Truck driver leads NJ Senate president after spending $153 on campaign • Hacker News Board

Re: Truck driver leads NJ Senate president after spending $153 on campaign

#51

Post by Andrew_nenakhov » Wed, Nov 03, 2021, 9:22 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #27

PKop wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoting Durr in Politico: [0] Durr said Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s coronavirus executive orders, vaccine and school mask, unemployment benefits snafus and a general distrust of the South Jersey Democratic machine that has dominated the region for years all contributed to his strong performance. Sweeney, Durr said, “never challenged” Murphy during the pandemic. “You have the debacle of unemployment. The masking of…

I'm beginning to come around to this point of view: https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/peacefield/617c7b245793d... - we are not a serious nation. There's a global pandemic caused by an airborne pathogen, and people throw an absolute hissy fit over a minor inconvenience like masks. My kids wear them all day long in school, and while they don't love them, they are not constantly whining about them like some adults. My…

Probably it doesn't help that political leaders all over the world wear masks only for photo shoots. Internet is full of videos how they take masks off the second after shoot is over.

People rightfully consider this to be a hypocrisy.

Re: Truck driver leads NJ Senate president after spending $153 on campaign

#52

Post by busymom0 » Wed, Nov 03, 2021, 9:22 PM UTC

LiquidSky wrote: post #30

Something's weird here: "State campaign finance records show a slate of candidates including Durr raised more than $10,000 during their campaign but spent only $153: $66.64 at Dunkin to buy food and drinks for staff and $86.67 for paper flyers and business cards." So he raised more than $10,000, but reports only spending $153. Then how much did he raise? Where did the remaining money go? And how did he pay for things…

> how did he pay for things like the video ads linked below

Watch his ad:

https://twitter.com/kerpen/status/1455899165230354448?s=20

The "ad" looks like it could have been easily created on an old phone. It's a very basic ad, nothing special. Look at his twitter feed. The campaign material all looks very basic like it was created by his kids or someone. (Not saying that's a bad thing - I kinda like it as it looks more grassroots).

https://twitter.com/edwarddurr1/status/1418710865625354240

And based on archive, the day before election, his twitter only had 1556 followers meaning he didn't do any "online" reach out.

https://web.archive.org/web/20211101185415/https://twitter.c...

Also notice the top header photo on his archive twitter. It's just a stock photo with watermark still on the pic. Looks like an extremely lean campaign.

In a past interview from August, he stated:

> “Well, I’m a numbers guy and I’ve looked at the numbers over the years,” Durr said in an August interview conservative commentator Elizabeth Nader. “We have a district that is 150,00 voters. Senator Sweeney has never broken 32,000 votes …. and so I felt if he can’t even get half the district, that means there’s numbers out there to be taken, and you just have to get people to come out and vote. I believe if they come out and vote, we could win,” Sweeney said.

Reaching out and getting 20% to vote isn't that hard in a 150k size. So this looks like simply approaching maybe a few thousand families and houses and asking them to vote for him.

Re: Truck driver leads NJ Senate president after spending $153 on campaign

#53

Post by chiefalchemist » Wed, Nov 03, 2021, 9:22 PM UTC

inglor_cz wrote: post #31

baldeagle wrote: post #13

Meanwhile in Texas, each State Senate District has 940,178 people. 70,000 people in a state senate district just seems more workable.

With 29 million people, Texas has more inhabitants than the entire Australia, which is divided into several states.

In theory it's possible for TX to split into 5 states.

https://www.honestaustin.com/texapedia/texas-split-divide-in...

Re: Truck driver leads NJ Senate president after spending $153 on campaign

#54

Post by acheron » Wed, Nov 03, 2021, 9:23 PM UTC

mynameisash wrote: post #43

stickyricky wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WA? That's how it was in Vancouver when I lived there. Best system I've experience so far. Also felt the government was very fair and in line with the community.

I'm in WA now, came from MN. It infuriates me thinking about voting in-person: my wife and I used to go to our city hall, wait in line maybe a half hour to 45 minutes. We'd snake our way through the line, get our IDs checked, fill out these forms just so , and if you get a technicality wrong, you'd have to work with someone to fix it. Yadda yadda, finally you'd have time in a booth to cast your vote. But now in WA, m…

The secret ballot is normally considered a cornerstone of democracy. Mail in voting completely destroys that. In my jaded perspective, that’s exactly why certain people and organizations love it so much.

