Stan Geiger

The Edmonson Analysis

Let's do a brief, and more serious, analysis relative to the outcome of the governor's race.

Attorney General Drew Edmonson lost to Jari Askins in the Democratic primary. The pollsters had Edmonson with a strong lead right up until Election Day. Now they are all scratching their heads, trying to figure out how they got it so wrong. Allow me to help.

I wrote a while back about the recent Tulsa mayor's race. A Democrat, Tom Adelson, a state senator, well-financed, managed to get less than a third of the votes cast in the general election. He was a pro-education-spending candidate. In a public appearance, Adelson advocated housing subsidies for schoolteachers.

Drew Edmonson was the only candidate for governor that ran TV ads promising to work for higher pay for schoolteachers. He was endorsed by our local socialist rag---the Tulsa World. The World has been a card-carrying member of the political-educational complex for years and years. Nonetheless, Edmonson went from strong front-runner to loser just that quick. He now says he will exit politics. I applaud his decision.

Politicians everywhere should be paying attention. People are sick and tired of hearing about the "downtrodden" public educator. Hitching a political wagon to the education lobby worked for a long time, but it doesn't work anymore.

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