Where there's a Will, there's a way

Every election has a few surprises and the biggest one I saw last night was Daniel Davis winning the Democratic Primary against Joe McMenamin for the 19th Congressional District. McMenamin had the support of most Democratic Party county organizations, the AFL-CIO along with several unions, a number of endorsements from elected officials, far more money, and a good organization.

Things get unpredictable anytime a large number of new people vote in an election. The Democratic Primary turnout was huge. That means there were a lot of people who walked into the voting booth not knowing who was on the ballot outside of the Presidential race. It means a lot of people never saw anything from McMenamin, who concentrated his efforts on regular Democratic Primary voters.

Davis' win makes me wonder if he had some kind of campaign effort that went under the radar. But I doubt anyone could gather that much support without it being noticed. I think he's the beneficiary of a good ballot name, very little media coverage about this race, and weak party organizations in most downstate counties.

Joe McMenamin would have been a strong challenger against Shimkus. He's the kind of person who runs for office for the right reasons and I hope he runs again soon.