Google Ads


Site Stats

SSP Daily Digest: 11/19

by: Crisitunity

Fri Nov 19, 2010 at 3:04 PM EST


• AK-Sen: In the words of Bart Simpson, "he's like some kind of non-giving-up guy!" Joe Miller just keeps contesting the Alaska Senate race despite rigor mortis having started to set in. Today he added another legal action to the already-long (and expensive) tally, asking a federal judge for an injunction stopping state officials from certifying the election. Miller's latest gripe is that the state started the count a week earlier than scheduled, forcing him to pull together a volunteer ballot-challenging team on short notice, meaning that "an indeterminate number" of misspelled ballots got through. (That number would have to be several thousand for this challenge to have any hope of succeeding.) This, of course, has to work in parallel to a separate suit, still in process, where he's trying to force the state from counting any misspelled ballots.

• CT-Sen: Since she apparently has absolutely nothing better to do with her piles of money, Linda McMahon is actually running a post-election "thank you" ad. Speculation is rising that she's trying to stay top-of-mind for 2012, where there's the possibility of running against Joe Lieberman (an option she said she wasn't taking off the table). The article also cites increased buzz about Ted Kennedy Jr. running for the Dems. Rep. Chris Murphy is known to be interested too, and soon-to-be-ex-SoS Susan Bysiewicz, despite a year of nonstop bungling, is also in the mix.

• VA-Sen: Here are a couple more Republican names who are checking out the Senate race in Virginia. One is an establishment figure, Prince William Co. Chairman Corey Stewart, but the other is Bert Mizusawa, a retired Army Reserve brigadier general whom you might remember as the more-conservative opposition from the VA-02 GOP primary this year, who lost to Rep.-elect Scott Rigell. Also, the Tom Perriello buzz (in the event of Jim Webb not running again) seems to have gotten loud enough that the Washington Post has taken notice.

• NY-01, NY-25: The race in the 1st is down into the double digits, as Tim Bishop made up more ground yesterday as absentee ballots counted in his home turf of Southampton started reporting. Randy Altschuler's lead is 81 votes, representing a gain of more than 200 for Bishop (although Altschuler's camp says they did "better than expected" in Dem areas that reported, and that the more GOP-friendly Brookhaven has yet to report). In the 25th, Dan Maffei upped his percentage of the absentee votes coming in from the first half of votes from Onondaga County, enough to gain 521 votes, now trailing Ann Marie Buerkle by 303. He'll still need to maintain that pace to win, though, as more GOP-friendly Wayne County has yet to report.

• DSCC: Harry Reid is now saying he's "in no hurry" to fill the still-empty DSCC slot, but Beltway CW seems to find the fickle finger pointing more clearly in Patty Murray's direction. With Michael Bennet having pretty thoroughly declined, Reid and the White House are now making a "full court press" on Murray (who also helmed the DSCC's 2002 cycle).

• CO-St. House: 197 votes is all that kept Dems from controlling the trifecta in Colorado for 2012. The last outstanding race in the state House was concluded, with Republican Robert Ramirez beating Dem incumbent Debbie Benefield by 197, flipping the state House to the GOP by a 33-32 margin. (Dems control the state Senate and the governor's chair.)

• IA-St. Sen.: It's been two and a half weeks since an election, and you're already hungry for another one? Well, we've already got one on tap coming up very soon: the legislative special election to fill Lt. Gov.-elect Kim Reynolds' seat in SD-48, scheduled for Jan. 4. It's light-red turf in Iowa's rural southwestern corner, though, so likely GOP nominee Joni Ernst (the Montgomery Co. Auditor) is probably the favorite. The local parties will select their nominees next week; despite losing the state House, Dems still control the state Senate.

