This past week, we witnessed another round of primary elections in Alaska, Arizona, Florida and Vermont and a run-off election in Oklahoma. Eleven more states will hold primary elections after Labor Day — Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maryland, Wisconsin, Vermont, Minnesota, Delaware, New York and Hawaii. Many political commentators and polls trying to gauge public sentiment to predict the winners in these primary elections have been just plain wrong. One week, we hear the voters want to throw all the incumbents out and the next, we see an “insider” comfortably elected to take his or her party’s nomination. Add to this that general election campaigns are watching the primaries to try and figure out what will and won’t work in the run up to Nov. 2. It seems the only common thread among voters these days — particularly small business owners — is anger, frustration and concern over the state of the economy, high unemployment, credit availability and general uncertainty when it comes to trying to run a rental equipment business. For example, Chris Ruddy, a member of ARA of Minnesota and ARAPAC, ARA's political action committee, said last week, “We business owners have had it. We have been beat up and forgotten. We can’t take it anymore.” If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, now is the time to get involved. It can be as easy as determining the issues that make the biggest impact on your business and finding out how the state, local and national candidates for office in your state feel about those issues. Then share that information with your employees and make sure everyone is registered to vote. If getting to the polls or voting on Nov. 2 in person isn’t possible, register to vote early or by absentee ballot. For more information on voter registration or how you can talk to your employees about voting, go to www.ararental.org/governmentaffairs/vote.aspx. Extra Credit:
Test your national primary knowledge. Candidates who won their state’s primaries this past week are described below. Can you name the state where they are running? Send the answers — all we need for each question is the name of the state involved — to alysia.ryan@ararental.org for a chance to win a prize. I will draw a winner from the first 100 correct e-mail entries. Name the state for each of the following: - Where a camp counselor beat out big-spending candidates with legislative experience? _____
- Where a former Republican presidential nominee is having to slog his way out of a Senate primary? ______
- Where a Republican governor became an independent rather than lose to an upstart in a Senate primary? _____
- Where an unknown candidate looks like he’s beaten a U.S. Senate incumbent that would be the third incumbent this year denied her party’s nomination? ________
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