Re: Truck driver leads NJ Senate president after spending $153 on campaign

#55

Post by jrs235 » Wed, Nov 03, 2021, 9:24 PM UTC

COGlory wrote: post #16

umvi wrote: post #2

Any (relatively) unbiased sources that explain how NJ got into this predicament? Just current leadership being out of touch with the wants/needs of NJ citizens?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxFhMVIPodk Rossman is biased, but the facts do speak for themselves here. I couldn't believe this video

OMG! New Jersey is going to be like a timeshare... some people are going to be stuck or have to pay someone to take their house. Hopefully they'll be able to get away from tax obligations though by letting the government take their property to pay the ungodly property taxes! I always thought Illinois was bad... "Hold my beer." - New Jersey

Re: Truck driver leads NJ Senate president after spending $153 on campaign

#56

Post by chiefalchemist » Wed, Nov 03, 2021, 9:24 PM UTC

jonathankoren wrote: post #26

Good. Too many politicians run unopposed and take reëlection for granted. This how you get more responsive governance.

Yes. But why would that be? Because the two main parties are more of cartel? And less like true competition?

Re: Truck driver leads NJ Senate president after spending $153 on campaign

#57

Post by sjg007 » Wed, Nov 03, 2021, 9:25 PM UTC

PKop wrote: post #41

davidw wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm beginning to come around to this point of view: https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/peacefield/617c7b245793d... - we are not a serious nation. There's a global pandemic caused by an airborne pathogen, and people throw an absolute hissy fit over a minor inconvenience like masks. My kids wear them all day long in school, and while they don't love them, they are not constantly whining about them like some adults. My…

[flagged]

Stop spreading disinformation.

Re: Truck driver leads NJ Senate president after spending $153 on campaign

#58

Post by jrs235 » Wed, Nov 03, 2021, 9:26 PM UTC

COGlory wrote: post #16

umvi wrote: post #2

Any (relatively) unbiased sources that explain how NJ got into this predicament? Just current leadership being out of touch with the wants/needs of NJ citizens?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxFhMVIPodk Rossman is biased, but the facts do speak for themselves here. I couldn't believe this video

If you are a New Jersey pension fund recipient (and you're smart), you moved out of New Jersey as quickly as possible.

Re: Truck driver leads NJ Senate president after spending $153 on campaign

#59

Post by VRay » Wed, Nov 03, 2021, 9:26 PM UTC

PKop wrote: post #41

davidw wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm beginning to come around to this point of view: https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/peacefield/617c7b245793d... - we are not a serious nation. There's a global pandemic caused by an airborne pathogen, and people throw an absolute hissy fit over a minor inconvenience like masks. My kids wear them all day long in school, and while they don't love them, they are not constantly whining about them like some adults. My…

[flagged]

https://covid19.healthdata.org/japan?view=daily-deaths&tab=t...

Basically no lockdown other than shutting down bars at 8 PM, plenty of exposure between proximity to China and super-crowded trains

The difference between Japan and the USA is their ubiquitous mask use

We went on a 20 year jihad over a single 9/11's worth of preventable deaths in the USA, and yet we can't be bothered to take any action when we're racking up a 9/11 every couple of days?

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america?view...

Re: Truck driver leads NJ Senate president after spending $153 on campaign

#60

Post by rayiner » Wed, Nov 03, 2021, 9:27 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #38

busymom0 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids have the most psychological development from looking at people's faces, emotions and smiles. Saying that's a "minor inconvenience" is silly. Especially since there's negligible risks for them. And mandating something which neither prevents catching, nor transmitting the virus is definitely not a "minor inconvenience". EDIT: In my last sentence, I wasn't referring to masks. I was referring to vaccine mandates whi…

> And mandating something which neither prevents catching, nor transmitting the virus is definitely not a "minor inconvenience". They have studied this though. Actual scientists, not people on Youtube or Facebook, and they have found that masks diminish the transmission of COVID-19. This is kind of what you'd expect with something airborne.

By how much, and is it worth it? The first is a scientific question. The second is a political question. Americans fail because neither side recognizes the difference.

Other developed countries are not masking kids as young as we are doing. Countries like France are rescinding mask mandates now. For us, there is no end in sight, even in highly vaccinated areas.