Posted on 05/19/2010 4:35:30 PM PDT by MissesBush
Republicans who were already planning their Nancy Pelosi retirement galas for November may want to cancel the caterer. The GOP lost the most important election that was held on Tuesday, and if it fails to learn from the experience the party will lose in the autumn too.
The GOP lost the one race in which a seat in Congress was up for grabs, the contest to replace the late Jack Murtha in the 12th House district in southwestern Pennsylvania. John McCain had carried the seat with 49% of the vote in 2008, President Obama's approval rating was well below 40%, and the national party poured about $1 million into the contest. Yet Republican businessman Tim Burns was crushed by former Murtha aide Mark Critz, 53% to 45%. In a swing district in what is supposed to be a Republican year, that's embarrassing.
What happened? One obvious lesson is that Democrats aren't about to go down without a fight. Mr. Critz was able to use his ties to Murtha to rally his union base and prevail in a low-turnout election. Republicans who were counting on their voters to be more enthusiastic should be concerned that too many stayed home when it counted. Democrats have been reading for months that their majority is in peril, and Tuesday's results showed that they know how to motivate and get out their vote.
Republicans also got outsmarted on message. The GOP's made-in-Washington strategy was to "nationalize" the race by stressing Mr. Critz's Beltway ties and linking him to the Obama agenda on health care, cap and trade, and runaway spending. One problem: Mr. Critz said he was against all of that stuff too. The national Republicans ran TV ads playing up Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Obama, neither of whom were on the ballot.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Lessons- don’t raise expectations too high and don’t take anything for granted.
I never considered Murtha’s old seat to be a “swing” seat. It has historically be very Dem leaning seat. But point taken about having to fight for seats and not taking anything for granted.
Critz ran to the Right of Rush Limbaugh and was not called on it. Sadly, he will take his marching orders from Pelosi when he reaches DC. (They will allow him, however, to oppose when they have enough votes without him, a la Stupak.) The 2-1 Dim voter ratio was stupid enough to reelect Murtha after he insulted them repeatedly. How can we expect them to learn?
There's the lesson in a nustshell.
Will the GOP learn? Probably not.
If nothing else it’s giving Democrats a strategy to try and follow in the fall, especially for those candidates trying to retain the seats of retiring Democrats. Time will tell if it works.
Good point Plumres. The Democratic turnout for the primary surely helped Critz. And by November, Critz will have a voting record to defend. My bet is he’ll be just like all the other “Blue Dog Democrats,” more like lapdog Democrats.
Can you say Greece redux?
Yada, yada. Critz ran to the right of Atilla the Hun, in a 2-1 Dem/Rep district. We're coming mofos.......
The post is BS..the district is 2 to 1 democrat to GOP voters...
Anyone who expected another result was deluded...
RINO,Race Baiting STEELEand his detestable”Team” in the RNC strikes OUT again! Remember Scott Brown and Chris Christie and the Virginia Governor made sure they kept STEELE and “HIS” RNC a Million Miles away from each of their Campaigns! This is a Big Warning! District 12’s Loss is a Horrendous Screwup on the part of the RNC and the Candidate!
the pubs must stand for something....a balanced budget ammendment for instance....
Lessions from the rout? Is the WSJ serious? The RATs hold that district by a 2:1 margin but still the margin of victory was much closer than that margin! Moreover Critz won by adopting a much more conservative tone! All this ignores the fact he will only be serving until November. By then the Tea Party movement will only have grown stronger.
The one thing the voters in No. 12 will find out is that Critz will not automatically assume all the powers and privileges his former boss had. He’s not going to be able to bring those costly taxpayer funded boondoggles, such as an airport no one uses to an area consisting of cow pasture and mines. Critz will be nothing more than a junior congressman. Maybe he’ll get a position on the House Dog Catcher Committee, but that’s about it.
Perhaps when it turns out that Critz can’t spend all that much money on unions and useless projects as Murtha had done in the past, the people might be inclined to pitch him out in November.
I say screw this district. It's just one district out of 435. Let the clowns have their pork and their Rat candidates and be misled by Democrats.
The lesson I learned: Americans will continue to vote for “More Free Stuff from the Government”, over and over again, until the day when the Government’s checks are no longer cashable.
Burns was a poor candidate, and unfortunately, Republicans are stuck with him again in November.
I think the lesson for the GOP establishment is: “you’re not wanted.” I don’t know what they’re going to constructively do with that. Unfortunately, they’re not going to roll over and embrace Main Street and the Tea Parties. Michael Steele and the RINOs aren’t going to see the handwriting on the wall and go quietly.
The lesson is we need good candidates, and the RNC under Steele, and the NRSC under Cornyn are not the ones to recruit them. It is up to the citizens and the Tea Parties. These are the candidates that will win, and they will not only take back our government, but also take back the Republican party. The Washington establishment and the GOP establishment are in bed together, and we’re going to break up their incestuous relationship for good.
We’ll win some and we’ll lose some.
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