By Mark Waite
President Obama’s supporters thought the economy was recovering, while voters for Gov. Mitt Romney were less optimistic, during interviews in front of the polling place at the Bob Ruud Community Center Tuesday.
Some voters professed to voting a straight party line ticket, but there were a lot of voters who cast a split ticket as well.
“I look at it this way, today’s a line in the sand. You can have what you want or you can move forward,” said Mike Taylor, a Romney supporter. “Right or wrong, what we got now isn’t working.”
“People say I vote for him because I’m a Mormon. I don’t vote for Harry Reid. I really don’t care about that part, about religion. I just care about a guy who’s moral, somebody who cares about us and not about himself,” he added.
Al Miner said he votes Republican by tradition. He wasn’t that familiar with some of the people or the issues on the lower part of the ticket.
“I don’t like Obama, that’s the biggest thing,” Miner said. “My biggest concern was getting the vote in for Romney.”
Some Republicans weren’t that enthusiastic about Romney, but voted for him, like Jill Cory.
“I’m not that thrilled about Romney, but I like the Republicans. I wish there was a better choice than Romney,” she said.
Cory said she never received a sample ballot in the mail. “I would’ve liked to be able to formulate my thoughts before I went up there.”
But Patty Leis said, “I voted Romney, not because I’m Republican but because I like his views better than I do Obama. I think Obama has taken us down; I’m hoping Romney is going to take us up, at least a little bit.”
Joe Serrani, a Republican, said, “if we elected Mickey Mouse he would do a better job than who we got in there. They kept saying on TV Romney was putting out, do you want four years more of the same? Which is what we’d get, what you’d end up with and I think Romney is a lot more experienced than Obama was when he got elected. Maybe we’d stand a ghost of a chance with somebody new.”
Serrani said he watched polls on the presidential race on Fox News and other news outlets.
“After the job that Obama’s done and you see it’s a neck and neck race, that means half this country would have to be total idiots,” he said.
Clement Harris, in a real sense of political efficacy, optimistically proclaimed, “mine is the one that is going to elect Romney, this is the one vote he needs to swing Nevada!”
“I don’t particularly care for Romney but I like what he stands for because I’ve seen what’s happened in the last four years. I haven’t seen a lot of jobs created; I’ve seen a lot of changes. I disagree with how our country is run, it’s scary in how much we’re moving toward socialism instead of democracy,” Harris said.
Sandra Hawkins said, “I’m a Republican, I voted for Romney, I’ve always been a Republican, that’s the rules.”
But Hawkins said she has voted outside of her party before — it just depends on the person.
“I just think that we need a little bit more leadership, that’s all,” she said.
Garrett Brown said he voted for Obama, though he felt our founding fathers would roll over in their graves if they saw the politicians today.
“I just don’t think that Romney has what it takes. He knows how to build higher end businesses and put out the middle man,” Brown said.
Brown said he would be shocked if Obama won re-election.
Many Obama supporters felt the president needed another four years to turn things around.
“The reason I like Obama is because I don’t think it was fair enough for him to go into the mess he was already in, I don’t think he got a fair shot. I think we can depend on him for the next four years. At least he brought our soldiers home,” Nicole Gonzales said, adding she knows plenty of soldiers whose pictures are on the Wall of Heroes at the Pahrump Walmart.
“I feel even though he’s struggled the last four years I think what he’s put through has finally started to take place, even here in Nevada things have gotten a little bit better. It takes time. It was a disaster when he came in. It’s still a disaster but I don’t consider it as bad. I’m here because of the previous administration, because we had to short sale our house in San Diego,” Vicki Dockum said.
“I voted for Obama and Joe Biden. I watched all the political ads, I tried to catch all the debates and did as much research as I could. I honestly felt he would be the best one to help run the country for the next four years, that and Romney just scares me. I voted for Dean Heller for senate, I liked his bill that he wants to do: no budget, no pay,” James Bonetti said.
Douglas Chino said he voted for Obama in 2008 when he was 18, his first election, and voted for him again Tuesday to continue his job another four years.
