3rd June 2018, 12:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 3rd June 2018, 2:57 PM by A Black Falcon.)
On a (slightly) lighter note... this is one of the places that Trump's destruction of the Republican Party has brought us.
So, there are a lot of competitive races that will be decided here in a couple of weeks in Maine's June 12 primaries. One that is not competitive, however, is the race for the Republican candidate for Senator. This likely-to-lose-in-the-fall candidate will face off against incumbent Independent (but caucusing with the Democrats) Angus King and (angry-left, somewhat minor candidate) Democrat Zak Ringlestein. There is only one Dem running, since no major candidates are going to take on Angus King given his popularity and that he does caucus with us. That there would be a Republican challenge was inevitable, though. And indeed, two candidates ran, Eric Brakey and Max Linn. Both are going to be on the ballot.
However, too late to remove him from the ballot, after Brakey challenged Linn's supporter signatures to the Secretary of State, Linn was disqualified because too many of the required signatures he submitted were invalid, either because they are doubles, aren't of valid voters (out of state, dead, what have you), or other reasons. Linn was quite upset about this, but there's nothing he can do to get back on the Republican ballot, he didn't have enough signatures. Anyone who votes for Linn will have their vote "counted" as if they submitted a blank ballot on that race.
So, naturally, like any good diehard Trump supporter, Linn... decided to keep running anyway. Yes, really. Despite not actually being a candidate, Linn is running a campaign. Most notably, he has put up signs with his name on them along roadsides. He has put up a LOT of signs with his name on them. In fact, even here in very Democratic southern Maine, there are more Linn signs around than for any other candidate. How many signs did he make, anyway? They say "Trump Strong" on top, in a red bar, then Linn below, with a blue background.
Naturally, everyone else, including the Maine Republican Party, finds Linn's move here pretty strange. After all, he is not a candidate! Linn's response to that? Trump-style unhinged craziness. Here's what Linn posted on his Facebook page about the subject: "When unelected bureaucrats and radical judges, given to us by the Democrats, tell us "no", we who support President Trump and are #TrumpStrong must unite and tell them "YES!'" He's saying this because Secretary of State Dunlap is indeed a Democrat, since here the state legislature elects the secretary of state and such as the Dems hold the legislature, but the disqualification was not a partisan issue, it was a purely factual one. This distinction is irrelevant to Trump's willing copies, though, so there they are, forests of Linn signs everywhere. Linn also had this to say on Twitter, as if he's an actual candidate, which he is not: "“The outpouring of support from across the State has truly been humbling,” Linn tweeted Thursday afternoon. “Clearly Maine GOP voters want a high energy, Trump Strong candidate!”"
Oh, and Linn hasn't stopped at flooding Maine roads with his signs, either -- he's even put a bunch of them up over in New Hampshire, the next state over, for no apparent reason! Yes, really. Why, nobody knows. People in New Hampshire are not amused, as the signs are not legally allowed to be there. Supposedly the Linn campaign agreed to take them down, but come on, how did that ever happen in the first place? Only a campaign as unwilling to follow the law as Linn's would do such a weird thing... the claim in one of the articles below that the campaign "didn't know" that they had signs up in New Hampshire is questionable at best. Who knows how this happened but it's pretty silly.
Is this the future of America, fake or disqualified candidates who run anyway, just to assuage their egos and mess with the election system? Because some people are sure to vote for him anyway because of these signs, even though there's no point... but it won't be a majority, surely Brakey will get most of the vote (even if you count all blank ballots for Linn), so all Linn will do is show how odd his decisions have been. This country...
Here are links to some articles on this saga. I started with the point where Linn got disqualified, though of course the story goes back before that. Read if you want more on this amusing saga. Who knew with that first fight where Linn would go later...
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/04/24/d...-max-linn/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/officials-m...mpaigning/
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/05/29/c...to-voters/
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/05/31/d...hampshire/
http://www.fosters.com/news/20180601/sig...r-in-dover
So, there are a lot of competitive races that will be decided here in a couple of weeks in Maine's June 12 primaries. One that is not competitive, however, is the race for the Republican candidate for Senator. This likely-to-lose-in-the-fall candidate will face off against incumbent Independent (but caucusing with the Democrats) Angus King and (angry-left, somewhat minor candidate) Democrat Zak Ringlestein. There is only one Dem running, since no major candidates are going to take on Angus King given his popularity and that he does caucus with us. That there would be a Republican challenge was inevitable, though. And indeed, two candidates ran, Eric Brakey and Max Linn. Both are going to be on the ballot.
However, too late to remove him from the ballot, after Brakey challenged Linn's supporter signatures to the Secretary of State, Linn was disqualified because too many of the required signatures he submitted were invalid, either because they are doubles, aren't of valid voters (out of state, dead, what have you), or other reasons. Linn was quite upset about this, but there's nothing he can do to get back on the Republican ballot, he didn't have enough signatures. Anyone who votes for Linn will have their vote "counted" as if they submitted a blank ballot on that race.
So, naturally, like any good diehard Trump supporter, Linn... decided to keep running anyway. Yes, really. Despite not actually being a candidate, Linn is running a campaign. Most notably, he has put up signs with his name on them along roadsides. He has put up a LOT of signs with his name on them. In fact, even here in very Democratic southern Maine, there are more Linn signs around than for any other candidate. How many signs did he make, anyway? They say "Trump Strong" on top, in a red bar, then Linn below, with a blue background.
Naturally, everyone else, including the Maine Republican Party, finds Linn's move here pretty strange. After all, he is not a candidate! Linn's response to that? Trump-style unhinged craziness. Here's what Linn posted on his Facebook page about the subject: "When unelected bureaucrats and radical judges, given to us by the Democrats, tell us "no", we who support President Trump and are #TrumpStrong must unite and tell them "YES!'" He's saying this because Secretary of State Dunlap is indeed a Democrat, since here the state legislature elects the secretary of state and such as the Dems hold the legislature, but the disqualification was not a partisan issue, it was a purely factual one. This distinction is irrelevant to Trump's willing copies, though, so there they are, forests of Linn signs everywhere. Linn also had this to say on Twitter, as if he's an actual candidate, which he is not: "“The outpouring of support from across the State has truly been humbling,” Linn tweeted Thursday afternoon. “Clearly Maine GOP voters want a high energy, Trump Strong candidate!”"
Oh, and Linn hasn't stopped at flooding Maine roads with his signs, either -- he's even put a bunch of them up over in New Hampshire, the next state over, for no apparent reason! Yes, really. Why, nobody knows. People in New Hampshire are not amused, as the signs are not legally allowed to be there. Supposedly the Linn campaign agreed to take them down, but come on, how did that ever happen in the first place? Only a campaign as unwilling to follow the law as Linn's would do such a weird thing... the claim in one of the articles below that the campaign "didn't know" that they had signs up in New Hampshire is questionable at best. Who knows how this happened but it's pretty silly.
Is this the future of America, fake or disqualified candidates who run anyway, just to assuage their egos and mess with the election system? Because some people are sure to vote for him anyway because of these signs, even though there's no point... but it won't be a majority, surely Brakey will get most of the vote (even if you count all blank ballots for Linn), so all Linn will do is show how odd his decisions have been. This country...
Here are links to some articles on this saga. I started with the point where Linn got disqualified, though of course the story goes back before that. Read if you want more on this amusing saga. Who knew with that first fight where Linn would go later...
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/04/24/d...-max-linn/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/officials-m...mpaigning/
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/05/29/c...to-voters/
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/05/31/d...hampshire/
http://www.fosters.com/news/20180601/sig...r-in-dover