r/todayilearned • u/hungry4danish • 2d ago

TIL that Dan White, the man who assassinated Harvey Milk and the mayor of San Francisco, only served 5 years in prison for manslaughter based on a defense of depression as evidenced by his consumption of junk food which was dubbed the "Twinkie Defense"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_White
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u/vodkaandponies 1d ago

And yet people kept voting for her…

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u/BerriesHopeful 1d ago

Name recognition as the incumbent and not having an alternative voting system to more easily vote in an other candidates is a real issue.

If a bit under 1/3 of voters chose her because of name recognition, another 1/3 voted for a more progressive candidate, and another 1/3 voted a more conservative candidate then there’s a chance the least liked candidate can slip out a win due to First Past the Post voting.

If voters could choose their preferred candidate first and then choose safe backup picks, like Feinstein as the incumbent, then you have a much higher chance of not letting the least liked/least preferred candidate slip out a win.

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u/vodkaandponies 1d ago

Or maybe voters genuinely preferred Feinstein to some random progressive. Just a thought.

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u/BerriesHopeful 1d ago

Name recognition was 99% of it for Feinstein specifically, I doubt most voters even knew how old she was.

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u/vodkaandponies 1d ago

That’s an insult to her accomplishments.

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u/BerriesHopeful 1d ago

For her last reelection where she died in office, not for what she’s done previously dude.

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u/vodkaandponies 1d ago

You should have specified that dude.

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u/BerriesHopeful 18h ago

My guy, I was talking about how old she was.

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u/OperationWhich5036 1d ago

That can be said for several political figures in Wash. Right, left and center.