“I still believe in the promise he made, I see some of them are coming true right now. There’s a lot of work to go forward with him, but I believe he’s working for the people,” Chino said.
Amy Gang said she voted a straight Democratic ticket because they’re mostly who she felt for, but added she voted for James Oscarson for state assembly.
Robert Lopez Sr. said he originally liked Republican Newt Gingrich but ended up voting for Obama.
“I’m middle class, I’ve been living in Pahrump for 25 years. I have a wife who’s handicapped,” Lopez said. “I don’t think Romney would help my family as much as Obama would.”
Bonnie Berkowitz said she voted for Obama.
“I think he’s the least worse of the two evils. I don’t vote for the party. I vote for who I think might do a better job and hopefully Obama will continue to do that,” she said.
Berkowitz said she voted for Harley Kulkin for state senate.
“He’s probably the only candidate for the town. Like the sign says, he’s here, the other two candidates are up north and the east,” she said.
Wendy Green said she voted for Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson.
“He believes in a lot of the social liberties that Obama does and the Democrats and that sort of thing, but he’s fiscally responsible so I like that fine balance between the two,” Green said. But she added, “either way we’re screwed because it’s going to be one of the two main parties that wins.”
John O’Rourke didn’t like the two main choices he was left with.
“With all the millions of people we have in America you couldn’t find anyone more progressive?” O’Rourke asked.
Despite the disagreements from both sides, Don Brod, the retired Nye County School District superintendent of maintenance, expressed a sentiment everyone could probably agree with by election day.
“I’m tired of all the ads and I’m glad it’s going to be over,” he said.
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- Horace Langford Jr. / Pahrump Valley Times – Voters ousted Nye County Commissioner Gary Hollis, left, by an 11-percentage point margin, electing Frank Carbone, a retired aerospace worker, to the board of commissioners. James Oscarson, right, won his assembly race.
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- Horace Langford Jr. / Pahrump Valley Times – The Bob Ruud Community Center was busy on Tuesday as voters packed the precinct for election day. More than 2,300 voters cast ballots in Nye County by 11 a.m.
2012 election was a turning point for america. I don’t think we will ever see a Republican president again.
Romney lost because he ran against Santa Claus. Obama knows he can buy the majority with money taken from the minority.
I think this election showed us something to think about. And that is you can sway the electorate based on one small, personalized issue. The Dems ran ads in PA, OH and even MA highlighting Akin’s rape/abortion comments in Missouri.Not a mainstrean state. The implication was the Reps will take away your rights as a woman. And it worked. They lost not only single women, but married women.
Romney tried to make the election about big ideas. The electorate is too dumb to grasp that. The Dems instead promised women free birth control, college kids free student loans, hispanics free citizenship, blacks more welfare, gays equal marriage, union workers more auto jobs, etc etc. And whether you agree or disagree with any of these small issues you have to be amazed that you can form a coaliton from them. If you put all those groups in a room together they’d kill each other! And yet they all voted for Obama. Honestly, I’m not sure how the Reps can counter it. It will prob take a complete collapse of the economy.
On the bright side I don’t think it’ll take 10 or 20 yrs to become Europe. We already are Europe. They started their welfare state with better gov’t balance sheets and have now run out of other people’s money. We’ve already spent most of our accumulated national wealth. I doubt it will take more than 5 yrs for a debt crisis here.
*There is a level below which the entire existing social structure starts to crumble.*
William, if he’s Santa Claus who pays for that?
Taxpayers.
Another 4 years and another 5 Trillion and we will be in default halfway thru his term.
Stock up on preps William because when the fecal matter hits the fan and the economy crashes a tool or a couple feet of duct tape might be worth something as that dollar bill you have in your wallet might be better off used as toilet paper.
The electorate cannot even attempt to understand what you posted. They have no idea what default will mean to them.
One thing I am absolutely assured of is America will never pay back what she owes. The joke is that deficts and debt do not matter any more when money is created from digits within a computer and no nation has held us accountable………..yet.
