Category: Elections

Martha Coakley’s Wins Bay State Senate Primary

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This is no surprise, she ran a good campaign, and her main opponent was rather incoherent in his campaign, and allowed her to paint him as being against abortion rights.

She will be running against Republican state Senator Scott Brown in the general, but she is pretty much in a dead girl/live boy* situation.

*Edwin Edwards, when discovering that he would be facing David Duke in the Louisiana governor’s race, said that the the only way that he would lose were if he were, “caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy”.

I Love Arlen Specter Since He’s Turned Democrat

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Or, more accurately, I like him since he’s had a primary challenger, thank you Joe Sestak.

It means that we’ll get 18 months of him being a loyal party player….Unfortunately, for the other 54 months of his Senate term, he’s still a contemptible grandstanding untrustworthy jerk.

Case in point, now that he’s running ferociously to the left in order to out-flank Representative Sestak, he dissed Senators Lieberman and Snow regarding their misrepresentations of the public option at a mutual press conference:

“I do not support…a government owned, government run insurance company,” Collins said.

“I have only to look at the experience of my own state in establishing a government run plan to see the problems that arise.”

Collins was referring to the Dirigo health agency, which provides subsidized insurance to poor people in Maine who don’t quite qualify for Medicaid.

“I think we have learned a lot from the Maine plan,” Specter retorted. “We know what not to do. We’re not going to adopt a Maine plan. That experience will stand us in good stead. We won’t make the same mistake.”

Specter went on: “And when Senator Lieberman talks about single payer, I think he’s putting his finger on the pulse of it. That’s what people have concluded [but] the public option isn’t single payer, and it is not going to add to the deficit, it’s going to be a level playing field. So I would like everyone to read the fine print and [for my colleagues] to re-read the fine print.”

(emphasis mine)

By the standards of the Senate, this is actually a pretty nasty slam.

Yet me note that this is not an endorsement of him. When you get 12-18 months of non wankertude out of a 6-year term, and so it’s not really worth it pulling the lever for him.

What a Surprise

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Barack Obama has spent the past 9 months doubling back on promises and dissing the base voters, sucking up to banks and the pro-torture wing of the CIA, and doing nothing for those young voters who came out for him and now need jobs, and now we have a poll showing that his most stalwart supporters may stay home in 2010:

QUESTION: In the 2010 Congressional elections will you definitely vote, probably vote, not likely vote, or definitely will not vote?

The results were, to put it mildly, shocking:

Voter Intensity: Definitely + Probably Voting/Not Likely + Not Voting

Republican Voters: 81/14
Independent Voters: 65/23
DEMOCRATIC VOTERS: 56/40

Actually, these results are not shocking at all. Barack Obama and His Evil Minions™ have been scapegoating and ignoring his base ever since his election, so it’s no wonder that they are demoralized, so 2 out of 5 activists need to wash their hair today

Steve Singiser’s conclusion, “This enormous enthusiasm gap, as well as some polling analysis done by PPP (and analyzed well here by Nate Silver), seems to make passing legitimate health care reform an absolute political necessity for Democrats,” is actually rather weak tea.

While it’s clear that if voters are forced to pay insurance companies, and get nothing in return, they staying home or be voting for the crazy muthaf%$#as in the corner, it is also true that between the continuation of military tribunals, soft pedaling DADT and DOMA repeal, escalation in Afghanistan, etc. there is a lot going on to demoralize the base.

Back on My Act Blue Page

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Regina Thomas is running again against John Barrow in the Democratic primary for Georgia’s 12th Congressional district.

This will not be easy, she got only 24% last time, but this time, John Barrow won’t have Barack Obama recording an endorsement for him, and Barrow has been down the line against Obama’s initiates, which should play poorly with the primary electorate.

In any case, she is now on Matthew Saroff’s Act Blue Page again.

Posts from the last election cycle are here.

Swiss Referendum Bans Minarets

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The ban passed with 57% voting in favor.

This is not good news because it is basically a triumph of right-wing demagoguery.

That being said, there are more issues involved than simply bigotry and Islam.

The elites in much of the developed world have decided that a tight labor market, one which would have factory workers and street sweepers paid more than they currently get, and bankers and factory owners paid less than they currently get, is a good thing. This means that cheap labor economics drives much of immigration.

