It seems like candidates are always dying before their election but after the filing deadline. The party can't put a different name on the ballot, but the deceased can't serve in office, which creates quite a dilemma. It seems wrong to continue campaigning for a dead candidate without even mentioning their passing, but there's no other politically satisfying option available.
A slick new campaign mailer shows a smiling Texas state representative and reminds voters of her many notable achievements in education, economics and politics. But what the ad doesn't say is that Republican Glenda Dawson died in September.Dawson's campaign hopes she'll win re-election to avoid a shoo-in for the Democrats. There wasn't time to get another Republican on the ballot, but if Dawson wins, the governor would call a special election to fill the vacancy.
Backers say the new flier is a tribute to Dawson and did not attempt to conceal her death, although there's no mention of that on the mailed piece.
Someone needs to devise a better system, but I'm not sure what it should be.
We haven't elected anyone dead here in Missouri in the last six years.
Of course, after Mel Carnahan died, we elected him so his wife could serve his place as Senator and serve perpetually as a DNC mouthpiece; elected his son to the House, and elected his daughter Secretary of State.
Because we couldn't all bring cold cuts to the wake.
In the district that Mark Foley resigned from, there will be a poster in each polling location stating the names of each candidate including a notation that to vote for the new GOP candidate, you have to select Foley.
Advantages of electing dead people:
1. Dead people don't take bribes.
2. Dead people don't send vulgar messages to pages.
3. They tend to see the problems of the death tax with a somewhat different perspective than the rest of us.