WISCONSIN
There is a story of a man who was elected Senator from Wisconsin in 1946 after beating a name synonomous with the term “Progressivism” — the third generation Bob Follette.  Follette was beaten, in a Republican Year that brought into the Congress a whole slew of right wing Republicans – one of whom would survive for a quarter century by re-creating his identity several times (Nixon) and others be washed out by at the latest the Democratic landslide of 1958.  Follette picked his fight in the Republican Party, despite Democratic entreaties.   The Conservative “Stalwart” wing of the Republican party kept alive through the long duration of Follette, and were chomping at the bit to finally defeat the Follettes once and for all, and found their candidate in a man who had eyed combat duty in the War as a pre-requisite for a political future, and whose Combat Duty became more and more impressive every time he spoke of it.  (Shades of Mark Kirk in Illinois, shades of Hillary Clinton’s Bosnian Snipers, to a lesser extent shades of Richard Blumenthal in Connecticut.)
Joseph McCarthy entered the Senate considered something of a moderate, based off of the company of the Republican Class whom with he entered.  Not in his character, and besides, the financial interests that backed him was a whos who of wealthy reactionaries — Robert Welch , for instance.

You know it’s true:

BP and several other big European companies are funding the midterm election campaigns of Tea Party favourites who deny the existence of global warming or oppose Barack Obama’s energy agenda, the Guardian has learned.

An analysis of campaign finance by Climate Action Network Europe (Cane) found nearly 80% of campaign donations from a number of major European firms were directed towards senators who blocked action on climate change. These included incumbents who have been embraced by the Tea Party such as Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, and the notorious climate change denier James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma.

The report, released tomorrow, used information on the Open Secrets.org database to track what it called a co-ordinated attempt by some of Europe’s biggest polluters to influence the US midterms. It said: “The European companies are funding almost exclusively Senate candidates who have been outspoken in their opposition to comprehensive climate policy in the US and candidates who actively deny the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and is caused by people.”

Ron Johnson is, theoretically, self-financed.  But with the roving this:
The anonymously financed conservative groups that have played such a crucial role this campaign year are starting a carefully coordinated final push to deliver control of Congress to Republicans, shifting money among some 80 House races they are monitoring day by day.

To guage some conservative talk radio hosts, the great shot against Feingold is McCain Feingold, which by now has been shot to Hell.
DeMint is an interesting figure here.  He once said that he’d rather be in a sub-40 minority with solid Conservatives than a majority with moderates.  The strategy he espouses, as much as anything else, is putting Feingold on the defensive, as it has floated the required vote total up to the 60 mark.  Consider his proper misgivings about voting on the Health Care Reform measure, which came to the wire of “Either this or nothing”, and bound him to Obama and the Democratic Party.

KENTUCKY.
One more thought on the paranoid Alex Jones “all hands on deck against the NWO” view on behalf of Rand Paul’s “Aqua Buddha”:

Imagine if such an incident came out about, say for instance, Bush or Kerry involving Skull and Bones (or Bohemian Grove for that matter).  One college secret society and its antics show the degneracy of the Establishment, the other not so much — its “victims”‘s words suspect, and its mission one of tweaking at the Establishment.

Alaska:  Joe Miller went and did it.  He pulled a Christine O’Donnell. 
The reason Alaskans will pass over some prior past misdeeds is because they’ll “get to understand that, hey, they’re electing somebody like them”.
Also, Ben Stein endorses Lisa Murkowski and blasts Joe Miller.
You know, Scott McAdams is actually on the ballot and more likely to get his name counted.
But I guess anti-Miller Republicans in the heavily Republican state need somewhere to go.  Better write her name in — gives a second chance to defeat a crank.

