Who do elections help?

Elections in the United States were created with the idea ff giving even the littlest citizen a voice as equal to those around him. But is that really the case today? With the number of incumbents that regained their seats in the recent elections, and the big name contributors, it is obvious that today our country is run by an elite group of Americans, with little room for anyone else. Paul Herreson argues in his book Congressional Elections that new campaign reform laws will help to “increase the number of citizens who participate in them, both as voters and as financial contributors”(308). Campaign reform laws are suppose to help limit the amount of time that candidates spend focusing on earning money, so they can focus on the real issue. Because most candidates raised over a million dollars during the 2010 campaign, it’s hard to believe that that is truly where the focus is. 

Another major issue that Herreson discusses is the lack of voters that turn out in Congressional elections. He believes that elections are “the most important avenues of political influence that are afforded to the citizens of a representative democracy”, yet so man Americans today still either decide not to, or forget to, vote. With extremely low voter turnout in most districts in 2010, it is clear that the Congressional election system needs to make some radical changes to increase the number of voters.

Smith wins 70% of votes

As the polls came to a close in the fourth district of New Jersey late last night, no one was too surprised by the outcome. Incumbent Republican Chris Smith soundly beat his challenger Howard Kleinhendler, in fact he tromped him. Smith won 125,360 votes, about 70%, while Kleinhendler only got 50,225 votes, or a measly 30%.

This is not the first time that Smith dominated his opponent in an election. In 2008 Smith won by nearly 66%, even during a highly Democratic push in Congress.

"I'm humbled by those numbers," Smith told NJ.com. "Nationwide, it really shows that people are making a serious course correction. There have been so many excesses, particularly in the spending area."

It seems that Smith is happy that a number of important seats in the House have been won by a Republican challenger.

Klienhendler may not have overthrown Smith but he doesn't think his campaign was a complete waste of time. He hopes that some of the issues that got brought up concerning Smith, will continue to be in the spotlight.

"I still think I raised a lot of important issues, and I think Congressman Smith started paying attention," Kleinhendler also told NJ.com. "I hope he got the message that Congress isn't just about human rights, it's also about your district, about creating jobs, and bringing in federal money for infrastructure improvements, in particular trains to New York, which I think is critical for the district to prosper."

The bottom line is that Smith will be representing the 4^th district of New Jersey for another two years.