So what do we do now?

miami32 · #1 11-09-2006, 10:08 AM

Now that the poker players have helped certain democrats elected in certain states what do we do to keep our momemntum. Do we start calling or letter writing again? How do we go about moving forward?

Uglyowl · #2 11-09-2006, 11:59 AM

My goal is to do two items politically per week (write a letter, make a phone call, make a contribution, etc.).

I think short term (let them rest over the weekend first [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] :

Call Harry Reid- Talk to him about getting legalization rolling

Call Nancy Pelosi- She seems harder to crack, but talk about how poker is different than other forms of gambling.

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I think longer term we have to look at Bob Goodlatte next election amongst other things.

autobet · #3 11-09-2006, 01:33 PM

Just sent the following to ABC news:

Everyone is talking about why the voters said no to the Republicans. One thing they are forgetting about is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act. Many online poker players were angry and took to the polls. Many voted for the first time in their life, and many lifelong Republicans voted Democratic or Libertarian. No one can say for sure how many votes were cast by fans of online gambling and poker, but as close as the elections were there is a chance it cost the Republicans the Senate. If so, that would be news!

spidey74 · #4 11-09-2006, 02:03 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Many voted for the first time in their life, and many lifelong Republicans voted Democratic or Libertarian.

[/ QUOTE ]
I totally agree with you. I voted this year, and I have never voted or even considered voting before in my life. I am sure there are a ton of people like me. I wonder if we can do a little data analysis on voter turnout, this year versus previous elections or versus expectations. I'm guessing it was higher this year, but haven't been able to find much yet.

Would be really interested in seeing the change in voter turnout for places like Arizona and Iowa's 2nd District specifically where the races hit close to home.

Grasshopp3r · #5 11-09-2006, 02:06 PM

Can we quantify the votes that online players cast in the election? This would be a good task for the PPA. Hard data would get more respect.

pipedreamz · #6 11-09-2006, 02:17 PM

nancy is from cali where poker is legal, a carve should not be too farfetched to her.

autobet · #7 11-09-2006, 02:19 PM

The turnout was much higher than expected for a midterm election. Mostly people want a change and came out to vote no to Bush and Republicans. You could compare the numbers to four years ago when Bush and the GOP were more popular and a lot of people didn't bother to come out and vote.

Most of the ground lost by Leech and Kyl was due the fact they happen to be Republican. Leech lost by 5,711 votes, so only 2,856 would need to have changed sides, but who knows? It's doubtfull we could attribute that all to gambling, but certainly can take credit for part of it.

Beastmaster · #8 11-09-2006, 02:31 PM

We need to get the word out that poker did play a small role in some elections. I think the Leech election is a good example. Also, would an email campaign to Reid / Pelosi be effective. Pick a date early next year and send mass emails/ phone calls? I believe there was an organized call by PPA this year that had some success. Maybe they should try to do this again explaining what needs to be said to Reid/ Pelosi.

JCool · #9 11-09-2006, 03:30 PM

I live and vote in Arizona and am a life long Republican, but I absolutely refused to vote for Kyle on Tuesday, and instead wrote in a protest canditate. I'm sure I'm not the only one....and Kyle did win by a much smaller margin then in either of his first two campaigns, so who knows what effect internet gambling had.