democrat

Bad Signs For Specter

It looks like Arlen Specter could end up being out of a job:

Incumbent Senator Arlen Specter trails former Congressman Pat Toomey by 21 points in an early look at Pennsylvania’s 2010 Republican Primary. Fifty-one percent (51%) of Republican voters statewide say they’d vote for Toomey while just 30% would support Specter.

If Toomey wins then the Democrat running will have a strong advantage, and possibly be the next Senator from Pennsylvania. It’s really a bad sign for the GOP when they are pushing out moderates left and right. Before long they will be a party entirely of Dick Cheneys, and we know how much the country liked him.

The Need For Two Parties

If you been following my blog for awhile you know that I take the demise of the GOP very seriously. Sure they are fun to pick on and its funny to watch, but our democracy is reliant upon a two party system to enact a system of checks and balances. That very ideal is in jeopardy due to the actions of the GOP and its something our nation should be discussing.

Well it turns out I am not the only one holding that view. Last night Ed Rendell and Rachel Maddow were both echoing their concerns over the very same thing.

Instead of working to become relevant and opening their party up to a wider array of views, the RNC is wasting their times with childish games like asking the Democratic Party to change their name to the Democrat Socialist Party. Barack Obama said last year that we have entered the “silly season” in politics. The Republicans seem contempt on extending that season indefinitely.

I sincerely hope that the RNC gets someone in there of rational mind to worry about the parties goals and message, instead of wanting to play games that would be found in a school yard. As it stands right now the Republicans are risking a long life in the abyss.

Coleman Helping Franken Win!

Norm Coleman sued and that ended up giving Franken a bigger lead than before:

Democrat Al Franken today extended his lead over Republican Norm Coleman in Minnesota's U.S. Senate election, after the counting of about 350 formerly rejected absentee ballots this morning.

Franken captured 198 of the ballots, while Coleman took 111. The ballots added 87 votes to Franken’s recount lead, enlarging his margin over Coleman to 312.

The result makes it even more likely that, barring an unforeseen circumstance, Franken will prevail in the election lawsuit that Coleman filed in January to contest the Democrat's 225-vote recount lead. The three-judge panel presiding over the case has not said when it will issue a final decision.

Of course the Republican still hate democracy and will continue to deprive the citizens of Minnesota from their full representation in the U.S. Senate. At this point Franken should be certified and seated. If the courts rule something else down the road, then fine, make a switch, but right now the only ones suffering from this are the people of Minnesota.

If NY-20 Is A Test For Obama

Then the special election held in Louisiana yesterday for the state senate district 16 seat, had to be a test for Bobby Jindhal. And guess what? He lost – big time:

Baton Rouge lawyer Dan Claitor beat businessman and fellow Republican Lee Domingue — the candidate with Gov. Bobby Jindal’s backing — to win the state Senate District 16 seat in Saturday’s special election.

Claitor garnered 11,713 or 66 percent of the vote to Domingue’s 6,114 or 34 percent, based on complete but unofficial election returns.

Compare that to the NY-20 race, which is still going back and forth by a handful of votes.

There is a really good rundown of the results over at MyDD. I can’t wait to hear how Republicans attempt to spin this. So we have all our ducks in a row, here’s where we stand:

Chris Murphy is ahead, but very slightly in NY-20, which is a very conservative district. To the Republicans this is a sign of a rebuttal of Obama’s agenda.
A Democrat beats out a Republican endorsed by the state’s Republican Governor in Louisiana. Also this occurred in a very conservative district. Oh and that governor is supposed to be one of the front runners for the GOP in 2012.

So if NY-20 was a rebuttal of Obama, then we can only describe what happened in Louisiana as a flat out kicking to the curb of the GOP’s 2012 hope. There is no other way to describe this, but I’m sure the GOP will have some great spin to put on it in the coming days.

LIAR!

So the man coined as the next Ronald Reagan by Rush Limbaugh lied to the American people in his national debut:

Jindal had described being in the office of Sheriff Harry Lee "during Katrina," and hearing him yelling into the phone at a government bureaucrat who was refusing to let him send volunteer boats out to rescue stranded storm victims, because they didn't have the necessary permits. Jindal said he told Lee, "that's ridiculous," prompting Lee to tell the bureaucrat that the rescue effort would go ahead and he or she could arrest both Lee and Jindal.

