1
August 7, 2012 at 2:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I think we already can reasonably guess what happens when random selection of political office-holders is the method used. The Spartans eventually kick your ass, but then leave town a year later.
slc1
August 7, 2012 at 2:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Re Jamessweet @ #3
In the State of Virginia, there is no registration by parties so anyone can vote in either the Rethuglican or Democratic primary, but not both.
leftwingfox
August 7, 2012 at 3:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“He earned 26 percent of the vote ”
Yeah, that’s a pretty clear ballot split. Definately need to move away from the simple plurality voting systems.
d cwilson
August 7, 2012 at 3:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m sure many of the FEMA camps are at least that wide, yet the gubmit manages to keep them secret, doesn’t it? Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
As for how this nutbag got the nomination: Tennessee is apparently an open primary state. I wouldn’t rule out large numbers of republicans deciding that since Corker was a lock on the nomination, they could throw their vote at the craziest guy on the democratic side so that his re-election would be smooth sailing.
John Horstman
August 7, 2012 at 3:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Exactly the same thing that’s going to happen in the Wisconsin primaries, when a bunch of us Lefties are going to tank the Republican governor ticket by voting in their primary for the least-electable candidate instead of voting in the largely-uncontested Democratic primary. Is this sort of politicking actually news to a lot of people? I thought it was common practice in any state with open primaries when there’s a close race between crazy and less-crazy in the major party that’s most dissimilar from one’s own views.
wendy
August 7, 2012 at 3:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m a Tennessee Democrat, and I also did not realize there was a primary last week. There are multiple primaries, city/county/state, and it’s really embarrassing to let one slip past me (although I assume that’s by design).
More importantly, I have to vote Republican. Most elections in Tennessee are decided in the R primaries, and it’s my only chance to maybe keep the real crazies off the school board.
F
August 7, 2012 at 4:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
So, where the hell have They been building this superhighway for the past twenty years? It’s either a mile underground, or it is the biggest barrel of gov pork waste ever. Two decades of construction, and not a single cubic inch of concrete to show for it.
wholething
August 7, 2012 at 4:26 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Another case of life imitating Monty Python.
democommie
August 7, 2012 at 4:34 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Here’s some perspective, by a Nashvillian voter;
http://southernbeale.wordpress.com/2012/08/04/hes-not-our-nutjob/#comments
croquetplayer
August 7, 2012 at 4:40 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m afraid Eugene Delgaudio’s group is slightly more than just a fundraising scam. The Southern Poverty Law Center has accepted this case against them: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-demands-hate-group-stop-misusing-gay-couple-s-engagement-photo
Modusoperandi
August 7, 2012 at 7:45 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Skip White “Not sure how secret anything 400 yards wide could be.”
Ahem. 404 metres.
democommie
August 7, 2012 at 10:39 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Ahem. 404 metres.”
Ahemaddendum:
4 Football fields WIDE. Is this 4 NFL fields width or their lengths? If it their lengths it would be 480 YARDS*, not no fuggin’ MITRES! Also, too, if it’s the width of 4 NFL fields widewise, then it’d be 213.3333333333333333333333 YARDS**. Neener, neener!
* This is BY GOD MurKKKan Football we’re talkin’bout, chere!
** http://www.sportsknowhow.com/football/field-dimensions/nfl-football-field-dimensions.html
Modusoperandi
August 7, 2012 at 11:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
democommie, what’s this “NFL”?
Everybody knows that the enjoinening of the three North American nations into one will be followed by the forced metrification of the US populace.
And, even if the highway width is based on a football field width (instead of length) the MFL (Metric Football League) plays on a square field (with the field tilting up from the low point at the centre to each goal line, because socialism). And also the field, past the uprights, has no goal area (socialism). Lastly, it also has no uprights and no goal line, resulting in every game being a tie (again, socialism).
matty1
August 8, 2012 at 4:47 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Ah, I’ve clearly misunderstood it as described before, which always sounded more like.
Party activists put time and money into building an organisation and developing policy proposals.
State government calls an election by voters mostly unconnected with the party to decide who the activists will support.
The activists get the choice of endorsing the winner of that vote, even if their policies are the exact opposite of the ones the party had last week or walking away leaving their funds, buildings etc to that winner.
I’m delighted to hear I was wrong about this.
dingojack
August 8, 2012 at 4:58 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Demo – 480 yards = 438.91200 metres; 213.33333 yards = 195.07200 metres.
:) Dingo
grumpyoldfart
August 8, 2012 at 7:45 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You Americans make me laugh.
democommie
August 8, 2012 at 7:55 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Party activists put time and money into building an organisation and developing policy proposals.”
essentially accurate.
“State government calls an election by voters mostly unconnected with the party to decide who the activists will support.”
Open primary, every registered voter gets to vote in ONE of the primaries.
Close primary, every registered voter who is also a registered member of one of those parties who have candidates in a primary gets to vote in THAT primary. Independents do not get to vote in the primary (at least in NY state).
In neither of the above cases is your statement essentially accurate.
“The activists get the choice of endorsing the winner of that vote, even if their policies are the exact opposite of the ones the party had last week or walking away leaving their funds, buildings etc to that winner.”
completely untrue. If a candidate who wins the primary (say a write in Teabaggist or Moonbat) their subsequent campaign funding and organizing by the affiliated party is not required of that party. I will guess in the instant case that the support of the winners general election campaign, by TN Democratic Party, will be minimal. Since most state and local party committees in the U.S. do not own real estate in any meaningful way the only thing a candidate would get as spoils (and I’m fairly certain that it does not transpire) is a lease, usually short term. Considering that many campaigns end up in debt AND that many business people like to be paid for their services even IF such a thing were to occur the chances of the primary winner getting goods and services, “on the cuff”, would be slim.
I’m delighted to hear I was wrong about this.
democommie
August 8, 2012 at 8:00 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Strike:
“I’m delighted to hear I was wrong about this.”
Further to my last pointl.
The reason that the TN Dems were not energetic in the Senatorial primary is that they think Corker is unbeatable and were not willing to spend money in what they conceive to be a vain effort to unseat him. That a whackjob won the primary as a democrat will not stoke their ardor in that regard.
dcsohl
August 8, 2012 at 9:10 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“the MFL (Metric Football League) plays on a square field (with the field tilting up from the low point at the centre to each goal line, because socialism)”
I thought socialism was supposed to level the playing field….
dcsohl
August 8, 2012 at 9:11 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Meanwhile, back on-topic, Clayton’s website is down… Bandwidth exceeded. I guess his site couldn’t stand up to all the people pointing and laughing.
Modusoperandi
August 8, 2012 at 11:34 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
dcsohl “I thought socialism was supposed to level the playing field….”
They call it “level” (because socialism).