Mid-Term Election: Timothy Bishop and Randy Altschuler Essay

Introduction

The United States has a federal structure of government with elected members of the government and cabinet coming from the national level and the local level. Top of the rank is the president who is from the national level. The president is elected by the people of the United States through an election governing body. (Barone and Richard, 13) says that this body is mandated the role of conducting a free and fair election not only at the national level but also at the local level. In the voting process, the candidate with the highest number of votes assumes the post and the whole of this process must be eligible and transparent. Such economies lead to transparency and democracy in the voting process. This paper takes a keen look at one of the elections that took place between two candidates during the 2010 Mid-Term Election. This was a campaign race between rivals Timothy Bishop and Randy Altschuler. Randy Altschuler won the election by a narrow margin. The paper seeks to look at the factors that lead to Timothy Bishop losing the hotly contested seat.

Body

First was the human error in the tally that occurred in the counting process. The democratic incumbent Bishop was competing against a republican challenger who was a businessman. Despite the race being tight, we could see from the beginning that the democrat was actually ahead of the pools by close to 51% against the closest and major rival Randy Altschuler who had 49%. This actually made the people make a dangerous assumption that it was obviously going to be a win for the democrat. Despite the absentees’ votes still remaining for the official release, it would seem they would make close to 0% difference on the then tally. To alls surprise, it was discovered that close to 4,000 votes were missing just hours after the closing of the polls. This to meet was a strong reason since it could not just be solved easily unless a recount was conducted. This estimate which was clearly not a machine error changed a lot at this stage of the polls.

The campaign strategy that was used by Randy Altschuler against his opponent Tim Bishop was a good strategy to help him outdo his opponent. We see the famous republican renewing his campaign strategies by calling for his opponent to resign or return dollars 15,000 donated to his campaign team. This was a scandal since the donation source was through the scandalous Charlie Rangel was a Congressman. This call though it had a little impact on the opponent, it created a very big impact. (Davidson and Walter, 15) says that a candidate must be fraud-free for him or her to stand a better chance of winning an election.

There was also an element of corruption and ethnicity that marked Timothy Bishop’s campaign. When Randy Altschuler called for the resignation of both Bishop and Charlie Rangel, it was evident that Charlie was challenged ethnically because unlike the democrat’s view on the return of the money, the majority of the colleagues saw this since. Also, Charlie proved to the people that there was an act of corruption and due to his funding to the democrat, no one would hide this scandalous act and fail to condemn such a poor cultural act.

The consideration of major economic-related issues within the two showed that the Republicans had a good scheme for the most important issues in the history of the Americans. He categorically had good schemes for job creation and tax management was a boost to the economy of the Americans. His dire support for incentives in tax and the creation of jobs and small businesses showed a good scheme for economic growth. His plans on the private sector showed a person who was more concerned with the economy of not only the rich but also the average Americans.

When we could see the bishop coming under fire as he encounters the citizen at the Town Hall meeting, his image is dented since such things spread in the media like bushfires. (Hastert et al, 20) points out that the conservative Society for Action had a bad message for the democrat. This was also marred by the angry mob of taxpayers at his meeting in the Town Hall. The citizen showed a very poor and disrespected show at the candidate. In politics, such implications cause a major role in the decisions made by the voters.

The president and the catholic association made some comments on the critics of Bishop Timothy. The New York Catholic League gave a comment on the critics of Bishop’s campaign strategy. According to them, they are worried that the Bishop is conservative. Such comments on the campaigns can cause a big impact on the faithful supporters who were expected to be the major voting block for Bishop Timothy. Such messages reached a large group of people through the internet. Such information led to Bishop Timothy losing votes to his opponent on his campaign roles as a candidate for the Democratic party.

In such economies like the United States of America, issues of the budget and other issues related to raising the economic standards of the people always take the day. His experience and life in the business sector show that he is more conversant with business and economics. He is a candidate who can create more opportunities in the economy due to his business background and experience. His budget tackles the challenges in the American economy which to him he calls the stagnating factors to the economy. He takes about the federal debt that poses a major risk to the economy and says how his budget would deal with such debts. He also talks about the government’s involvement in the private sector. This involvement has a major role in the raising of the living standards of the people. This in itself outplays his opponent Bishop.

We can also see the major stands posed in deferent debates about the two opponents, the creativity in the business world in the debates makes 5thge republican gain more votes. He names unemployment rates which were good news to the youths who had the right numbers for the votes. His method of organizing and influencing the economy made him win a large number of votes. (Lee and Bruce, 54) says that employment creation is an important aspect of good economic growth.

Lastly, the ever-existing stalemate between the republicans and the democrats in such election and voting trends normally dictates the outcome. The democrats have always controlled the US economies with the most affluent and early presidential candidates paying more attention to the rich at the expense of the poor. The republican’ simplicity made their appeal to the majority of poor people and mostly the black American who believes there must be a change in such managements and rule.

Conclusion

To conclude, we can see that these factors of corruption and poor strategies lead to Timothy Bishop losing narrowly in this highly contested election and campaign process. Though it was evident that the democrat had won before the error on the counting, the small error could be seen to change the whole process which later makes Timothy Bishop appeal for the recounting of the votes. Such elections need a very well-calculated approach to the campaign strategy so that such vices like corruption and scandals should not feature in one’s campaign process.

Works Cited

Barone, Michael and Richard, Cohen. The Almanac of American Politics. New York, Penguin, 2008.

Davidson, Roger and Walter, Oleszek. Congress and Its Members. Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1998.

Hastert Dennis, et al. Congress for Dummies. New York, Penguin, 2002.

Lee, Frances and Bruce, Oppenheimer, Sizing up the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1999.