But now, a Jindal spokeswoman has admitted to Politico that in reality, Jindal overheard Lee talking about the episode to someone else by phone "days later." The spokeswoman said she thought Lee, who died in 2007, was being interviewed about the incident at the time.

Smooth move Republicans. So your golden boy lied about a story. Not only did he lie, but let’s look at that story again:

Defending Bobby – A Survival Guide For The GOP

Again, I am writing this as a life long Democrat, but a Democrat who cherishes our need for opposing ideas in order to provide the best for our nation.

Part of the Republicans biggest problem is their ego, which I mentioned in my previous post.

I think another example of this can be seen in Bobby Jindal. So much attention has been given to him for the response Tuesday night that we seem to have forgotten the simple fact that it is the Republican response, not the Bobby Jindal response. He was just the messenger. Now we see Republicans and conservatives throwing Bobby under the bus for delivering the message of the RNC.

Perhaps that should send up the warning flags. You take away the big crowds and enthusiastic speaker, you are pretty much left with nothing. That’s what the voters have seen for the past four years and why the Republicans have been getting slammed at the polls.

I too have been lost in the “laugh at Bobby” mentality engulfing our country, but then I realized that it isn’t just Bobby, but the GOP as a whole. Perhaps that’s why Rush Limbaugh went on a rampage yesterday against any Republican criticizing Jindal.

So what should the Republicans do now? Well first off they need to declare war – a war on people like Limbaugh. It doesn’t have to be nasty, but these people need to realize that if the Republican Party is to survive that they need to entertain a wider range of ideas and philosophies. Destroying their own party because some people don’t agree with them isn’t the answer to regaining majority status, but rather the prescription for denying it. If they don’t do this then the GOP is no longer a party, but rather a special interest group.

The Road To 60 Reopens

And by a crafty political move. Reports are that Obama is considering appointing Sen. Judd Gregg (R-HN) to become the Commerce Secretary. New Hampshire’s governor would then have to appoint a replacement for Gregg and the governor just so happens to be a Democrat. What a move and one I don’t think anyone saw coming.

Take A Hint Norm!

No one wants you to be senator anymore!

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Monday rejected Republican Norm Coleman's request to count an additional 654 rejected absentee ballots in his weeks-old Senate showdown with Democrat Al Franken.

The ruling clears the way for the state Canvassing Board to certify results showing Franken the winner after the Supreme Court said the issue is best settled in a post-count lawsuit.

Coleman's attorneys have said they're likely to sue if he loses the recount, meaning it could be weeks more before the outcome is final.

Al Franken is now a Senator. Republicans need to stop dragging their feet, walking with their chins on their chests and allow Franken to be seated. Or is it the Republicans are willing to let one of our states go without full representation into the next Congress?

My Big Prediction For 2009

This will be the first year that we have a Democrat in the White House in the modern blogging age, and with that I do have a rather dire prediction. As the year progresses and we start seeing exactly how soon to be President Obama governs, some of the groups and organizations we all cherished for their work these past several years will quickly turn into something we can’t understand, maybe even bordering on entering the wingnut-o-sphere.

I predict this will start when/if Obama decides to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan. People quickly forget the key points of campaigns, and bloggers are no exception. We will hear a big out cry from some bloggers screaming that Obama is breaking campaign promises on Afghanistan, when in fact he will be doing exactly what he said.

As these groups transcend the depths, teetering on being progressive or just noise makers, make no mistake that they have some underlying drives to do so. One of the biggest is greed. We haven’t had a Democrat in the White House since blogging became an actual business and the sudden explosion of PACs. Don’t be confused on the greed though, a lot of it won’t be tied to money. Instead what we will see is a lot of greed tied to recognition and traffic. If you follow the blogosphere as closely as I do you can see this already evident, and a lot of blogs, which have transformed into a sole source of income, already fight for the almighty click. Clicks do lead to money also in the world of online advertising.

Martinez Out In 2010

He failed at running the RNC and has failed at being a senator:

U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, who has struggled to boost his approval ratings because of close ties to President George W. Bush, announced Tuesday he will not seek a second term in 2010.

His seat was widely seen as vulnerable in two years, but Martinez, a Republican, rejected suggestions he faced difficult re-election prospects in a state won last month by Democrat Barack Obama.

Martinez doesn’t think he has an approval rating problem, although he is stuck at 42%. Maybe he is quitting to spend time with his failures?

Congratulations Wayne

I got to take a minute and acknowledge someone who helped get my interest in politics some 20 years ago. Wayne Coates has won Hamilton County Recorder after the votes were recounted.