• Redistricting: Eight members of the new California citizens' redistricting commission have been named (one of whom is a former US Census director). If you make unsupported assumptions based on their professions, it looks like we may have done well with the "unaffiliated" picks. Six more will be added before work begins.
Crisitunity :: SSP Daily Digest: 11/19
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , (All Tags)
Print Friendly View Send As Email

SSP Daily Digest: 11/19 | 92 comments
Bysiewicz
is still a legitimate candidate... just a less so than before.  she made a LOT of mistakes in this election and she needs to repair her image of competency to have a chance against lieberman this cycle.

Top ten signs you're an SSPer #1: your favorite song is "Panic At Tedisco" and no one understands what you mean.
If she runs against Lieberman and so does McMahon
McMahon stands a decent chance of winning.

Then again, that depends on people not being pissed at McMahon anymore for basically spamming the entire state.

In which case you have a choice between not two but THREE unfavorable candidates.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

[ Parent ]
MN-Gov
Circa 1998. 3 extraordinarily unpopular candidates running for office. It is unfortunate when there isn't at least one decent option.

26 White Male. Born and raised in MN-8, currently living in MN-5.

"A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything."

[ Parent ]
still she has 12 years of good will as SOS
she couldn't have thrown ALL of it away, could she?  certainly her image is tarnished, but it should be healed somewhat with time, though it probably won't return to previous levels unless she becomes a (good) senator.  i'm skeptical mcmahon, even in a three way split could win.  I see it somewhat like AK-SEN 2010, except I treat murky-querque as an R and Miller as an Indie.  people aren't the biggest fans of the Murky-querque analog B-Wizzle (yes, i'm trying this out, tell me if it's stupid), but they support her more than lieberman (miller analog) and there just aren't the votes for mchmahon (mcadams) when there are two other choices.  in both AK-2010 and CT-2012 i'd guess a mediocre member of the dominate party will beat an unloved indie and out party candidate.

Top ten signs you're an SSPer #1: your favorite song is "Panic At Tedisco" and no one understands what you mean.
[ Parent ]
I really dont get why she seems so damaged either
Anyone with a local perspective?  I dont find what she did that bad or really anything but heeing and hawing, but I'm me.
[ Parent ]
Part of it could be
that she announced for a position for which she wasn't qualified. She might have wanted to confirm that before jumping in the race.

My impression is that she's bungled some pretty big things over the past year (AG, Malloy v. Foley). Personally, I have big questions about her political instincts, and would be concerned if she were our senate nominee.

[ Parent ]
there as also the bungling of the elections
she expected around 40-60% turnout in the primary, there was 20% and she took heat for that.  in the general she underestimated turnout and there was the whole new haven fiasco.  

Top ten signs you're an SSPer #1: your favorite song is "Panic At Tedisco" and no one understands what you mean.
[ Parent ]
Next to Lamont, Bysiewicz is indeed the worst the Dems could put up...
And, yet, I still just don't see how McMahon wins statewide. Lieberman running third-party in a Bysiewicz/McMahon showdown would make the proceedings more unpredictable, but what McMahon needs is something she'll probably never get - a significant # of Democrat cross-over votes. Either that, or she needs a double-digit victory among Indies, and that's just as improbable. Imagine...

D - 41
I - 32
R - 27

Bysiewicz - 75/26/3 = 40%
Lieberman - 19/38/22 = 26%
McMahon - 6/36/75 = 34%

Bysiewicz - 88/48/6 = 53%
McMahon - 12/52/94 = 47%

Rell and Simmons can win under the right circumstances (Lieberman retiring or winning the Dem nod), but McMahon's climb will always be a steep one.

For daily political commentary, visit me at http://polibeast.blogspot.com/ and http://twitter.com/polibeast

[ Parent ]
i agree with your numbers
short of a super candidate or complete collapse of the democrat, (mahoney from fl-16 for example) republicans can't win federal statewide races in CT.

