Political bets prepare for campaign

The Democratic Party will hold a political rally on Saturday to kick off the candidates’ campaign for the Nov. 6 midterm elections, the party’s president Carlos Camacho announced yesterday.

The Republican Party is meeting today to schedule the date of their candidates’ kickoff rally, according to Frank Camacho, the Republican chairman.

“Each candidate has his and her own platform which they will be presenting at the pocket meeting,” Frank Camacho said.

The Democrats’ kickoff rally will be held at Koblerville basketball court, starting at 6:00 pm, Carlos Camacho said.

“We will have the party’s officers and candidates,” Camacho said.

He said the party will release its platform next week.

“It’s a 10-page long platform which discusses various issues ranging from education to CNMI-US relations,” Carlos Camacho said.

The nominating petitions of all the candidates — except for two who were seeking a seat at the Board of Education for Rota — were certified by the Board of Elections last week.

The Republican Party, which dominates the incumbent Legislature, has 21 candidates for the political positions.

The Democratic Party has 13 candidates including the ones running for the senatorial seats of Rota and Tinian.

Carlos Camacho said the Democratic Party decided not to field a candidate for Saipan senatorial seat because “we believe that two candidates for that position are adequate enough.”

“We don’t want to confuse the people,” Carlos Camacho.

Racing for Saipan senatorial seat are incumbent Sen. Juan P. Tenorio and Reform Party’s Ray Guerrero.

“In future elections, we may have a complete slate. Right now, we’re satisfied with the 10 candidates that we have for the House of Representatives and we will push for their successful election,” Carlos Camacho said.

In deciding not to field candidates for some available slots, Carlos Camacho said “we are more concerned about quality rather than quantity.”

He said the Democratic Party’s candidates for the House of Representatives were chosen by the people on the precinct level and not by the party.

“We did not try to fill in slots; we tried to select the best candidates. The ones selected at the precinct level are the ones that the people want,” Carlos Camacho said. (MCM)