When Wayne Coates got the news Monday that he’d won the election for Hamilton County recorder, he exclaimed a word not fit for print.

“I said, ‘What? You’re kidding me,” he said. “Well, I didn’t use ‘kidding.’ ”

Coates has reason to be surprised. After the votes were totaled on election night, the Democrat had apparently lost by about 3,000 votes to Republican incumbent Rebecca Prem Groppe.

Yet, after the Hamilton County Board of Elections’ official count, which included all the provisional votes and late absentee votes, Coates was declared the winner by about 2,500 votes.

Hamilton County has always been a Republican stronghold, but it looks like that is starting to change. The status quo of Republican leadership just isn’t cutting it anymore. Now if we can get the tidal wave to move a county north to where I live.

The Truth Hurts

Booman hits a tone of truthiness that won’t sit well with the blogosphere:

James Kirchick likes to crow about how the Netroots don't matter. There are a few former (Republican and Democrat) office holders that might beg to differ. But, Kirchick is right about one thing. If Obama listened to the Netroots' advice all the time he wouldn't be president-elect. However, the FISA bill is not one of those examples. The FISA vote was excessive and unnecessary caution and it was Obama's biggest mistake. Having said that, he generally ignored the Netroots' advice and, for the most part, he was wise to do so. He ran a far smarter and more disciplined campaign than I could have ever dreamed up.

(emphasis added – h/t Cesca)

I blogged about this during the campaign season. Countless influential blogs on our side were complaining that Obama wasn’t going negative enough. Some even called donating to Obama “a waste of money” and came close to writing off his whole campaign because of this. Well Obama ignored those bloggers and ended up winning. When asked about negative ads, people overwhelmingly thought that McCain was much more negative than Obama.

Further Down The Tubes

tubes Poor Ted Stevens:

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens dropped further behind Democrat Mark Begich in his re-election bid Tuesday as the convicted felon's 85th birthday became a grueling wait that could determine whether his decades-long hold on power is over.

The longest-serving Republican in the history of the Senate trailed the Anchorage mayor by 2,374 votes out of 290,198 counted as election officials continued tallying absentee and other ballots. Begich had led by about 1,000 votes before Tuesday's count.

Things are looking very good for Begich. Every time new numbers come out of Alaska, he moves further out in the lead.

Jim Martin Gets An Assist From The Big Dog

Bill Clinton was the last Democrat to win Georgia, so it’s fitting that he heads on down there and campaigns for Jim Martin. Well that’s exactly what he is going to do:

Former President Bill Clinton will headline a rally for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jim Martin on Wednesday, the candidate’s campaign announced Saturday. Clinton is the first big name Democrat to stump for Martin in his Dec. 2 runoff battle with Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

There has been a lot of talk that Obama should go down there and campaign. I haven’t been on that side of the argument. I think Obama has a rather full plate right now. I’m sure if he could find the time to do it, then he would, but there is also a huge security risk now that he is President-elect Obama. I also think Bill will give Martin every bit as much of a boost as Obama in Georgia.

Saxby Chambliss – Above the Law?

Saxby Chambliss has just given Democrats some good ammo for the run-off:

Saxby Chambliss is resisting an order to give evidence in a lawsuit by families of victims killed or hurt in the Imperial Sugar Co. explosions and fire earlier this year.

The U.S. senator was subpoenaed last month on behalf of four victims - two dead and two injured - of the Feb. 7 Port Wentworth inferno that claimed the lives of 14 workers and hospitalized scores of others.

The conduct of Chambliss concerning the disaster has developed into an issue in his re-election campaign against Democrat Jim Martin. The incumbent outpolled Martin and a third candidate on Nov. 4 but failed to win a majority. Chambliss now faces runner-up Martin in a Dec. 2 runoff.

Savannah attorney Mark Tate, who issued the subpoena, said the Republican lawmaker tried to talk some of Tate's clients out of suing Imperial Sugar.

Through his attorneys, Chambliss has said that as a U.S. senator, he does not have to comply with the subpoena.

So because Chambliss is a Senator he doesn’t have to testify? That’s the biggest line of bull I have ever read. This shows that Chambliss is out to abuse his position and something Jim Martin can really hit on. Imagine losing your loved ones in a tragedy like this, only to be called by a U.S. Senator and told “hey don’t try to seek damages”. I smell the birth of a hard hitting political ad here.