An reliable insider who gets his data from those on the ground told me a few hours ago that the numbers are really not decisive in any way, and he thinks it may be a lot closer than he previously thought. I guess we'll know in the next hour or two. But if you are on the fence about voting now, it may be worthwhile to get to a polling station before 8, as your vote may actually make a differnce.
(Not paid for by any candidate.)
Not really directed at you, but a convenient segue to my rant. Without even getting into the pluses or minuses of Avi's big win and what it means for Daas Torah, Judaism as a whole, prospects for world peace, or any of the other local or state wide political implications, there is one thing that the Lakewood community definitely was a big loser on IMHO. The word unprecedented is misused in an unprecedented way for all kinds of things, but I think we can all agree that the "maximum PR/pressure" of this campaign was truly unprecedented in Lakewood politics. And seeing as "it worked", it's probably what we have to "look forward to" for all future campaigns as well, which is not a good thing on so many levels. Beyond the simple aggravating nuisance of the endless signs on your car, ramkols, posters, and seemingly endless texts emails and robocalls, there is also something more, that we will now be doing things exactly as the PR firms dictate for all of America in election seasons. Perhaps most disappointing is the matching campaign intensity where we get every Rosh Mosad/Rov/and Feivish sending dire texts/emails/robocalls with the gevald strategy of "We're hearing it's too close to call" "Insiders say Avi is behind" "turnout is strong in
the Arab Monmouth County" etc., which may be familiar in general election campaigns and unfortunately in Israeli campaigns, but has not really happened here to this degree. It's just so shallow and fake, it's nauseous. Not to mention, that after a while it just stops working, as people are not gullibe like that in election after election. Of course those behind it will point to the fact that it worked and obviously that's what you need to do to win. They may be right, I don't know, but if so it's a sad commentary on our community as a whole. In general people are not that dumb, and will vote their obvious best interests if its presented openly and honestly, this whole Gevald style really puts me off and ultimately is not a good thing. OK, rant over. Congratulations Avi Schnall and the rest of the winners, I hope you accomplish a quarter (at least) of what your PR promised.....
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