No the Republicans lost for one simple reason, White Males do not make up the majorly any more in this country. They can NOT be the party of just white males and expect to win anything. They have to stop excluding everyone else from there party, they have to stop being so extreme in there views.
There was a time when the Republicans was a party of moderits , today that’s a dirty word for today’s Republicans, and as long as it remains so, they will keep on losing.
Your observation is correct. As I looked out over the sea of Obama supporters on TV I saw a large percentage of minorities, blacks, hispanics, asians, AND WHITE WOMEN. And so many were young voters. I did not see the grey haired white male.
Going back 12 years, white representation is down in every election. The minorities are increasing in population much faster and they vote Democratic. That’s why I don’t hold out much hope for a Republican president going forward.
The face of American politics changed with this election.
Most Nations do not die from war but from their fiscal policies.
NYMike
I forgot to mention that according to the NBC and Wall Street Journal’s poll conducted in August of 2012, 0% – that’s “zero percent”, of African-Americans support the GOP presidential candidate-to-be Mitt Romney in the presidential election of 2012.
The media keeps suggesting that the racism regarding candidates has to do with whites not wanting to vote for a black man, even though Barack Obama won a presidential election with a great amount of white support in 2008 – obviously – or he wouldn’t have won an election in the country where the vast majority of people are white.
What the media isn’t talking about is any survey such as the NBC-Wall Street results which say that there are basically no black supporters for the Caucasian candidate, Mitt Romney, in 2012. From August 16 through August 20, one-thousand people were surveyed and not even 1% of America’s blacks in that survey’s resulting data could say they support Mitt Romney.
ref: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/09/11/the-unreported-racism-of-the-2012-election-0-of-african-americans-support-romney/
Can you blaim blacks, hell can you blaim whites who did not vote for Mitt. Hell the first thing he wanted to do was get rid of Capital Gains tax. Since his income is $20 Million from just that, his first act would be getting rid of any tax on his own income. He would then make $20 Million per year and pay no taxes. Who was going to make up for this short fall, the rest of us.
I forgot to add, by the year 2025, I believe this is the correct year, White males will be part of the minority, being less then 50% of the population.
Sure, that’s exactly what the Dems want, a wishy washy Republican party. Not gonna happen. Give us 4 more years of this economy, doctors quitting in record numbers before obamacare takes hold, stock market crashes, and job losses, then get back to me on being a moderate.
They will be begging for real change by then.
Romney didn’t lose because he was not a moderate, he lost because he is up against the generation of “Give me free stuff”
In fact, Romney was way too moderate for most Republicans to get behind.
Check your facts not Republican spin. We lost jobs during Bush’s term. Under Obama we have been gaining jobs. Sure very slowly and not as high paying as what was lost. But the fact is we been gaining. And what stock market crashes, it has gone up over the last year. Sure with ups and downs, but basically up. Did we have a 300 point drop yesterday, yes we did, with the end of the year coming, if Congress does not do anything that 30% cut across the board will take effect, along with an increase in taxes for everyone. Costing the avage tax payer $3,500 per year. That’s why the stock market took a dip yesterday. But crashes, did happen. You really got to stop making stuff up. Your world would not look bleak.
Well, lets see how you can spin the 140 point drop today?
Let me break it down for you, as someone who spent a good 10 years on the floor of the NYSE and still actively day trades. The market runs on emotion, and anyone who knows anything about finance is scared stiff that Americans reelected Obama. That is coming from traders still in the business. I can assure you that they are not all Republicans or spinning.
The market has a tendency to be unbelievably capable of gauging the worth of the American market. Obama being re-elected has devalued our market, and as such the market will fall, and our citizens will pay for it.
Sure, there are worries about the coming tax hikes, as well as issues in Europe, but the main issue causing uncertainty (and in the market uncertainty is bad), is Obama and his policies.
It’s been a blood bath since election day. As a day trader I almost welcome it. All I have to do is short all day. Makes my job easy
As a short term trader I only need to predict what will happen within the next 5-30 minutes. When the market makes itself as obvious as it did the other day (straight down), I will do my job and jump on with the trend.