Top ten signs you're an SSPer #1: your favorite song is "Panic At Tedisco" and no one understands what you mean.
[ Parent ]
She could go practice in a law office
for the prerequisite number of years so she can run for AG for real in the future if she wanted it so bad.
[ Parent ]
I'm pretty sure Bysiewicz is through
It's not just her mishandling of this year's gubernatorial election. It's also her jumping from one primary race to another in '09, only to end up disqualified for AG.

Her reputation has taken a significant, sustained hit, even among Democrats.

[ Parent ]
does anyone really pay attention to that though?
sure there will be some embarrassing news stories if she runs for anything, but The Not So Mighty B still has experience, connection, fund raising capabilities and campaign experience.

Top ten signs you're an SSPer #1: your favorite song is "Panic At Tedisco" and no one understands what you mean.
[ Parent ]
Delegates at the state convention
will definitely remember. I doubt she'd get the official party endorsement. She'd need to win it via primary, like Ned Lamont tried to do against Malloy. And her base of support would be fairly soft. Her strength previously was that her name recognition was high, though most people didn't know all that much about her. Now a lot of what they know isn't all that positive.
[ Parent ]
Why did she even go for AG in the first place?
I've had my own narrative on what happened, but Id like some collaboration on what all happened again.
[ Parent ]
Ya know, I'm not sure...
Perhaps that's the position she'd been eying all along. Don't forget that when she announced for governor, the AG seat hadn't yet opened up. Everyone was expecting Dodd to run again - and Blumenthal would have been able to remain AG for as long as he wanted.
[ Parent ]
NY-01, Brookhaven
As far as Brookhaven being friendly for the GOP, while that is generally true at the local level, its pretty much marginal at the national level, especially when compared to the district as a whole.  For example, Obama won the district by 3.83, but he won Brookhaven by 5.55.  In 2004 Bush won the 1st by 0.67, Kerry won Brookhaven by 0.59.
More relevant still
Per Reid Epstein (on twitter/reidepstein), Bishop narrowly WON Brookhaven on November 2nd.

Twitter.com/Taniel
[ Parent ]
Last I heard
Altschuler was up 85 votes with 15 of 22 ED's counted in Riverhead, but Altschuler has challenged 193 more ballots overall than Bishop. Since challenges generally go against the challenger, Bishop may even have the lead now, but it's a real nail-biter.
[ Parent ]
45 vote Altschuler lead
Newsday is reporting that it was a 45 vote Altschuler lead as of 3:30, as the count moves to Brookhaven.
[ Parent ]
link
[ Parent ]
As per Reid Epstein Twitter
Bishop spox says they're within 30 votes with absentees counted in all but Brookhaven

[ Parent ]
Here is a link to latest on NY01
[ Parent ]
I previewed the Iowa SD 48 special election
here. The district strongly favors a Republican. In theory, anything can happen in a low-turnout special election right after new year's, but I expect the Iowa GOP to spend more money defending this seat than the Iowa Democratic Party spends trying to win it.
Iowa SD 13 and 47
Recounts have begun in both seats. In SD 13, the certified results put Democrat Tod Bowman up by 71 votes. In SD 47, the certified results put Republican Mark Chelgren up by 12 votes.

If anyone out there has ever done RAGBRAI (that's the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa), you may have seen Chelgren as "Chickenman". Here's another good photo.

I don't understand people like Miller
I get that he has a big ego, but you'd think at some point he'd recognize it's hopeless and try to salvage some dignity.
Apparently
only Democrats (see Gore, Al) are sore losers.

My blog
Twitter
Scribd
28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)
[ Parent ]
I think he has single-handedly destroyed
any chance he has for holding elected office in Alaska.

By any luck, he might have dragged Palin down with him too.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

[ Parent ]
Perhaps he sees no future?
David Weigel has an interesting article up on slate arguing that Miller knows he pissed off a lot of people with his run. The argument goes that he knows he will never win another election in Alaska, so might as well try to pull out every trick possible on his last gasp.