It’s not surprising that people who are in the bottom 90% income in a society would oppose this. This is a zero sum game, and by driving wages down, they lose.

Additionally, high immigration every country raises questions about societal norms, and these issues have been studiously avoided.

It’s no one else’s business how one prays, but in terms of how one should behave in public in society, there is a legitimate question of to what degree immigrants should be expected to assimilate in their public behavior.

Both of these are significant questions, and they played vote total into the Swiss minaret ban.

Let’s be clear though, there needs to be perspective in determining the bounds of society, and I think that actions like banning the minaret and hijab (head scarf) are nuts, but by the same token, I think that the cloistering of women through the Burqa, Abaya, and Niqāb (which cover the whole face except the eyes) may very well be over the line?

And then there is the modern chador, which covers the body, but leaves the face exposed…It gets confusing.

The bigots would offer is that some Islamic nations require women to wear head scarves even if they are not Moslem, so it’s reasonable for western nations to require that all women not wear head scarves, but when you are holding up Saudi Arabia as an example, you’ve lost the moral high ground.

That being said, my guess is that the most significant motivation for a yes vote was simple bigotry, and there is no simple solution, at least in the short term, because you can not change the hearts of adult bigots.

The best you can hope for is to educate their children to be less bigoted.

What can be done in the shorter term is to address issues related to “race to the bottom” cheap labor policies, and publicly discuss and address concerns participation of immigrants in public society.

If you do acknowledge that there are some issues about immigration and assimilation that are unrelated to bigotry, you will likely peel off enough of the “Yes” votes for referenda like this to fail.

Unfortunately, there is not currently an honest dialog on these issues.

Not This Contemptible, Self-Serving, Psychopathic Loser Again

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The Green Party of Connecticut is lobbying Ralph Nader to run against Chris Dodd for Senate.

Ralph Nader has harmed his reputation, his movement, and the Green Party, which not only bore the brunt of the blow-back from his candidacy fro President in 2000, but also never got access to his contributor or mailing lists for that elections.

But still, the clueless in Connecticut, want to put the Former President of the WWE, Linda McMahon, who has put on homophobic rape filled theater as “pro-wrestling”, in the Senate by running Nader against Dodd.

Stating the Obvious

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That Joe Lieberman is a small and petty man, and has allowed imagined personal slights to be a springboard to vindictive behavior:

So why is he doing this? Because he’s bitter. According to former staffers and associates, he was upset by his dismal showing in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary. And he was enraged by the tepid support he got from many party leaders in 2006, when he lost the Democratic primary to an anti-war activist and won reelection as an independent. Gradually, this personal alienation has eaten away at his liberal domestic views. His staff has grown markedly more conservative in recent years, and his closest friends in Congress are now Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham. For Lieberman, the personal has become political, and it has pushed him further to the right.

Simply put, Joe Lieberman is a vile, vain, vindictive, and petty person. and because he feels that he was not sufficiently worshipped by the Democratuc Party, he is determined to extract his revenge.

What a petty and pathetic excuse for a human being.

Signs of the Apocalypse

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Lou Dobbs is looking to run for office, and he’s selling himself as a friend of illegal aliens:

Lou Dobbs is looking at any number of possibilities for a political career, such as running for Senator from New Jersey, or even the presidency. And he would of course be running on a signature issue of…his great friendship with the Latino community, and support for amnesty for illegal immigrants, and a path to citizenship???

Portrait of a Pandering or Courage?

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Nice that he changed his position, but it smacks of opportunism.

I’m calling pandering.

Michael Bennet faces a very strong challenge from the Andrew Romanoff, who is coming at him from the left, so Bennet’s statement that he would vote for healthcare reform even if it meant him losing the election is an easy one to make. (see vid)

The reality is that he was saying he might not vote for HCR for a long time, and now that he has a strong primary challenger, and he would be dead in the primary if he voted against it, suddenly he’s willing to bet his career on it.

Blue Dog Walking

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Rep. Allen Boyd (FL-02), a prominent Blue Dog who voted against the Stimulus and the Healthcare Bill, is trailing state Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson in the primary, with Lawson leading 35%-31%.

Understand that the rule of thumb is that undecideds currently break about 2:1 for the challenger, and Boyd knows this, so he is already running ads in the district.

