Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Utah Senate Race 2006

I know I should be worrying about who to vote for for city council in October, but worrying about the senate race is much more fun.

I don't think I'll vote for Senator Orrin Hatch (R) again. He's sponsored some bills I really don't agree with, like the DMCA (it's been used several times in lawsuits, but never to support a just cause) and has voted to extend the length of copyrights. He has seniority, but that is only a good thing if he is representing Utah well. To be fair, I need to do some more research on what Hatch has done to see if "Intellectual Property" is the only thing I disagree with him on.

So the other choices:
Stever Urquhart - (R) From what I've seen on his site, he is even more conservative than I am. (In Utah, I'm a moderate.) He basically wants the federal government to keep it's nose out of state business. He also doesn't like judicial activism (congress should make the laws not the supreme court) A good point, but not hot button issues for me. He also thinks the DMCA goes too far as does copyright law. Update (11/14/05) - dropped out of the race.

* Paul Ashdown * - (D) founder of Xmission (my ISP). From what I've seen, I like him the best. I agree with his ideas of patents, copyrights, and most other things. I hope he has a chance. The problem is, it's hard to run as a democrat in Utah.

Jim Matheson - (D) His name keeps getting thrown around. If Hatch retires, he might run. I don't remember liking him particularly, but I haven't researched his positions either.

Roger I. Price - (Personal Choice) Enough said. Way too conservative for me.

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