19, Male, libertarian Republican, TX-14 and MN-04
[ Parent ]
I think what sealed his fate
was the incident where his goons put that reporter under arrest and detained him for like half an hour against his will.

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo!
So little time, so much to know!
[ Parent ]
DCCC: Steve Israel is new chairman, IL-17: Hare considering 2012 run
DCCC:http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45423.html
Not a big surprise

IL-17 http://www.rollcall.com/news/H...
He says Durbin and Costello are urging him to run

Hare
needs to stay away. Sorry man, the hare never got the second chance to beat the tortoise.  

19, Male, Independent, CA-12
[ Parent ]
IL-17 will look very different
before 2012. I don't know much about Hare or other potential candidates in this district. I'm just saying don't assume Hare would have to compete on the same terrain he just lost.
[ Parent ]
I was no fan of Brady
But I had a pretty cool Illinois map I was going to release --it's possible to consolidate all the Democratic-voting areas of downstate into one district, and I bet that would have happened if he won. That would protect Costello in case his district started to slide out from under him while also shoring up Schilling and Schock.

20, CD MA-03/NH-01/MA-08
[ Parent ]
Can you tweak it
to do a Democratic gerrymander (which they will do considering they haven't had the trifecta in decades).  This means they could probably find some way to carve out a new district for Hare (the current district is an incumbent protection map as are most districts).

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo!
So little time, so much to know!
[ Parent ]
Probably
The current IL-17 is already about as Democrat-heavy as you can get downstate without hurting Costello, but I could see if stretching an arm into Rockford shifts it a couple of points leftward.

A good Democratic gerrymander of Illinois, however, would focus on packaging healthy chunks of Cook County out to the suburbs and eliminating the light-red districts in DuPage, Lake, and Will. I wonder if I could limit Republicans to one district in Chicagoland (they have 4 now, plus 2 more in the exurbs.) Maybe I'll try it, but for now I'm putting the final touches on a California map I'm hoping to release this weekend.

20, CD MA-03/NH-01/MA-08

[ Parent ]
Good point.
They know doubt will try to Democrat-ize the districts won by Dol(e)d, Walsh, Kinzinger, and Hultgren.  Then they can make sure that all lost districts are currently held by Republicans.  Heck, they could even go after Roskam, but I dunno.  I don't do self-made maps (yet).

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo!
So little time, so much to know!
[ Parent ]
CA
Remember that under CA's new redistricting rules you can't do a D gerrymander. You have to do what you think it would look like under (basically) Iowa rules + VRA restrictions.

41, Ind, CA-05
[ Parent ]
My map
Is not legal and is not something you'd ever see, at least barring an amendment to the constitution. And it should be up in an hour or so!

20, CD MA-03/NH-01/MA-08
[ Parent ]
Let
me guess, you dealt away with that "pesky" VRA? Something I'm sure the Roberts court would be more than happy to throw out if it ever got to them.

19, Male, Independent, CA-12
[ Parent ]
that doesn't make much sense
Packing away black voters benefits the Republicans.

They might throw out section 5, of course.

[ Parent ]
They already heard a case involving Texas and VRA
and they upheld it in its entirety, even section 5.

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo!
So little time, so much to know!
[ Parent ]
Well
http://www.npr.org/templates/s...

In a decision involving a small Texas utility district, the justices avoided ruling on the constitutionality of a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The provision requires ongoing federal oversight of election practices in jurisdictions that historically discriminated against African-Americans.


[ Parent ]
Well, I don't see
the Roberts Court doing anything to alter VRA then or in the future.

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo!
So little time, so much to know!
[ Parent ]
I agree
It doesn't look like either side has much incentive to press the issue.
[ Parent ]
They also
required that Texas include more VRA districts when Delaymandering was challenged in courtts.

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo!
So little time, so much to know!
[ Parent ]
Except....
the Roberts Court already heard a case involving VRA (Delaymandering originally had no VRA districts) and they upheld VRA in its entirety.