To be fair, this is not a Blue Dog in a solidly Democratic district, McCain got 54%, but it’s been a Democratic seat for decades (there was a guy who switched mid-term, and he got defeated the next election), and the congressional seat went Democratic by over 20 points.

I think that the district, and the nation, can be better served by someone less inclined to be reflexively right wing.

The Crazy Will Not End

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A 52% Of Republicans believe that ACORN stole the election for Barack Obama in 2008.

This is not going to end well. These people are even stronger than the folks who claimed that Ross Perot stole the election for Clinton in 1992.

One needs to understand the difference between the opposition and the enemy, and understand that you cannot negotiate with the former.

Unfortunately, you can count the former in without running out of fingers.

Polls

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Bummer of a birth mark, Governor Paterson

A Couple of updates, one completely predictable that New York Governor David Paterson is polling behind everyone. He trails Andrew Cuomo by 75% to 16%, which makes him less polular amongst New York Democrats, and in the general election he trails Giuliani by 33% to 56% (Cuomo trounces Giuliani by 53%-41%), and Rick Lazio by 39% to 42% (Cuomo crushes him 67%-22%).

Give it up dude. People find you incompetent, uninspiring, craven, and stupid, and no amount of political organization, fund raising, and advertisements will change this, because you are incompetent, uninspiring, craven, and stupid.

A surprise in another poll, the Delaware Senate race, where Beau Biden(D)/Mike Castle(R) race has gone from 55%-34% in Castle’s favor in April to 45%-40% in Biden’s favor.

Admittedly, it’s been 7 months between polls, but Beau Biden (Joe’s kid), has not formally announced, nor have there been any scandals to change these numbers.

The only thing that people see that might have changed this, is that Mike Castle, a Republican who is known for being one of the most, if not the most liberal Republicans in Congress, cast a vote against the healthcare plan.

Castle’s strength in Delaware politics was always that he was perceived an an iconoclastic man of integrity, not a party apparatchik, is now voting like a party apparatchik:

What’s responsible for the Biden surge? He’s grabbed the lead in vote-rich New Castle County, built up a 41-point lead among Democratic voters, and moved to only 5 points behind Castle among independents. According to the pollster, the shift “may be a result of negative publicity [Castle] received in the state after casting a ‘no’ vote for President Obama’s health care reform bill in the U.S. Congress.” Castle, who has thrived as a moderate Republican in an increasingly Democratic state, has been casting more partisan votes–against the stimulus package, for the Stupak amendment–that have been well-reported in Delaware.

I think that if there is a final version healthcare, there will be more Republicans than just Anh “Joseph” Quang Cao voting for this bill, because some of them will realize just how toxic their leadership is from an electoral standpoint,

I Get Emails from Politicos Raising Funds

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In this case Frank Kratovil, who was looking for both money and sweat equity.

My reply:

I live in Owings Mills, very close to your district, and might be inclined to contribute or volunteer for efforts in Baltimore County, except for the vote on Healthcare Reform.

First, I do not believe that this would be a good use of my time. As Harry S Truman said, “Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time,” and I believe that the voters of MD-1 will choose the real Republican regardless of what I do.

Secondly, on a more personal level, I am self-employed, and use MHIP for my insurance, because there is no other insurance available due to my wife’s pre-existing conditions, and I have seen cuts in coverage and a rate hike in excess of 50% just this year.

Third, anyone who cites the Washington Post editorial board on healthcare [he linked to some WaPo Op/Eds], where they have consistently and deliberately got the facts wrong, is being either clueless or disengenuous.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

—
Matthew G. Saroff

And yes, I did reference Hitchhikers.

Obama Knifes Gays Again

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Not surprising, when he replaced the Gay friendly DNC chair (Howard Dean ) with yet another bible thumper (Tim Kaine)bible.

As I have said before, Barack Obama and His Stupid Minions™ are desperately afraid of offending homophobic bigots.

Well, the DNC was claiming that they sent those emails to folks in Maine, asking for support for Corzine in NJ, without any mention of the Hate Referendum in Maine by accident, but John Aravosis got a copy of an email sent to donors which proves that to be a lie.

Ironically enough, the email was from Andrew Tobias, who is the author of The Best Little Boy in the World, who later got involved in the comments section of the above thread, and blamed John for, “turning people against support of the Democrats,” ignoring Obama’s record on such things.

