H -°, L 7° | Tomorrow: 
H 17°, L 4°Just in time for Madison to overcome its collective election fatigue, 8th district city residents will vote in a primary election Wednesday. And though City Council primaries don't stir the blood in quite a similar manner as do presidential contests, the impact of local government is far more immediate on students' lives.
Three candidates are on the ballot in the student-dominated 8th district: incumbent Austin King, local bar owner Kami Eshraghi and Ryan Corcoran, who dropped out of the race yesterday. Voters may choose only one of the three candidates; the top two vote-getters will proceed to the general election for April 25.
Throughout the next month we will look for the candidate who most directly reflects our values as students and can most effectively act on them. Of the three candidates in the race, Corcoran has impressed us the least on latter front. Given his announcement yesterday afternoon, we are confident in encouraging students to direct their vote for King or Eshragi.
We do not wish to explicitly endorse in the race at this time, only to say we expect an alder charged to represent student interests on City Council to support free people, free markets and a high quality of student life. The trend of Madison policy makers toward excessive regulation of student-centered activities for the past several years is troubling. In particular, this board has consistently registered its opposition to excessive drink special and smoking regulations that sap the local bar scene of its flavor and accessibility.
We've encouraged greater allowances for live music and dancing downtown, which appear to be on the upswing with repeal of the Cabaret license. We want Halloween to be safe, sane and fun. We laud innovations to public safety that help students get home at night and decry minimum-wage hikes that choke local businesses and push aside student jobs.
The 8th district roughly encompasses the east campus area, the southeast dorms, Chadbourne, Liz Waters, the lowest arm of Langdon Street, the College Court neighborhood and parts west of Park Street to Randall. If you are not already a registered voter at your current address, bring proof of residence (such as a copy of your lease or an electric bill) and government ID (i.e. a valid driver's license; your student ID won't work) to the polling place. You can register on the spot.
(See page 1 to locate your polling place or reference www.ci.madison.wi.us)
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I would LOVE to see the Herald endorse a 40-year-old from Fitchburg and explain how he’s a better representative of student interests than the student-age incumbent. The cognitive dissonance would be pretty extreme there.
On the other hand, for the Herald to endorse uber-liberal Austin King would be hilarious, because, well, it’s the Herald. But heck, they did endorse Tammy and Russ Feingold in the fall.
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What would be truly hilarious is if the College Republicans fail to turn out the vote for Kami Eshraghi and he loses to Ryan Corcoran in distant second. Wouldn’t you feel like a complete idiot if you lost to a guy that dropped out? That’s worse than losing to a dead guy!
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Just a correction, the general election is scheduled for April 5th not April 25 as the story states.
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In the first issue of the CR’s new paper, the Mendota Beacon, Mr. Esrhaghi give a long interview, and in it he flat-out lies when he claims Austin King is opposed to drink specials. In fact, Austin King is opposed to BANNING drink specials, and I’ve listened to him give his whole spiel about why it’s important to protect drink specials blah blah blah.
So, I’m wondering if the Herald not only looks for support for drink specials from candidates, but also whether they tell lies about their opponents. It’s one thing to go after King for his liberalism, that leads to a good debate. It’s another thing altogether to just make things up like Mr. Eshraghi has been doing.
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Honestly, Badger Herald, do you believe that “our values as students” include no-regulation right-wing fundamentalism? That “our values” include opposition to the minimum wage hike that helps thousands of students? I think you all are right on with saving drink specials and all that, but have you checked the election scoreboard? Students vote for liberals who tend to like government regulation, especially when it protects people like minimum wage workers.
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Students don’t vote much at all, wasn’t that the point of last November?
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Well yeah there was a lot of money and effort poured into turnoing out students, but it worked. Student turnout on campus was ridiculously high. There just isn’t a lot of foundation money for, you know, a municipal election GOTV program, so those efforts would be hard to duplicate. But you’re a fool if you think students didn’t vote in November.
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It’s good to see that someone on Austin King’s side sees The Mendota Beacon and its reporting as enough of a threat to continually bash it on the boards.
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wow, great article. just as good would have been an article in october that read “vote for Bush or Kerry”… at least in that article you would have ruled someone out, not just picked all the candidates left. Or, you should have written an article called “support dean for the dem chair” while he was the only candidate. brilliant!
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“It’s good to see that someone on Austin King’s side sees The Mendota Beacon and its reporting as enough of a threat to continually bash it on the boards.”
As long as the Beacon has a hideously unreadable website, horrible writing and lousy journalism, it won’t be a threat to anyone. Period.
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I can’t believe that that Badger Herald printed those instructions on how to vote. YOU DO NO NEED TO BRING A PHOTO ID OF ANY KIND TO VOTE. All that is needed is a lease or other proof of residency, and a Social Security Number (not even the actual card, just the number). The Herald needs to get its facts straight. What a poor job of reporting.
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Hm. I thought you did need a photo ID. Can anyone post a link and settle this definitively?