The Oklahoman: Something In The Air
Editorial In The Oklahoman ~ Something was in the air Tuesday. Like a dark horse, cool north breezes overcame the front-runner status of the listless heat, at least for a time.
James Lankford, with zero political experience ("Not even student council president," he's fond of saying), is headed to Congress — if, in November, he wins a seat that's almost certain to go to the Republican nominee. Lankford's gale force victory over veteran politician Kevin Calvey was phenomenal.
Calvey had been running since early 2009 and advertising heavily since early 2010. Yet he garnered only 35 percent of the Tuesday's vote. So Lankford, 42, is likely to ride the political winds to Washington.
Those winds also blew favorably on John Doak, another political novice, in the GOP runoff for state insurance commissioner. Doak was 31 years younger than his opponent. His success in November is less probable than Lankford's. But don't count him out.
And the winds favored the young. Three 21-year-old state House candidates breezed to victory. The three aren't just newcomers to political office. They're newcomers to adulthood!
The changing winds were less kind to tax increases for schools and cities. Most such propositions on Tuesday's ballot were blown out of the water.
An anti-incumbent trend hasn't yet surfaced in Oklahoma (although one sitting legislator did lose Tuesday), but the forecast includes a high probability of fresh new faces in the state's political climate.
James Lankford, with zero political experience ("Not even student council president," he's fond of saying), is headed to Congress — if, in November, he wins a seat that's almost certain to go to the Republican nominee. Lankford's gale force victory over veteran politician Kevin Calvey was phenomenal.
Calvey had been running since early 2009 and advertising heavily since early 2010. Yet he garnered only 35 percent of the Tuesday's vote. So Lankford, 42, is likely to ride the political winds to Washington.
Those winds also blew favorably on John Doak, another political novice, in the GOP runoff for state insurance commissioner. Doak was 31 years younger than his opponent. His success in November is less probable than Lankford's. But don't count him out.
And the winds favored the young. Three 21-year-old state House candidates breezed to victory. The three aren't just newcomers to political office. They're newcomers to adulthood!
The changing winds were less kind to tax increases for schools and cities. Most such propositions on Tuesday's ballot were blown out of the water.
An anti-incumbent trend hasn't yet surfaced in Oklahoma (although one sitting legislator did lose Tuesday), but the forecast includes a high probability of fresh new faces in the state's political climate.
posted by Mike McCarville @ 5:34 AM
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