I hope this isn’t how the next few years will play out.
Voters Say:
The results were very disappointing but not unexpected.
When I was in our state RNC I told them that we should stay away from social issues, the guns, the gays and God.
Two are in the constitution and the other 1 is not but the RNC keeps putting that crap in their platform and that will let the MSM box some candidate into a corner. It’s nice to have a faith, whatever it may be but for dog’s sake the RNC is not a religion.
Ask about guns? Tell the moderator it’s in the constitution, read the second amendment.
Ask about gays, Tell ‘em that’s a states issue. Nothing about it in the constitution.
Religion. Worship who ever you want, our constitution prohibits our government from declaring a religion for all. Read the 1st Amendment.
But no, the RNC continues to run on social issues that the people in the 21st century are turning their noses at.
Karl Rove, Dick Morris (the toe sucker) and the rest of the brain trust at the RNC need to be put out to pasture. They are acting like we are still in the 80′s and we are not. Society has changed, better for some and worse as others think about how they view it.
So from my view what should have been a slam dunk because of the economy, foreign policy and lot of other issues that are still sticking to the wall like dripping spaghetti ended up unanswered and unasked in the debates.
If the RNC ever wants to win a national election again they need to burn down their tent, fire everyone and get some new staff and think that faith is a beloved thing to have but the RNC is not a church.
I’m changing my voter affiliation to an Independent as I’m tired of these dim witted people that walk in lockstep from orders from the Grand PoohBah of the RNC.
They really blew it this time.
Sorry Mr. Wallace, you just lost all credibility because you quoted Rush Limbaugh. Republicans lost, thank goodness, because they are a bunch of mean, bigoted, misogynist, obstructionist dinosaurs.
You say Romney tried to make this about big ideas. Really? And what big ideas were those? His only big idea was lowering taxes for himself and his millionaire buddies. Also, he flipped and flopped on EVERY SINGLE ISSUE. Not just once, but multiple times. Mitt Romney is a joke and the GOP has gone so far off the deep end it is in its own little world. Where fat, rich white guys still think it is their right to rule the country.
I for one am celebrating the death of the Tea Party. May their hate and bigotry and monumentally bad ideas never rise again.
Many of Romney’s ideas came from Glenn Hubbard, Dean of Columbia Business school as I mentioned in an earlier post last week. By aligning with Hubbard, he placed himself with Wall Street and the corrupt bankers. Wall street money flowed into Mitt’s coffers. And just how many American’s barely getting by are going to vote for a guy like Romney who is worth millions and has off shore bank accounts. The people cannot align with a candidate like that.
William, off shore bank accounts are legal.
I am an arch conservative IN FAVOR of abortion. And for the life of me I cannot understand why ALL conservatives are not in favor of it. In fact if the government provided FREE abortions to everyone who wanted one, in a few generations every presidential election would result in a conservative president.
What I find sad for the future of this country is the fact that no Republican will be elected president as long as the main supporters of the republican party are the type of people who post in here.
Blacks vote democratic because they are all on welfare?????
Favor abortion so those you consider inferior are removed from the human race?????
First of all study after study shows the majority of those on welfare are white women and they are only on it for short periods of time. Liberals deserve to be aborted why????
Your narrow bigoted views of the human race is why the majority will always continue to oppose letting those with your views take control of the country.
Doesn’t matter what political party. The end result is the same.
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations
has been 200 years.” Alexander Fraser Tytler (1747–1813). Scottish academic.
Carol, you must live in a world that we don’t see.
Don’t you see the unemployment rate? Does Obama care?
Only white women on welfare?
You are kidding.
Carol
My position on abortion has nothing to do with race. You brought that up, I didn’t.
My position has everything to do with “women’s health”. That’s what abortion is all about, women’s health.
We have achieved only a small amount of “womens’s health” by killing 25 million babies a year in this country. Just imagine how healthy women will be if we can kill 50 million babies a year.
I just want my fellow conservators to help women become healthy, that’s all. That’s what liberals want too, women’s health.
….we are reaping what we have sown. It only gets worse from here.