Oregon.  The Weekly Standard talks up Doug Huffman.
No word on the “What’s the Matter with Maryland” question.  Why aren’t all of the Democratic races everywhere up for grabs?
About the governor’s race… and the ads back and forth are characteristically hilarious in their dual schizophrenia… I think Kitzhaber is coming up to a victory based off a simple premise — Oregonian voters have taken stock of Chris Dudley, and can’t find an answer to the simple, basic question of “Huh?”

Arizona.  Look at the Nate Silver 538 chart for the Governor’s race.  See if you can spot where Jan Brewer amped up her campaigning on Illegal Immigration.

Colorado.  That’s swell of Ken Buck.  I’m sure the mother of the gay teen welcomes this clarificaction.
Nevada.  Thanks for the clarification, Sharron Angle.
“I think that you’re misinterpreting those commercials,” she said. “I’m not sure that those are Latinos in that commercial. What it is, is a fence, and there are people coming across that fence.” Her point was that the men could in fact be Asian, because dark is dark. No word yet on how the Asian voters of Nevada feel about being depicted as coyotes, but we’re staying tuned.

The “Going all in electioneering” nature of the Alex Jones land for Rand Paul continues, and accelerates as Election Day approaches.  So we get every stupid twist and turn on this election featured, with glowing pictures of Rand Paul  in the headline image rotation.  So they approach this headline:

BILL CLINTON!!!
The Democratic establishment is pulling out the big guns in an all out effort to prevent Rand Paul from becoming a Kentucky senator this November by dispatching former president Bill Clinton to campaign for Paul’s opponent Jack Conway on the eve of the election.
Don’t feel so special, guys.  We understand Obama as going to various places to excite the base, so he touched down for a rally in Portland and in California.  There is no Obama base in Kentucky.  Obama was scorched in the primary by 40 points.  So goes Clinton.
See also into the Congressional District of one Heath Shuler. 
I don’t think “Tea Party Express Token Democrat” Idaho Walt Minnick is getting either one.  Though, that endorsement is over.  He’s not going full tilt on the “Repeal” buzz word.:
You may have heard the news that the Tea Party Express today endorsed Raul Labrador, after first endorsing Minnick, who declined the endorsement, and who rebuffed attempts by TPX to get him to reconsider.   Those are the first words in a press release from the Walt Minnick campaign.  They also asked if the voters were confused by the Tea Party Express endorsement.
This puzzles me a bit.  Not that they’d endorse Minnick, but that Minnick would be in a position to “Decline the Endorsement”.  If an organization endorses you, can’t you do whatever you want with it — including literally piece on a piece of paper with the endorsement — and not be considered “declining” it.

As for Paul and Clinton.
The establishment has crucified Rand Paul for his tangential involvement in a harmless and consensual college prank for weeks because, unlike alleged rapist Clinton, who they defended to the hilt, Rand Paul represents a serious threat to the status quo and has become the de facto voice of the Tea Party – that’s why Washington elitists and their liberal media sycophants will continue to invent hoaxes, overhype non-events from 30 years ago, and slander Rand Paul ceaselessly in a desperate effort to eviscerate the massive support he enjoys in Kentucky that is set to help him secure a place in the Senate and become a true representative of the American people.

I sort of don’t understand the Alex Jones infatuation on Rand Paul, or I do understand it but tend to think his line against the “New World Order” unravels right about here.  Rand Paul has made remarkable strides toward ingratiating himself with the Republican Party Establishment.  But they’ve chosen their politicos to have an emotional attachment to — they are the Pauls. 

Frankly, Sharron Angle should be their guy/gal — she’s the only “Tea Partier” that’s at any time in the general election done anything to tweak her party honchos, and looks to take her “39 to Angle” voting record into the Senate.  But there is no politicing on her behalf.  The best we get is some anti-Harry Reid stuff, and a far distant defense for some anti-fluoridation against the ”
I don’t get anything for Joe Miller, save a news-blip on his Security, so I can’t guage where he stands in this picture.