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo!
So little time, so much to know!
[ Parent ]
No amendment necessary for your Wyoming Rule plan
The size of the House is set by statute.

30, male, MI-11 (previously VA-08). Evangelical, postconservative, green.
[ Parent ]
We have to repeal whatever law is the
"We have to stop buying furniture and renovating this damn room" law.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01
[ Parent ]
Interesting how 4 out 8
of the Californian redistricting board are Asian. 5 out 8 are female and 6 out of 8 are minorities. And 7 out of 8 have relatively high earnings, and every single one has a college degree (which I guess is to be expected).  
Texas Before Iowa
We have a special election for House District 44 because the Republican incumbent died the Thursday after the election after suffering a heart attack.

The special election will be Dec. 14.

http://www.burntorangereport.c...

Doesn't look good for Maffei
Trails by 411 after Onondaga county absentee count.

http://www.9wsyr.com/content/n...

*sighs* Karl Rove's corporate 527 group claimed another.
I hope he tries again in 2012.  The Dems hold 2/3rds of the trifecta (they held 1/3rds of it last time) and he hopefully convinces them to not Republicanize that district.

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo!
So little time, so much to know!
[ Parent ]
Did the Democrats lose the state senate in NY again?

[ Parent ]
I think that's what's projected.
It'll be a narrow loss, like 33-31 GOP most likely.  It's kinda confusing.

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo!
So little time, so much to know!
[ Parent ]
Actually, I think we have a shot for the tie.
Which would be a rediculous nightmare.
[ Parent ]
Yep
It's all over in NY-25, Buerkle will take Wayne County and win by about 500 votes. Maffei WAY underperformed in Onondaga County.

This has to be top 5 shockers of the cycle, along with Bob Dold holding on in IL-10, Ortiz going down in TX-27 and Ellmers winning NC-02.

[ Parent ]
MN 7 would be my top shocker
NY 25 wouldn't make my top 5.
[ Parent ]
For me it's Oberstar
I'm just stunned that district turned on him like that. Cravaack was at least a decent candidate though. If we're talking strangest upset victor, it's got to be Farenthold in TX-27.

20, CD MA-03/NH-01/MA-08
[ Parent ]
Sen. Conrad won't trade
Budget Chairmanship for Ag Chairmanship.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c...
I guess it goes to Ben Nelson, then?  Could such a thing help him considering NE loves farm subsidies and whatnot even though it didn't help Lincoln?  Well, there was that GOP poll that showed him at 50/45 approval and he hopefully has learned from Lincoln about what NOT to do to be re-elected.

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo!
So little time, so much to know!
Nope...
Debbie Stabenow got it... Strange choice, really...  Michigan has large rural areas, but they would never vote for a pro-labor Democrat.
[ Parent ]
MI
Michigan's rural areas aren't nearly as conservative as most rural areas are. Most of them are toss-up or marginally Republican. The reddest parts of the state aren't the rural areas, they are semi-urban Ottawa county (Holland) and Livingston county in exurban Detroit. They were two of just three counties in the state where McCain got as much as 55%!

http://elections.nytimes.com/2...
Click on Michigan and then click county leaders.

There is a large belt in the upper midwest where the rural areas are very moderate for some reason. This area includes Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, most of Iowa, and the eastern part of the Dakotas. MN and the Dakotas may be that way because they were settled disproportionately by Scandinavians, but that doesn't explain the other states.  

41, Ind, CA-05

[ Parent ]
Thanks
Thanks for making note of that.  Folks really don't seem to understand it.  With this election being an exception, some of the most moderate (and even some of the most blue) counties in the state are actually in the ridicuously rural Upper Peninsula.  The rural areas in the Lower Peninsula tend to be more swing districts and more conservative, but this isn't like the rural areas of the Great Plains or the South.
[ Parent ]
That's been true for quite awhile, but I think things are changing
I think that this election was the beginning of a mini-realignment in Michigan. From here on out, I think Democrats will have a much harder time winning in places like Monroe County or the non-Marquette UP. As private-sector unionization continues to decline in Michigan, these areas will move more strongly toward their natural Republican leanings.

