Yeah, I got no problem with that…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FiveThirtyEight.com

The link is here.

Most of these dealers are probably Republican, because most of them are likely older, upper-class conservative types that worked their way up the ladder through their entrepreneurship. They want somebody that will protect their interests and keep their taxes low, and that would be McCain and the Republicans, not Obama and the Democrats.

You’ll also have McCall Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Ebensburg, 17 miles away. Also Tri-Star Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Indiana PA (Where Jimmy Stewart was from) just 19 miles away. And in Latrobe, 23 miles away, there is Laurel Chrysler Dodge.

How’s this for logic: places that have been hit the hardest by this recession – and have been the most affected by the general de-industrialization of the US in general – are ones that have tended to go GOP of late. Rural Kansas and Ohio come to mind. With fewer good jobs, there’s less money to spend, and they’re less likely to buy cars, even US made ones. Those dealers are the ones that are the surest to be hurting, and those would be the first to get the ax.

This sounds like flawed logic, a conclusion in search of support. What isn’t said are:

(1) How much did the surviving dealers contribute?
(2) How much did the terminated dealers contribute to other (i.e. Democrate) parties?
(3) WHEN where these contributions made?
(4) In what context were these contributions made? A local congressman race? A state senator race? The presidential race?

I think it is safe to say that this “conclusion” is too flawed and has too much bias to be taken seriously.

Johnstown, and the outlying small towns (Somerset, Ligonier, etc.) had about seven permutations of Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, primarily small single marque family owned dealerships. At the end of this closing, the area will have one: Laurel Chrysler-Jeep-Hyundai (which I assume will also get H.E. Wagner’s Dodge franchise). Now that’s a mass gutting, going from something like seven dealerships down to one.

The local congressman? John P. “Jack” Murtha. Yep, the guy who’s the current poster child of entitlements, er, pork (I still insist on calling it what is really is). A guy who’s in about the absolute safest seat in the US House – when he goes, so does about 30% of Johnstown’s employment, all brought in on Jack’s pork barrel.

A nice, easy place to gut the dealships. The congressman doesn’t have to worry about re-election, no matter how angry the voters get over the closings. After all, voting Jack out means the pork goes away.

Not sure what they’re going to do in about 15 years when Jack goes out in a pine box, due to natural life span.

OTOH, there is a Jeep dealer near me whose store is in the top 1/8th by sales and he got whacked. White boy, heavily democrat state, no idea of his political leanings/contributions. But it doesn’t make a lot of sense based on sales per se. He must have been doing something right for his customers.

Both Chrysler and GM are closing one of his dealerships; both are right down the street from my house, and were opened within the last three years.

His only political contribution I could find was to a Democrat. Mr. Chavez is a prominent Hispanic businessman in Denver.

If this guy can get two of his locations whacked, despite having one of the largest dealer chains in the country, despite being a Democrat, despite being Hispanic, then the reason here is low sales and NOTHING else.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00040998&cycle=2008

In Indianapolis, 3 Chryco dealers are being culled.

First, there is Gene Beltz, Shadeland Dodge, on Shadeland Ave. On the same street -Shadeland Ave.- in the same zip code, 46219 you have Eastgate Chrysler Jeep, a mere .30 miles away. The other two dealers in Circle City (Indy) who are closing are both Palmer family dealers.

Palmer Dodge on East 96th Street is less than 6 miles from Champion Chrysler Jeep Dodge, on West 96th Street. Champion will remain open. Palmer Chrysler Jeep Dodge, on W Pike Plaza Rd. is the third closure. Again, there is already Champion in Indy to sell you a Dodge, as well as Tom O’Brien Chrysler Jeep, if you’re not finicky about sub-Mopar branding. If you prefer, you can drive to nearby Greenwood, only 11.51 miles away and get your Dodge from Tom O’Brien Chrysler Jeep Dodge.

There is no need for conspiracy theories – one only needs to do a bit of basic research (beyond the capabilities of most mainstream Jurnos, I know. And well beyond the capabilities of Freeper wing nuts) Dealers are simply being culled due to over-saturation in certain markets.

As an aside, I would bet the Palmer Dodge stores are owned by the family of the infamous Eldon Palmer, who crashed a 71 Challenger Pace Car at Indy. I remember it well, as dad took me and my brother to the race that year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTNDPmIO4Lw

If it was the other way around, we would be hearing the MSM address it. I guarantee it.

What goes around comes around.

Also, this:

“I took all dealer owners whose names appeared more than once in the list…”

Well, someone who owns more than one dealership is more likely someone wealthier, and so more likely to lean Republican, right? As it is, we’re seeing a list that’s flawed on two counts. Correlation is not causation, as they say, but the absence of the other data mentioned prevents this from even being correlation. It looks more cherry-picked to skew one way (hmm, no connection between closed dealers and republican contributions…how about if we just look at the dealers who own more than one? Oh, there!)

Meanwhile, I could just as easily take this (flawed) statistical data and claim that it indicates dealerships owned by Republicans are more likely to be poor performers. Just as ridiculous.

Well I did, a little bit. I showed my findings for a few states on John Horner’s editorial. As far as I can tell they are culling dealers that are in close proximity to one another.

As I said on the other thread, in MI only one dealer on the closure list is further than 25 miles from the next closest dealer. In MT, 2 of the 3 closing dealers are more than 25 miles from their nearest cohort, but one is less than 50 and the other less than 100. In MT, the distances between anything and anything are often great. In KS, not a single dealer that is on the list is further than 25 miles away from another who is not being closed.

It appears to me someone sat down and examined a map pretty carefully and culled unneeded dealers that were too close to others.

Or Demo-Rides

That’s just crazy talk.

Next thing you’ll be telling me is the aforesaid Democratic President screwed state pension plan holders of Chrysler stock to finance a giveaway to solid Democrat union supporters.

This website has devolved into conspiracy theory!

Sorry – Couldn’t help myself.

As a political scientist, I would observe that the effects of the Chrysler bankruptcy (and soon, GM’s) mainly remind us elections have consequences. The UAW gets a lot more support from the White House than executives, bondholders, shareholders and, of course, dealers.

The real question now is “which GM dealers got a pink slip?” The news media claims to be pro-consumer, but so far it’s MIA on this issue.

Also, politicians are involved and a lot of folks are probably of the mindset that “well, I wouldn’t put it past them”.