Still, the Clinton angle gives the commenters a chance to do this:

MonkeyBrain Says:
Google Clinton Body Count, since every time I post the list of Murders involving the Clintons webmasters remove it.
I think they’re trying to avoid libel, moreso than reputation.  They let “traveller9878” through, and all he talks about is the “Jews”.:

As they react to a report from Darrell Issa, tapping down any “Impeachment” worry for the electorate:  COMEDY GOLD, of a type.

Sung Manitu-Tanka Says: Obama WILL be removed one way or another get my drift…..
But then you will really have some challenges ahead of you that you are ill prepared for…..

Virginia Thomas calls Anita Hill in the wee hours and oh-so-graciously invites her to prayerfully apologize.
Huh?

We’ve entered a bizarro world.  I don’t think Virginia Thomas understand the basic lessons of the “Prodigal Son”, and I can not quite suggest this is an Inverse example of that story.

Drearily, the only thing to do is to watch as she parades onto various right-wing media outlets to a hero’s welcome, assumption that the Truth is behind her and she was only reaching out to a woman — “a little bit slutty and a little bit nutty” — who smeared her husband oh so many years ago — a political plot by a bunch of hypocritical Liberals.
Assuming that side of the story… we run back again to… “Huh?”  The only answer is it’s part of a politically charged Ideologically driven Gambit.

But we’re lost in a fog of Historical Revisionism.  What are these people thinking?
4th Graders in Virginia received new textbooks last month. The textbook grossly distorted the Civil War and African Americans role in it. The textbook claims that two battalions of African American soldiers fought for the Confederacy under famed Gen. Stonewall Jackson. It is a deliberate misrepresentation in order to bolster a political agenda. Carol Sheriff, a Civil War expert at the College of William and Mary, discovered the error in her daughter’s copy of the offending book, “Our Virginia: Past and Present.” “As far as we know from the historical record, not a single black person participated in a battle under the command of Stonewall Jackson,” Sheriff wrote on a web chat on washingtonpost.com. “There is historical evidence that individual blacks, usually servants who followed their masters to the front, occasionally picked up guns in the heat of battle. But it was illegal in the Confederacy to use blacks as soldiers until the waning days of the war (early 1865). A few companies . . . were raised then, but none saw battle action, as the surrender followed shortly thereafter. Stonewall Jackson had died in 1863, so no black soldiers could have served under his command.”

One of the “disinfo” books has a piece about black Confederate soldiers with the “Yep!  They existed!” aura of quirks of history.  It makes for a historical footnote, and no more.  I suppose an interesting hour long documentary could be made out of the historical examples, or an interesting little book, but not without a bit of stretching.  It is a drop in the bucket against a vaster background of what you’d expect — slaves running to the oncoming Union troops en masse, escaping to the North to fight themselves, various items of civil disobedience.  A history book can be complete without mention of this anomolous.  I suggest that if you’re a Southerner in the mind to embarrass the North or flood past the simplistic narrative of the Cold War, a better tact would be to the more historically significant sentiment of desertions in the Union around the Emancipation Proclamation with the opinion “Why should I fight to free the negro?”, and the atmosphere of various draft Riots. 

Here’s something.  A Rutherford Hayes is running for president.
Which brings a new and interesting sentiment to these proceedings I have never seen expressed before:  I have never seen Rutherford Hayes expressed as the Worst President before now.
I tend to think History plays a neat trick with this question, such that now — here in the year 2010, we should be able to agree on the answer to the worst presidents.  It’s a thought I had when I stared at the cover of the American Spectator.