Particularly now that a lot of the legacy and family politicians are out (the Sheltrowns, the Spades and Jim Barcia), Democrats won't have a familiar name to draw voters with, and so they'll need to run ever more conservative Democrats to compete.

[ Parent ]
Well
At least that is your fervent hope and wish.  We'll have to wait and see.  I'm not feeling or seeing a permanent realignment quite yet, but you usually can't see these things when you're in the thick of them.  I'll say that if an alignment is happening up that way, that 2010 (a presidential election where a lot more of the electorate comes out) will show a swing or realignment in West Michigan.  The American Community Survey, for instance, is now estimating that Grand Rapids proper is nearly 20% hispanic, now, and that's going to start showing up in electoral returns.  

This is the best year Republicans will have for a very long time, if you ask me.  A kind of last hurrah after the defeat of 2008.  I don't at all see this as the pre-peak of a tsunami.  The peak happened earlier in the decade, this is an aftershock.

[ Parent ]
Doubtful
The political leanings of the state haven't changed.  It was a strong Republican year where Democrats stayed home and independents went Republican.  In 2008, the opposite was true.  Michigan is a lean Democratic state, not a safe Democratic state so this is to be expected.  

I know Republicans, like yourself, want to view this election a permanent change but it's not.  Republicans won despite themselves.  People voted Republican not because they loved the GOP's message (primarily because the GOP has no message other than "we're not them") but because they were unhappy and the Dems were in charge.  It was more of an anti-Democratic election than a pro-Republican one.  

After 2008, many Democrats thought the Republican Party was obsolete...it would slowly fade away.  I heard the same about the Democratic Party after 2004 and now I'm hearing it again.  It seems people always feel invincible after a big win.

I think this realignment talk is mostly hopeful thinking.      

[ Parent ]
Moderation goes through the entire northern tier of rural areas

-- It's not like Maine is urban
-- NH is just libertarian conservative, and will be open to D appeals again when the Tea Party is crushed
-- the socialist republic of VT still has more cows than people
-- NY-23 kept its D despite the red tide in the state
-- user sacman701's explanation w/r/t rural MI, WI, MN, IA, and ND is accurate.
-- MT AFAIK is still heavily unionized, like WV without he social conservatism.
-- ID is the exception
-- Moderate Ds can do well in eastern WA

All this talk about Ds not doing well in rural areas is simply CRAP in the northern tier. For the most part, the radical right-wing bits in the tier are exurban.

[ Parent ]
Montana
It's less social-conservative than WV?

I thought a lot of people were Democrats who left the South after the Civil War.

Then again that may just been true only back about 140 years ago, and no longer true.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

[ Parent ]
It's pretty socially conservative AFAIK
Voted for a constitutional gay marriage ban 2-1 in 2004.

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/
[ Parent ]
While that hurts
Montana is historically filled with Libertarian conservatives, ala Goldwater. It's probably ripe territory for Tea Partiers, which would explain the relatively poor numbers for Tester v. Reberg.
[ Parent ]
Massachusetts too
The most Democratic part of the state, unsurprisingly, is Cambridge, but the second most Democratic area is actually the very rural West. Berkshire County generally votes Democratic at a higher percentage than Boston.

20, CD MA-03/NH-01/MA-08
[ Parent ]
Too bad
Getting Conrad out the budget chair would have been great.
[ Parent ]
Kathleen Curry Almost Held the Balance of Power
in the Colorado state legislature. She was an incumbent who ditched the Democratic party last year. Weird hijinks in state law caused her to have to run as a write-in candidate (despite not being like Murkowski, who actually ran in a party primary).

