Posted on 06/07/2006 4:29:09 PM PDT by Western Civ 4ever
Any trends in these election results?
A good day for scions -- Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey, George Wallace Jr. in Alabama, Chet Culver in Iowa...
A mixed day for celebrity candidates -- Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore defeated for governor; Rob Reiner's pre-school initiative in California stomped like a narc at a biker rally....but Jerry Brown rises from the ashes of Oakland to win the Democratic party's nomination for California Attorney General.
But what about the so-called bellwether???
No big great news for Democrats in California's special election to replace convicted criminal Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-CA. In an era where Democrats are trying to tar the Republicans with the "culture of corruption," San Diegans voted for a congressman-turned lobbyist, Brian Bilbray, over Francine Busby, who seriously hobbled her chances with an ill-conceived gaffe that made it sound as if she were urging illegal immigrants to vote for her.
Crowed Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-NY, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, "National Democrats did not discover their shockwave in San Diego. National Democrats must come to terms with the fact that momentum for the midterm elections will not materialize simply because they preordain it in the media or because they ask their special interest friends to buy it for them. The results in San Diego show that nothing has happened to alter the notion that House elections are about a choice between local personalities focused on local issues."
Indeed, in the Democrats' eagerness to make 2006 a leftward repeat of the 1994 Republican revolution, they pushed the idea that this specific special election would be a bellwether election. As of now, the only bellwether notion is whether the Democrats can screw up what should be a remarkably hospitable election climate.
Whether Busby's misguided statements before a Latino crowd -- "Everybody can help, yeah, absolutely, you can all help. You don't need papers for voting, you don't need to be a registered voter to help" -- becomes a bellwether for further Democratic political malpractice is another question altogether.
One relative bright note for Democrats -- Montana Democrats selected a candidate without any apparent ethical clouds over his head to take on Sen. Conrad Burns, R-MT, who has Abramoff issues of his own.
In the Democratic Senate primary, state Senate President Jon Tester walloped State Auditor John Morrison. Morrison had been favored, had been something of the establishment candidate, had raised almost twice as much as Tester, but during the campaign it emerged Morrison had an affair with a woman whose fiancé was later investigated by Morrion's office (though Morrison claimed his inappropriate relationship had nothing to do with the probe).
That mess would have made it tough for the Democrats to take on Burns over any alleged improprieties of his own; Democrats dodged that bullet.
One of the bright lights of our political unit, Teddy Davis, notes that House Democrats are planning to roll out their version of the Contract with America later this year...
It's catchy (?) title -- "Six in 'o6"....
It's a legislative agenda that includes:
(1) a minimum wage increase;
(2) repealing the portion of the Medicare prescription drug law that prevents Medicare from negotiating for lower drug prices;
(3) implementing all of the 9/11 Commission’s homeland security recommendations;
(4) reinstating pay-as-you-go budget rules;
(5) making college more affordable; and
(6) a sixth plank that has not yet been settled upon.
"It’s expected that House Democratic candidates would stage some kind of television-friendly signing ceremony as Newt Gingrich and House Republicans did in 1994," Teddy writes me. "House Democrats are expected to pledge to pass all six items their first week in power."
I love both the Book of Revelations feel to the "6 in '06" motto, not to mention the "To Be Determined" principle #6.
-- jt
Now that's a winning campaign theme if I ever heard one.
What? No pony?
This one sounds appealing, until you read the fine print...
A bellwether is just a castrated ram.
*
How many dims did it take to come up with this dead fish?
They are probably fighting over whether to push gun control or gay "marriage." Now those are winning issues!
That is the single best response I've seen in a long time.
That's a pathetic agenda. PATHETIC!
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