“Yeah, whatever“.
If we consider Slavery the Original Sin of America, and if we consider that there was a general consensus at the Foundation of the nation that Slavery was a “Necessary Evil” that would be moved to an end — if somewhere in the future — and we consider that this consensus was supplanted with the prevailing ideology gaining in the South switching to one of a “positive good” tied to the Way of the South.
The worst four presidents would have to be the ones who intentionally sought the extension of slavery — Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan — and then the man who dashed Emancipation at its inception — Andrew Johnson.
But this note on “worst ever”, which I see posted a few other spots, is in keeping with the historical ratings where Grant has risen and Hayes has fallen — appropriately as we realign the historical narrative.  (Hayes seems to have been at the 25 to 33 percentile of presidents, where he is now at the 67-75.)  But Hayes was following popular sentiment, expressed by Grant with — (quick easy cheat from wikipedia:).  the whole public is tired of these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South,”, insisting that state militias should handle the problems, not the Army. Grant was concerned that increased military pressure in the South would cause white supremacists in the North to bolt from the Republican Party,  Grant’s second to last State of the Union address full of Pleas for Racial Justice, his last one devoid of the topic.
… Or so goes my historical understanding.

The new Rutherford Hayes, grabbing some attention as your fringe political candidate, is no Rutherford Hayes.

Getting back to the gambig of personal historical revisionism:

The ad got a lot of attention in the blogosphere mainly as a kind of liberal Rorsach test: some loved its aggressiveness, others hated that it went after Paul’s religiosity (or implied lack thereof). But I had no idea, until I arrived in Kentucky, what a big deal it is here. The controversy is absolutely dominating local coverage of the race: as a news story on all the local channels, in the newspapers, and of course on television as the ad itself (and Paul’s rebuttal that Conway is “bearing false witness”) is in constant rotation. This is after it originally flared up as a serious issue over the summer.

I spent the morning in Louisville talking to some local politicos (mainly Republicans), who think Paul is going to pull it out, but agree that the race is still close and that Paul isn’t doing a good job of handling “Aqua Buddha.” For one thing, it’s clearly gotten under his skin, and his campaign has gotten totally off message: He’s stopped talking about Obama (which is every Kentucky Republican’s most effective cudgel). What’s more, he’s guaranteed that the story will drag on for at least a few more days because at the end of the first candidate debate, Paul dramatically announced that he would not shake hands with Conway because of the ad and would not participate in the next debate, scheduled for Monday. Complicating matters for Paul is that he won’t deny the story. It’s certainly his right to stand on principle and refuse to discuss a matter he says is beneath his dignity, but in a raw political sense that’s keeping the story going. […]

Is there anyone out there who does not believe that Rand Paul did not do that college-era stunt?  The cleverest explanation of its relevance — Ron Paul and Rand Paul represent two strands of Libertarianism, Ron Paul the cranky old guy “Get off My Lawn” variety, Rand Paul the arrogant Adolescent frat boy variety — is lost in this electorate outside the insistence on the “bearing false witness” line of crappola.
Maybe there are partisans who think this story is a lie (as opposed to meaningless), who stretch credulity in demanding that this woman throw away her anonymity.

… even if history shows that twenty years from now, she may face a creepy phone call suggesting repentence in apology form.

We have a bit of contradictions with regards to the upcoming “Democratic Party Bloodbath” in the Grand Horse Race of American politics.  The House?  Speaker Boehner.  As per Nate Silver:

For the time being, we are still in a universe where Democrats could probably hold the House by having the coin come up heads in a sufficient number of tossup races.  We may not be far from the point, however, where their chances would boil down, in essence, to there being systemic errors in the polls, which could potentially affect a large number of races — or there being some sort of last-minute change in the macro environment.

But it is a little hard to compute a House Scenario with things going on with the movements in the easier to digest and follow Senate.  I recognize that, say, a five point lead at this point in the game is more significant than a ten point lead two months ago — and “Momentum” leads straight to a stall.  But we’re in a strange state here.

