Unofficial and Totally Subjective Guide to the NYC Primaries

It's that time of year again! The time for the complicated New York state and local primary system! This year, our primary elections is going to be held on Thursday, September 13th, because the Tuesday when the election normally would have been held is September 11th. I understand not having an election on September 11th, but I don't know why they decided to hold the election on a Thursday instead of the next Tuesday. But I don't pretend to understand how New York decides their many primary dates.

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Primary Challenges

Researching the Kennedys and hating the President has me thinking a lot about primary challenges to incumbent presidents. After FDR fundamentally changed the American presidency by running for president until he died, the 22nd amendment was added to the constitution, limiting each subsequent president to two terms. This means that most presidents, once elected, do try to run for another term. Of course, presidents usually face challengers from the opposite party, but do they ever face a primary challenger?

I mentioned the Kennedys earlier, because one of the more famous primary challenges was Robert F. Kennedy, who ran for the Democratic nomination in 1968. In 1968, LBJ was the incumbent candidate. He had taken over after JFK was assassinated in 1963, and was elected in his own right in 1964. But come 1968, LBJ was very unpopular with anti-war segments of the party. After anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy won a primary in New Hampshire, and RFK entered the race, LBJ sensed the changing winds and withdrew, choosing not to run again.

Of course, RFK was later assassinated, and McCarthy lost the primary to Hubert Humphrey, LBJ's Vice President, who then lost the general election to Nixon.

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#FlashbackFriday: Democratic Primary Edition

It's well known that a large percentage of this blog is answering the political questions my friend said to me, and this post is no different. My friend Maxine asked me to write something about the Clinton/DNC fundraising agreement, and I felt like it was the least I could do. See, Maxine taught me how to door-to-door canvass, and those skills have proved incredibly handy in my current job, and I'll do what I can to pay Maxine back.

(Side note, I get that everyone is annoyed by street canvassers, but please, be nice to them. They're people too.)

Yesterday, Donna Brazile published an article in Politico about a secret fundraising agreement between Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. It's a detailed article, with a lot of different moving parts, and we're going to address them one by one.

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Another Primary?!

Until someone corrected me on Facebook, I thought the New York State primary election was Tuesday the 6th, instead of Tuesday the 13th of September, because I am only human. This was embarrassing to me, because for all I tout the importance of state and local elections, this is my second time getting confused by them.

Back in June, I tried to go vote for my Congressman (Representative Hakeem Jefferies, currently one of the Hill's 50 Most Beautiful People, and a truly beautiful soul) only to find out he was running unopposed. I arrived at the school polling site to find it closed, and had to call 311 and the Board of Elections to find out that Congressman Jefferies didn't have a primary challenger!

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NYC Elections Guide

My number one fan, Elyse, suggested I write a post about the upcoming elections in New York, and create a comprehensive guide to when they are, and why they're important. Many of my readers are in New York, but if my New Mexican friends want a similar guide, or anyone else is confused about elections, you can let me know by putting your state in the comments of this post!

April 19th is the Presidential Primary in New York, but that isn't the only thing on the docket that day. The governor has also scheduled special elections for three Assembly districts and one state Senate district. So if you live on Long Island, you have a chance to potentially elect a Democrat to fill a Republican's old seat. The Assembly districts of lower Manhattan, Staten Island, and eastern Brooklyn. Only the Manhattan district is contested, the others are Republicans or Democrats running unopposed.

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Iowa and New Hampshire: Not That Important

New Hampshire has a rich history, beautiful natural scenery, and some of the best apple cider I have ever tasted. And I'm so incredibly lucky that I do not currently live there.

With primary season fast approaching, living in Iowa or New Hampshire must be like living inside of the CNN Situation Room. Candidates are ramping up their political ads, increasing the number of door-to-door canvassers who go out and try to convince voters, and probably calling every landline phone at all hours of the day. What makes these two states important enough to suck up the news cycle for months leading up to their primaries (or caucus, in the case of Iowa)?

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Your Top Six Primary Questions Answered!

"We all believe in the First Amendment, the guarantee of free speech, but we accept that you can’t yell “fire” in a theater. We understand there are some constraints on our freedom in order to protect innocent people."

As President Obama reminded everyone when he spoke about the executive actions he was taking on gun safety, he taught Constitutional law. His new executive orders on guns weren't created to eliminate the 2nd Amendment, but to regulate it, the way we regulate all the other Amendments (except the 3rd, I don't think anyone has ever brought a challenge to the 3rd Amendment).

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