The Senate races again. More interesting than the presidential race
Tennessee:
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Mark Clayton, in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, calls for an investigation into whether state Democratic Chairman Chip Forrester “and other Tennessee Democratic Party bosses” violated the federal Voting Rights Act by disavowing his win in the Aug. 2 primary.
The letter suggests that, since many minority voters supported Clayton in the primary, the impact of their votes was compromised by the disavowal of Clayton as the party nominee, which Forrester has said was based on Clayton’s membership in an “anti-gay hate group” and other “extremist views.”
The Democratic nominee was joined in signing the letter by Bishop Felton M. Smith, senior pastor of New Covenant Fellowship Church of God in Christ in Nashville, according to an email from Clayton. According to Internet media reports, Smith previously joined a group of black ministers opposing re-election of President Obama because of his support for same-sex marriage.
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Mark Clayton, in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, calls for an investigation into whether state Democratic Chairman Chip Forrester “and other Tennessee Democratic Party bosses” violated the federal Voting Rights Act by disavowing his win in the Aug. 2 primary.
The letter suggests that, since many minority voters supported Clayton in the primary, the impact of their votes was compromised by the disavowal of Clayton as the party nominee, which Forrester has said was based on Clayton’s membership in an “anti-gay hate group” and other “extremist views.”
The Democratic nominee was joined in signing the letter by Bishop Felton M. Smith, senior pastor of New Covenant Fellowship Church of God in Christ in Nashville, according to an email from Clayton. According to Internet media reports, Smith previously joined a group of black ministers opposing re-election of President Obama because of his support for same-sex marriage.
Mark Clayton is full of crap here. The political party organizations can behave as they will to their candidates. But he does have one salient point. The next Democratic candidate who wins statewide, or even does reasonably well statewide, will — functionally speaking — be positioned right where Mark Clayton is on social issues. The difference might be rhetorical — though that is difference enough in voting. But even there, he just slides right next to someone like Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma — “Lesbian epidemic in Southeast Oklahoma bathrooms”.
The thing I watch in a Senate race like this one… the election map. Will it deviate from Partisan norm? The answer, if past indications are predicative, is “no”. Bob Kelleher’s performance — the perenail candidate who won Montana’s Republican Senate nomination and was “more socialist than the alleged Socialist in the Senate” — had a map that was a pale shadow of the top ticket result — against “corporate Democrat” Max Baucus. The same was true of the Bircher Democrat Bob Conley who won the South Carolina Democratic nomination against the next Tea Party target Lindsey Graham.
Missouri. The New Republic offers a fluffer-ish piece on Claire McCaskill’s strategy. It’s not without insight, though. It asks the provocative question of whether she’s blowing it, and answers “no”. Because even as her [hand-picked] opponenty made an extreme and biologically nonsensical comment about Abortion — she cannot be identified as an Abortion crusader. So there she is, campaigning as “#50” in the National Journal rankings. A one-dimensional tracking that will throw away any Kucinich — Paul alliance. The New Republic article only hints around the edges of the trouble with this strategy — it would be one thing if she can pioint to some big compromise she brokered, but mostly we just end up with someone not sticking her neck out, staking some oppositional positions, and cruising out the status quo. But hey! She’s not extreme!
North Dakota. So, this New York Times article on Democratic candidate Heidi Heitkamp’s “nice act” is getting this quote out there.
“Everyone’s pretty likable,†Mr. Berg said with a shrug. “The issue is not about a personality contest. This whole thing kind of boils down to, do you want someone who’s going to fight against President Obama.â€
Yeah, speak for your opponent. There is a gender dynamic at play here, and I can’t help but be reminded of Todd Akin’s quote on McCaskill — that McCaskill was more “lady-like” in her 2006 campaign. Whether true or not, and I can easily imagine that was part of McCaskill’s strategy in 2006 where in 2012 she is by nature running a more negative campaign — Heidi Heitkamp is in the same position and if she wins, her re-election campaign in 2018 would necessarily be more negative.
Montana. So here’s Jon Tester. He is turning out the base with his association with 90s era Seattle rock bands — he was Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam fame’s music teacher in the small town of Big Sandy. And so they play for him. And we get this while we’re at it.
Maybe Jon Tester’s supporters on the University of Montana campus inMissoula Sunday afternoon grew confused, thinking rock group Drowning Pool would play a concert for the senator later that night.
That group’s signature track — Let the bodies hit the floor — most accurately describes what happened to a Republican tracker just prior to a Tester midday rally Sunday.
Just a few weeks after Republican Senate challenger Denny Rehberg delivered a one-fingered salute to a Democratic tracker in Washington, D.C., a GOP tracker claimed Tester supporters shoved him to the ground during a rally with Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament.
To be sure, the tracker, a campaign lackey given a cheap video camera, was asserting a very aggressive front, appearing to bump into the small armada of Tester campaign workers who circled Tester and Ament as they shuffled to the rally stage.
Drowing Pool? Wait. Is Puddles of Mud going to put in an appearance?
Having fired up the base, Jon Tester can now make his pitch to the general electorate and swing vote in the state, and … emphasize beef.
Having fired up the base, Jon Tester can now make his pitch to the general electorate and swing vote in the state, and … emphasize beef.
Massachusetts. The big debate performances for the one Republican trying to run as “#5o” presents two moments of note. One was a killer for Scott Brown, he flummoxed on the question of fravorite Supreme Court Justice and basically ended up saying that he likes them all. And Elizabeth Warren laughed. The second item, after this Scott Brown almost certainly rehearsed and planned — “I’m not a student in your classroom.” It’s to highlight Warren as an elitist. But it didn’t quite have the punch Scott Brown needs, I’m afraid — he failed to get in the fact that he drives a pick-up truck.
Nebraska. Steve Martin endorses Bob Kerrey. Cool. Since this election is so far gone for Kerrey, he might as well have fun with it.
Generally speaking, the Senate picture looks good for the Democrats. States like Wisconsin the Republicans can’t gain traction, states like Arizona the Democrats are picking up steam. But, I suppose, the supposed fall-out of Obama’s poor debate will weigh things down — until everyone forgets about it which seems to have happened today with Obama now touting a good jobs report with the world moving forward and the Democrats ceasing to panic as much — Mondale won the first debate against Reagan, after all. Interesting race dynamics down-ticket… depends a lot on how things go up-ticket… conventional wisdom is Romney back in it and conventional wisdom will probably fade.