Well la de freaking da.  The eye popping sentence to end all eye popping sentences in this game of “Horse Race”s.  ALASKA:  [Joe] Miller’s getting close to being in free-fall if some private polling is to be believed.
Neat, huh?  Regretably we’re in a world where Joe Miller’s downfall benefits Lisa Murkowski as much as Scott McAdams.
A historical memo:  Four years later, Knowles was re-elected under remarkably similar circumstances, despite dreadful approval numbers and an electorate that was just as anti-Democrat as ever. His Republican opponent self destructed in a fashion that Mr. Miller hasn’t yet touched, culminating with with the Republican Party taking the remarkable step of formally withdrawing their nomination of him after ballots were printed. I think he finished 3rd behind Governor Knowles and some Republican State Senator who – wait for it – ran a write in campaign at the last minute.
I seem to recall Knowles campaign strategy turning into “Dump all the add buys, cancel all the public appearances, close the shades, turn off the lights, and don’t let the hear you laughing.” It worked.

The wild card nature of this race shows through with the type of question pollsters are asking:
If the election for U.S. Senate were held today and the candidates were Scott McAdams, the Democrat and Joe Miller, the Republican, who would you be more likely to vote for or would you write in the name of Lisa Murkowski, who is also running?
We’ll see…

Wisconsin.  Pay little attention and don’t get in trapped in following these things, but  these polls are going to kill me.   I am easy to dismiss an odd little poll like this one as an outlier or easily disregarded internal poll.  But that’s how I treated the poll in Pennsylvania that showed Sestack ahead, and…

Pennsylvania:  But publications like The Hotline have indicated, and some contacts of mine have related, that not only do Democratic internal polls show the race tightening, but Republican ones do as well.

Maybe Feingold remains politically, or maybe not.  Apparently Sestack isn’t.  Odd — nothing new has happened on a “swing 7 percentage” scale, has it?  The electorate must have a positive reaction to prominent displays of dog poop.

I have a working theory with candidates Feingold and Sestack.  The reason a relatively small margin is generally insurmontable a month may in large part just be that this point, financial resources are apt to dry up as the candidates fade into electoral oblivion.  Feingold and Sestack have an advantage on this socre where the Democratic candidates in Ohio and New Hampshire don’t — a national constituency of “netroots”, so they remain solvent to fight through to election day, and run dog poop themed commercials.
Unfortunately, Feingold may not own a dog.

Okay.  Try this one:

KENTUCKY In the latest Rasmussen poll Rand Paul is ahead of Jack Conway by 5 points. But this is down from last month where Paul was ahead 11 points. A poll conducted by Bennett, Petts and Normington for the DSCC has Conway up by 2. Real Clear Politics scores the race for Paul, but only by 3. What is happening?
The obvious culprit is “Aqua Buddha”.  Or maybe it’s… Aqua Buddha floating about in a context of everything else.
What’s happening is that Rand Paul, in his response ad to Jack Conway, forsook the Aqua Buddha — and thus the Aqua Buddha has forsaken Rand Paul.
Interesting thought, as I read it, this is a back-handed way of defending Jack Conway on Ezra Klein’s part:
Conway’s attack on Rand Paul, conversely, is coming under Conway’s name, so he also owns the backlash. That’s not a great strategy: If you’ve got a line of attack that decent people are likely to condemn, it’s wise to make sure they’re condemning someone who isn’t you. The Conway campaign would be better off if people were discussing whether Christians United Against Rand Paul had gone too far, rather than whether Jack Conway had gone too far.

The electorate rewards politicians when they defer their attacks to some other entity (even obnoxiously thinly disguised in terms of connections) and punish them for the same damned attack when they sign the attack.  They’ll probably end up edging Paul a victory, but maybe the Kentucky electorate could do as a favor by changing those terms.

NEVADA.  For instance, by any rights this election campaign ad gambit should backfire.

