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LeftOut
by
Daryl Moore
Confessions
of a Wayward Democrat
Why
“Anonymous” voted in the Republican primary
Someone
voted Republican on March 7. There. He said it. He outed
himself as a voter in the Republican primary. He still
can’t believe he actually did it.
He’s
a 38-year-old lawyer, who had voted in the Democratic
primary every election since he turned 18. That’s
10 Democratic primaries in a row. He originally planned
on making it 11. But when Bill Bradley bailed out, Anonymous
looked at a sample ballot and realized that there was
absolutely nothing going on on the Democratic side of
this election.
Of
course, he didn’t count the contest between Gene
Kelly and Charles Gandy, who are scrambling for the
opportunity to let Kay Bailey Hutchison hand the Democratic
nominee his ass on her way to re-election for the U.S.
Senate. Other than that, though, it was hard to find
a contested race on the Democratic side at all.
Put
simply, in a year in which Democrats refused to run
in an election with George W. Bush at the top of the
Republican ticket, he could find no good reason to vote
in the Democratic primary.
And
while he couldn’t think of a good reason to vote
in the Democratic primary, he couldn’t think of
a reason not to vote in the Republican primary. After
all, in the last three election cycles, Stephen Hotze
and his religious-right followers had accounted for
35–40 percent of Republican primary voters. What
a scary thought.
Someone
had to do something. In this election, there were several
contested races in the Republican primary for trial
and appellate court judgeships. With no one even running
on the Democratic side for those positions, whoever
got out of the Republican primary with the most votes
would take the bench in January 2001.
He
could not stand idly by and let Hotze-ites decide whom
he would practice law before. So, he decided he would
be a Republican for a day. He would vote in the Republican
primary. Just this once. And vote he did.
He
voted for John McCain, even though McCain had already
dropped out of the race for president. So did 10 percent
of all voters in the Republican primary. At least 10
percent of Republican voters agreed with McCain that
Pat Robertson is truly evil and should play no role
in the making of an American president. (Lest anyone
think “evil” is too strong a word, recall
that Robertson said feminism drove women to “leave
their husbands, kill their children, and become lesbians.”)
Speaking
of religion, he also voted against school prayer. What
a silly proposition to put on the ballot when it’s
not even binding. He knew we don’t need governmentally
sanctioned prayer in schools. Besides, as long as students
take tests, there will be prayer in schools whether
the government sanctions it or not.
He
voted for Valerie Davenport, who was running against
Nathan Hecht for the Texas Supreme Court. Valerie had
never voted in a Republican primary but ran as one with
the hope that she could pull off an upset. She couldn’t.
He
voted for Richard Hall, who was running against Scott
Brister, a Hotze pick for the First Court of Appeals.
Hall thought he could beat Brister (and Hotze). He couldn’t.
And,
he voted for Martha Hill Jamison. Martha was a Democrat
who switched parties so Dubya would appoint her to the
trial bench. He did. She ran to get elected to a full
term. And now she’s in a runoff.
All
in all, he probably should have stayed home. He doesn’t
think he had much impact, since most of his picks went
down in flames anyway. Still, he never considered not
voting. So he voted Republican and now he feels guilty.
Some
of his yellow-dog friends are appalled. One even told
him if he voted in the Republican primary, it would
make him a Republican.
He
disagreed. That would be like saying if he went into
a straight bar once, it would make him heterosexual.
Bet not.
Writing
from the liberal end of the spectrum, Houston attorney
Daryl Moore has a general practice and is board certified
in civil appellate law. He can be reached at feedback@outsmartmagazine.com.
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