The race was down to a couple of hundred votes after Curry won a decision to count undervotes. In the end, the Democrat eked out victory and Curry conceded yesterday after deciding not to litigate further.

But if the race mentioned above went the Democrat's way and Curry had pulled out victory, the chamber would have been 32-32-1. Curry isn't very Republican policy-wise, but she is also really pissed with the Democrats. She would have been a hot commodity in that chamber.

19, Male, libertarian Republican, TX-14 and MN-04

Hickenlooper needs to start finding new jobs
for some state house GOPers.  Nip that in the bud and keep on trucking in Colorado.  It could really be the next Wisconsin and Minnesota.  Swing, but pretty reliable.  Obviously not in a swing year, although in MN we control everything we should finally except the state legislature.  Lots and lots of easy pickings though for 2012.  I bet both chambers will flip back within 4 years.
[ Parent ]
Bishop cuts the lead to 45
http://www.newsday.com/long-is...

Looks like it comes down to Brookhaven.  Which used to be a Republicans stronghold, but now seems pretty evenly divided on the local level.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...

I remember the "Crookhaven" days.


My blog
Twitter
Scribd
28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)
[ Parent ]
But don't forget
that that includes more ballot challenges from Republicans than Democrats. So Bishop is probably now in the lead, since most of those ballots will end up being counted.
[ Parent ]
Right now the challenge differential
is 211 more challenges by Altschuler, and this should bode very well for Bishop, who now trails by only 30.
[ Parent ]
Bishop up 15
reidepstein Bishop says he's now ahead by 15 votes over Altschuler in #ny01


"Where free Unions and collective bargaining is forbidden, freedom is lost." - Ronald Reagan
[ Parent ]
Excellent!!!!!!! n/t

[ Parent ]
Joe
Is Joe vying to alienate EVERY Alaskan voter?  I mean, I expect his supporters to appreciate the initial challenge to the results, but it's like he's trying to make sure he never gets elected to any office again with this stunt.  This is sore loserism on steroids.

Then again, this is the guy that praised East Germany's immigration policies and had a reporter detained for being annoying.

Really, Alaska dodged a bullet with this guy.  Joe The Miller makes Sarah Palin looked even-keeled.

Actually, Miller is secretly a Soviet
it shows because he's practicing scorched-earth tactics.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01
[ Parent ]
Iranian too
The Persians used to always used scorched-earth tactics against the Ottomans and other invaders.

19, Male, libertarian Republican, TX-14 and MN-04
[ Parent ]
Didn't
the Persians get conquered by the Ottomans anyway? Though I wouldn't doubt the Persians used scorched earth tactics because they were able to resist the Roman Empire (which was an achievement in itself) for centuries until Islamic armies from Arabia conquered them and most of the Byzantine Empire's (Eastern Roman Empire) territories in Asia and Africa. Ah the joys of ancient military history....

19, Male, Independent, CA-12
[ Parent ]
Not Quite
They had border wars for a few centuries but the Ottomans eventually gained the upper hand and generally controlled modern-day Iraq. However, the Ottomans never held what would today be considered Iran, save for small portions of it.

19, Male, libertarian Republican, TX-14 and MN-04
[ Parent ]
Murkowski-Miller gives me pause
I just don't know what to think about the far-far right.  As someone who dislikes Republican politics more than I like Democrats, it is entertaining to see food fights like Murkowski-Miller, Laudon-Angle, O'Donnell-Castle, McMahon-Shays and on and on.

However, the far right did win several elections--Rubio, Paul and Toomey--and a whole host of House seats.  Part of me wants to see the far right take control of the Republican Party and run its brand off the map, but the damage they might do to the country could be huge.  Obviously, I'd rather see a Sen. Castle than O'Donnell or Murkowski over Miller.  The same holds for the Presidential nomination--if Sara Palin goes ahead with running for president, she would be the weakest opponent for Obama.  However, if she got the nomination and the country remained in a super-sour mood, she might win.  I don't want that by any means.  

