ELECTION DAY: Joyce Elliott at work. Brian Chilson

ELECTION DAY: Joyce Elliott at work.

John Brummett makes the grand gesture, an 11th hour case, persuasive but probably futile, for the election of Democrat Joyce Elliott over Republican Tim Griffin for 2nd District Congress.

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This would be Elliott’s race if it were based on merit, credentials, accomplishment and commitment. But those are not the deciding elements. These are:

(1) The country has gone mad, in every sense of the word, in a misguided backlash against cynically misrepresented Democratic policies to shore up the economy, expand health insurance, regulate Wall Street and reduce pollutants. Conservative Republicans will beat liberal Democrats everywhere today.

(2) Even absent the national mood, this is an ever-Republicanizing district. The urban Democratic center of Pulaski County is surrounded by faster-growing suburbs inhabited by people avoiding or fleeing the central city. …

(3) Elliott is a black woman. ..

Ditto.

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