I think that it is absolutely clear now, between Donnie McClurkin, his reversals on DADT, inviting homophobes to offer prayers at the inauguration, and, of course, the disgraceful DOMA briefs that Barack Obama will do whatever is possible to avoid basic civil rights for gays.

I don’t know if it’s because he wants everyone to like him, and so does not want to offend anti-gay bigots (homophobia-phobia), or if he is homophobic himself.

It does not matter. There is a pattern here, and it’s not going to change.

Excerpt of email after the fold.

Email to donors:

1. An email went out asking activists to make calls to New Jersey. It was insensitive not to omit Mainers from that email. I apologize that no one thought to do that. I can’t imagine it could have cost No On One even a dozen votes, but I still wish someone would have thought of this in time to catch it. Mistake noted.

2. A different email went out to Mainers urging them to vote. As the only thing of substance anyone was voting on in Maine was Question One, and as Democratic activists vote our way, this was a small but positive effort to be helpful.

I would have liked to see that email discuss No One One directly, in case there may have been an email-enabled Organizing for America activist someplace in Maine who did NOT know where Maine Democrats stood on this issue. (Out of the country without Internet access until the night before the election?) But I’m told there was concern that advocating specifically for a ballot initiative, whether LGBT or otherwise, would set a precedent for every other ballot initiative. Bureaucracies are nervous about setting precedents.

Carly Fiorina Announces Her Campaign for Senate

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And I am pretty sure that anyone who has ever worked at Hewlett Packard will vote against her.

She is a real horror show. She was incompetent enough to be fired as a spokesperson for John McCain’s campaign, they were literally singing “Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead,” in the cubicles when she got fired by HP, and she she came to prominence because her underlings falsified sales at Lucent.

Surely, she is not going to run on her record.

The Rundown on Rahmbo

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Jane Hamshire has a rundown of Rahm Emanuel’s history, and it shows that now only is he on the wrong side of every issue on the merits, he also creates political disasters for the party.

It is very good reading, where she shows that he was on the wrong side of NAFTA, the Iraq war, healthcare, etc.

The money quote is:

Rahm doesn’t think about Democratic turnout. His reputation for “winning a Democratic majority” rests on his ability as a self-promoter to take credit for victories that happened in spite of him. The truth is that his “act more like Republicans” strategy just hasn’t worked out, and we’re getting whiffs of the disaster it spells for Democrats who follow it. [She is referring to Criegh Deeds frantic run away from national Democrats, as well as the poor showing of pro-War Dems in 2006]

Go read. This guy has a history of failing upward that rivals Dick Cheney’s.

Healthcare Update

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Click for full size

AARP Executive VP Nancy LeaMond and House Leaders

Well, today both the AMA and the AARP endorsed healthcare reform, which, I think makes the possibility of passage significantly greater.

Note that some of the constituencies in the AMA, most notably, the “American Assn. of Neurological Surgeons, the American Society of General Surgeons and the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery,” came out against this, but note that these are people who make their money when preventative care fails.

Notwithstanding Harry “No Balls” Reid’s statement that there may not be a bill this year, the House of Representatives is moving forward full throttle, with a vote scheduled for this Saturday.

Steve Benin also notices that the Republican opposition to the bill might not be as unified as it was for the stimulus package:

Republicans will overwhelmingly reject the Democrats’ healthcare reform measure when it is reaches the House floor, according to a key lawmaker.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), who serves as deputy GOP whip, told The Hill that the number of Republicans supporting the sweeping legislation will be “very, very close to zero.

Mr. Benin, much like I did, “assumed it was a foregone conclusion that every House Republican would vote against reform, just as every House Republican voted against the economic recovery package and against this year’s budget plan,” while this quote implies that there might be 1 or 2, or perhaps even a few more votes for the bill.

I think that this situation can be explained in 4 words, Anh “Joseph” Quang Cao, the Republican who defeated incumbent William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson in an overwhelmingly Republican district, because Jefferson was under indictment for corruption.

He knows that no matter how much support Republicans throw his way, and they won’t throw much, he’s a goner unless he actually considers his district’s needs.

Even in Louisiana, he cannot count on his opposition facing corruption charges for every election.