So, fellow SSP readers, what do you think?

Perfectly described
I feel exactly the same way. While the schadenfreude of the Republicans self-destructing by trying to run a slate of unqualified, off-the-rails, hard-right candidates, as they did in dark-blue states like Delaware and New York as well as light-blue states like Nevada and Colorado, is a delicious prospect, I think it'd be much better for the country if the GOP dealt with its crisis of conscience next year and came into the 2012 election cycle with a "big tent" of candidates running the spectrum from Wayne Gilchrist to Erick Erickson rather than a slew of Junior DeMints and anti-intellectual Palinites.

As a left-tending independent, I think we'd be a lot stronger as a nation with fewer Nancy Pelosis and more Sam Rayburns, fewer John Boehners and more Connie Morellas, fewer Jan Brewers and more Tom McCalls, fewer Jim Doyles and more Brian Schweitzers, fewer Jim DeMints and more Mark Hatfields, fewer Chuck Schumers and more George Mitchells. I want to see the center of the country shift to the left, particularly on social and environmental issues, but I also want to feel like I have a choice to make on Election Day. If we're going to have two parties, I'd like them to be adult enough to hold dialogues. They're our elected representatives, and we the majority want them to work together on our behalf.

20, center-left independent, Auckland Central resident, MD-05 voter, OR-01 native

[ Parent ]
Absolutely
Great post!
[ Parent ]
Hmmm...
I'm not sure I liked seeing the food-fight, at all.  When someone has solidly to the right as Lisa Murkowski gets called a "liberal" not be some conspiracy theory fringe, but by actual party leaders and serious opponents, I wonder.

I hope 2010 puts to rest the false equivalency that "both sides are equally crazy" meme.  Democrats acutally have a moderate wing, and not just one in name, but an honest-to-goodness formal caucus in the United States House of Representatives.  This party doesn't march in lock step.  It drives liberals like myself crazy, but again, I hope this puts to rest the BS that the craziness is anywhere near evenly spread across our political spectrum.  It's not, period.

[ Parent ]
It won't put the false equivalency to rest
And I think you know that.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  
[ Parent ]
Of course I know that
It was rhetorical musing, obviously.  I don't know how you didn't see that.
[ Parent ]
On some policies, a Democrat may want a Miller over a Murkowski
I have seen several interviews where Joe Miller has gone after the "neo-cons", even in a debate if I remember right. I have a feeling he would be one of those Republicans who would be somewhat anti-war. We already have Coburn who has been railing on Afghanistan and I think Mike Lee and Rand Paul will probably follow suit. A block of 4 conservative Republicans advocating for defense cuts in the Senate may have been very interesting.

19, Male, libertarian Republican, TX-14 and MN-04
[ Parent ]
I'm seeing a SpringBoardAmerica.com banner ad on another site
that says "Should Pelosi resign?  Yes or no?"

Anyone know if this site is legit, or another opinion-pushing site like Newsmax?

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

SSP Daily Digest: 11/19 | 92 comments

Copyright 2003-2010 Swing State Project LLC

Primary Sponsor

You're not running for second place. Is your website? See why Campaign Engine is ranked #1 in software and support among Progressive-only Internet firms. http://www.mediamezcla.com/

Menu

Make a New Account

Username:

Password:



Forget your username or password?

About the Site

Publisher: DavidNYC

Senior Editor: James L.

Senior Editor: Crisitunity

Contributing Editor: Jeffmd

Search the SSP archives:

SSP Resources

Presidential Vote by CD

SSP Document Collection

Race Tracker Wiki

Dave's Redistricting App

Blogroll

Daily Kos Elections
DemConWatch
Five Thirty Eight
Governing
Hotline On Call
Political Wire
Pollster.com
Prop*50
Public Policy Polling
The Thicket
Powered by: SoapBlox