Poker Played Its Part

[GardenaMiracle]

I guess that I would agree that poker played some part in the conscience of the nation. Extremists within our government have been stealthily taking our rights away one by one. Adding poker to the safe ports bill was clearly an abuse of power. At some point we had to say enough, and we did.

[antneye]

All issues play "Some" part in an election. It all depends on what motivates people to get off their asses and vote (sadly, this is a big problem).

This election, while being a landslide for the Democrats was actually very close. Most of the seats that swayed power came down to a handful of votes. With that in mind it is very possible, that the poker issue motivated a group of people who don't normally vote just enough to actually change the balance of power.

I am a Republican. I am also upset with my party because they allowes themselves to be swayed from their normal platform to pay off promises to the extreme right which were made to keep power over the last few years. This sad "drift" plagues all parties when they try to keep power. I still voted Republican on most tickets, but I kept my promise to Peter King and did not vote for him in protest of him allowing Frist to tack UIGEA on to the Safe Port Bill which King was the committe chair on. I plan on letting him know why he lost my vote.

Students of history will recognize that this type of switch in the balance of power plagues most Presidents in their 6th yr.

[DuderinoAB]

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What's more Jim Leach lost and his race wasn't even on the radar!!

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Repeatedly saying this won't make it true. The race wasn't heavily polled. It was conducted very civilly. Very little advertising money was spent. The Des Moines Register seemed to think that the race was going to be close. The Iowa City Press-Citizen in November considered it the closest race in the state, thinking it was going to be close to 50-50. The only real poll conducted there had the race 50-48 at the end of October.

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Thank you for adding the manditory, un-needed negativity that must find its way into every thread... which ultimately starts an argument about some non-important point, and takes the thread totally off topic.

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He makes a valid point though. That's the idea behind a forum. People make arguments on topics. I don't really see how that is off topic. I mean it breaks up the "yeah we really did make a difference" man love session, but its relevant info stated in a civil manner. Let's be realistic here.

[Python49]

What confuses me is that if only a very small % of poker players out there are winning players, what would motivate a losing player to vote according to this issue....? Im not too sure what it must be ilke in their shoes but it seems to me that if ive been losing 2k of my monthly pay checks for over 2 years maybe poker being outlawed is not such a bad thing after all?

[autobet]

Some players can afford to lose and write it off as entertainment.

Others lose more than they can afford, are trying to quit and can't, and may be happy the government is doing it for them.

[autobet]

Here is part of an article posted on the PPA website

Root says, “The GOP has squandered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to control all levels of government for decades. The migration of GOP voters to low tax red (Republican) states had the potential to put the GOP in the drivers seat for many years to come. But President Bush made 2 primary mistakes:

First he allowed government growth and spending to spiral out of control. He spent like a combination of a Democrat and a drunken sailor! Republicans can never win by outspending Democrats.

Second, “W” turned off Libertarian Republicans (like me) and mainstream moderate voters on issues such as stem cell research, Terri Schiavo, global warming and the ban on online gaming- which polls showed was opposed by 90% of the electorate.”

Root believes that the online gaming ban was the stealth smoking gun of election 2006- with millions of angry online poker fans- mostly high income males that traditionally vote Republican- voting Democrat in mass protest to this egregious violation of their freedoms.

Root says, “This election was not won by Democrats. It was lost by Republican arrogance. Voters didn’t choose Democrats for their views- because they offered none. Voters certainly didn’t vote Democrat in support of higher taxes. They chose moderate to conservative Democrat candidates over the perceived religious and right-wing extremist GOP image created by Bush and Rove.

[Uglyowl]

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What confuses me is that if only a very small % of poker players out there are winning players, what would motivate a losing player to vote according to this issue....? Im not too sure what it must be ilke in their shoes but it seems to me that if ive been losing 2k of my monthly pay checks for over 2 years

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Poker is entertainment for most people. What if the government banned buying baseball tickets? Would everyone think of it as saving us money?

Americans enjoy playing poker, why should we be told we can't?

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People can "take credit" all they want, but no politician with any electoral sense about him/her will believe that the pro-online-gaming constituency will play a significant role in vote tallies in their future... .

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Not sure that anyone was trying to claim much credit, merely that the gaming issue caused many people to change their vote and in some cases life-long allegiences. You may be right that it was not in absolute terms a "significant" number but in "first past the post" election systems that is not needed - only enough to tip the balance. In some areas activating poker players to speak up and say why they voted the way they did may well give politicians cause for thought. It may also encourage others to turn out and vote.
I was trying to suggest one way of doing that. Other/better ideas are certainly welcome.

[PokerNoob]

I am a Reagan/Contract with America Republican. The strategy of pandering to the Religious Right (Shiavo, Stem Cell, Defense of Marriage, Internet Gambling, ad nauseum) obviously pissed of a lot more swing voters and libertarian republicans than it "energized the base", and made the difference in the election. I think it was pretty clear to the Religious Right that their boys are all ethically challenged anyway (Abramoff, sex scandals).

[rjp]

It's tough to get a handle on the impact, but it was a strong reason for me to go vote for the Democrat House representative in a mostly Republican district here in South Carolina.

The Republican (Brown) won by a hefty margin, but I was happy to see them lose enough seats to see a shift in power.