In the final review of the US elections there have been stories about dead candidates proving victorious & assorted amusing anecdotes. A personal favourite is the tale of a Georgia congressman who attacked the theories of the beginning of the universe & of evolution & then found himself with an unlikely opponent in the U.S. election, when over 4,200 voters in one county cast write-in ballots for the “father of evolution,” 19th century British naturalist Charles Darwin.
In a speech on 27th September, Paul Broun, a medical doctor & member of the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space & Technology Committee, called evolution & the “Big Bang” theory, “lies straight from the pit of hell.” If the man’s profession & positions of influence don’t scare you, then his understanding of the universe should; it seems for this guy it’s “the magic pixie in the sky” or nothing!
Since Broun, a Republican (now be honest, you guessed that didn’t you?), had no opposition in the general election, a University of Georgia botany professor, Jim Leebens-Mack, & others, started a write-in campaign for Darwin, the father of the theory of evolution – & the object of much “venting” by the Congressman.
“We don’t feel our interests are being best served by an anti-science looney (OK the word he used was “fundamentalist”) representing us on the Science, Space & Technology Committee,” Leebens-Mack said on Friday.
The write-in votes in Athens-Clarke County will not count officially since Darwin was never certified as a write-in candidate, but Leebens-Mack hopes the campaign will encourage a strong candidate, Democrat or Republican, to challenge Broun in 2014.
Maybe the Easter Bunny could be persuaded to stand, at least the TV debates would be cute.
ThursdayAgain 
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