Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Wednesday Women ~ Oklahoma's Gubernatorial Gals & their chances in November.

For once Oklahoma politics can spawn a headline rather more inspiring than Senator James Inhofe's "Global Warming is a Hoax", or Senator Tom Coburn's constant negativity.
Oklahoma's governor race: Cracks in the glass ceiling
In November's election for Oklahoma's Governor we have two women facing off. Last week's primaries threw up a November contest between Democrat and current Lieutenant Governer Jari Askins (on right in photograph), and Republican congresswoman (and previous Lieutenant Governor) Mary Fallin. The Governor's seat is being vacated by Democrat Brad Henry.

I ought to clarify this much: Democrats in Oklahoma, and some neighbouring states, are not yer progressive left-leaning "power to the people" types. As far as I can tell, the Oklahoma variety lean slightly, very slightly mind you, to the left of Margaret Thatcher. Conservative in all but name. Still, anything has to be better than this area's staunchly ultra-right-wing Republicans who lean slightly to the right of Attila the Hun. Mary Fallin, Republican candidate is, by the way, endorsed by Sarah Palin.

Fnyeh!

I should feel pleased, I guess, that two women have shattered that mythical glass ceiling in this, one of the most backward states of the Union. I'd feel a whole lot more pleased though if a candidate of either gender with real red-blooded populist policies had come forward and fired up the masses. Ain't gonna happen. Not in this decade.

I took a look at the two ladies' natal charts, wondering whether there'd be a clue as to November's winner. Current polling indications seem to point to Mary Fallin leading. However, Jari Askins has been a dark horse in the past, and come in from behind to win the day. One reporter describes this as "a little Jari Askins magic"


Jari Askins born 27 April 1953 in Duncan Oklahoma.
Mary Fallin born 9 December 1954 in Warrensburg, Missouri.

I'm not looking here to interpret the personalities of the two women from their natal charts, I'm looking for any planetary tranists on the day of the election, 2 November 2010, which might touch their charts. All timings are for 12 noon, so Moon positions will not be reliable. In both charts shown below the outer rings contain planetary positions for 2 November 2010, the inner circles contain each lady's natal planetary positions.

First Ms Askins', second Ms Fallin's:




Most significant is the fact that transiting Saturn at 11 Libra is opposing Ms Askins' Mercury/Venus in Aries. I'd interpret that as a challenge (which the election is anyway) but also a limiting factor. The Sun is opposite her natal Taurus Sun - though that's not too important. Transiting Mars at 3 Sagittarius is opposing her late Taurus Jupiter/Mars conjunction, another indication of tough challenge. It'll be a hard, hard fight. She'll need some of that "Jari Askins magic" to pull off a win.

Not looking like an easy ride for Ms Askins, but she's obviously an experienced fighter, so I wouldn't count her out. One brighter indication for Ms Askins is that in the chart for the date Oklahoma achieved statehood 16 November 1907 (its "birthday" - chart at end of post) Moon was in Aries, and quite likely conjunct, or very close to, Ms Askins' Mars/Venus. In mundane astrology the Moon is thought to represent the people - so....here the people are more in tune with Ms Askins, symbolically speaking.

Ms Fallin has transiting Saturn in helpful sextile to her natal Sun and Mercury in Sagittarius. Transiting Mars at 3 Sagittarius is in a tight challenging square aspect to natal Mars in Pisces, and just 5 degrees away from natal Mercury. More evidence of an aggressive race.

The Sun in Scorpio "atmosphere" of election day looks to me to be rather more compatible with Ms Fallin's chart in general. I suspect she'll be feeling the more comfortable of the two women - but this doesn't necessarily indicate a win.

Any passing readers are more than welcome to chip in with their thoughts of a possible outcome of this November election for Oklahoma Governor.


4 comments:

Shawn Carson said...

hi twilight,
this is a fun article and your exercise is right up my alley as i enjoy trying to forecast winners with astrology. this is a tough call, as you said, partly because we have limited information to go on, and also because both candidates are getting supportive aspects from the transiting moon / jupiter opposition on election day.
the opposition from T SA to N ME in jari's chart may indicate the sort of 'depressive thoughts' that the loser in this race might experience.
the square from T MA to N MA in mary's chart is tricky too, but i have found that third qtr squares are not as upsetting as 1st qtr squares and can sometimes indicate the type of accomplishment that we associate with the tenth house of public profile.
the transiting moon / jupiter opposition on election day may be favorable for foreigners and mary is the foreigner in this context as she was born outside of oklahoma.
and then, of course, there's the matter of the endorsement from the venerable ms palin, who, for some inexplicable reason, seems to have a lot of sway.
i will pick mary as the winner, "by a nose"

Twilight said...

Shawn ~~~ Hi - thanks for your insight and input.

It's not clear-cut or an easy predicition to make is it?

I'd much prefer for Jari Askins to win, but at this point, using either astrology or current news or a combination of both and opinion polls, it doesn't look hopeful.

Still it's a long road to November, astrology won't change but public opinion and the polls might. :-)

The Next President of the United States said...

Jari is a longtime good friend, which is kinda neat to mull for a moment - Ah, a good friend of mine in the governor's mansion. Anyway, don't sell her short as a progressive, but don't buy into the "liberal" screaming you'll continue to hear from the Repubs. As you've discovered here in the Land Where Men Are Men and The Sheep Are Nervous, EVERY non-Repub is a liberal, and even a goodly percentage of Repubs are really "liberals" in disguise. Heck, there are Okie Repubs who think Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater weren't conservative enough for their liking.

Anyway, Jari is a progressive pragmatist, who won't lean as far left as you'd like. But at the same time, if she gets in, we're not in danger of having any further shift to the right - at least, not in the governor's office.

This race will get dirty before it ends. Repubs will bring up the fact Jari's nearly 60 and has never been married and that she's supported things like teaching Evil-loo-shun and reducing the number of women in prison and supporting birth control and selective abortion, believing federal programs are not all completely bad, not being a friend of Big Oil, etc. etc.

Fallin was at one point considered a moderate Repub, before the word "moderate" was stricken from the GOP platform. She's gonna pretty much go along with the heavily-conservative shift the Okie House and Senate have been making. There will be some mud slung her way about having an affair with a state cop - and being found in a compromising situation - although that dirt won't be tossed by Jari.

It should be an interesting race. Jari does appeal to the Yellowdog Dems, who still are the foundation of the Okie Dem party, and she did come back in the primary to win, after all polls showed she was in danger of losing. If she gets in, you'll approve of much she does and doesn't do.

Twilight said...

TNPOTUS ~~ Hi! "A friend at court" can't be bad. Fingers crossed for you!
;-)

"Muck-slinging" as we called it in Yorkshire, will be inevitable I guess. If they can't find enough muck to throw they'll make some up.

Yes, well, I'm past hoping for anything to happen in the USA, let alone Oklahoma, that's even vaguely in line with my own ideas on politics. Something that's not diametrically opposed to 'em would be nice. Jari Askins is the best of the two, no doubt at all.

November, and the run-up, will be fun to watch.