Democratic Latino voters could easily be forgiven for mistaking the new television ad making its way around Nevada as a message from like-minded liberals frustrated with the party’s inaction. “President Obama and the Democratic leadership made a commitment that immigration reform would be passed within a year. But two years have gone by and nothing, not even a vote in Congress.” That’s exactly what I’ve been saying! “With a Democratic president and supermajorities in both chambers of Congress, they have no excuses.” None! None at all! Okay, maybe some, but whatever, let’s move on. “Aren’t you tired of politicians playing games with your future?” Tired? I can barely keep my eyes open. “Do you really think it will be different this time?” Does Sharron Angle think at all? Okay, so what do we do about this? “Don’t vote this November, this is the only way to send them a clear message. Don’t. Vote.” Yeah, that’ll show … Wait, huh?

The ad’s unexpected suggestion comes courtesy of Robert de Posada, founder of Latinos for Reform, who told TPM he’s become equally frustrated with both parties. It sure seems like one more than the other, though. De Posada once served as Dick Armey’s co-director of Americans for Border and Economic Security and supports no amnesty, heightened border security, and employee verification. The website for Latinos for Reform lists its address as a P.O. box manned by Susan Arceneaux, a player in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, but De Posada says that’s a mistake.

Swift Vote Veterans for Truth?  Why does it seem like it’s aways just a rotation of the same five rich jerks over and over again?
An example of a classic “Forced Equivalency“:
Indeed, Latinos have been accusing the state’s tea-party-backed Republican Senate candidate, Sharron Angle, of race baiting by running ads with ominous-looking Hispanic men crossing the U.S. border. Angle’s campaign, meanwhile, has begun to charge her opponent, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, with “playing the race card” as he seeks to capitalize on Angle’s gaffes in front of local Latino students and a GOP ad urging Hispanics to not vote.
IT BURNS!!! IT BURNS!!!!

The polling is even, though I gather a slight tilt for Angle.  Reid and the Democrats, in the same manner that Feingold and various others, retort that they’ve got a “Ground Game” that’d make up for any slight edge to their opponent.  We will see.  The “Tea Party Express” and the former Alaskan governor started their bus tour here, and I gather will end it — in that classic race where the average voter will stand at the polling lever, hold their nose and look away as they sigh in pulling their level deciding on a candidate, and not be too concerned if the lever slipped.

Illinois.  A search of google news getting at “Alexi Giannoulias V. Mark Kirk” Giannouliasthat we’re in la la land in terms “Watching the Polls”, with the typical 3 points either way, and the accusations from partisan sources that the poll showing the other guy ahead is rigged or pushed, touting their preferred poll. 
Like with Nevada, and in a way with Kentucky, the race will come down to who the electorate hates the least — with a Green Party candidate poised to spoil more than the Libertarian candidate.

West Virginia.  This appears to be a race I would go ahead and say “Nut to this” and roll over to the “Mountain Party” candidate.  (This is contrast to Jack Conway in the same land of Coal, who just meets a minimum standard.)  The state appears a two party duopoly under the behest of King Coal, with a Democratic governor that the state Republican Party has long been comfortable with in the way the Democrat is comfortable with tacit support of Republicans.  In a course like this, it’s only natural that your Republican Party candidate is going to be a mighty screwball.  But I’ll say it’s good that the spell of John Raese-mania has faded.
You know… Rush Limbaugh was instrumental in electing the Democratic Senate candidate in Missouri in 2006, he seems poised to help the 2010 West Virginia candidate.  But these things have already built up — the thing I’m having a hard time figuring out with this thing is… What’s with John Raese’s accent?  Is that, like, a New England brogue?

However the Election Day turns out, we go right into …

Koch Industries, the longtime underwriter of libertarian causes from the Cato Institute in Washington to the ballot initiative that would suspend California’s landmark law capping greenhouse gases, is planning a confidential meeting at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa to, as an invitation says, “develop strategies to counter the most severe threats facing our free society and outline a vision of how we can foster a renewal of American free enterprise and prosperity.” […]

With a personalized letter signed by Charles Koch, the invitation to the four-day Rancho Mirage meeting opens with a grand call to action: “If not us, who? If not now, when?”

The Koch network meets twice a year to plan and expand its efforts — as the letter says, “to review strategies for combating the multitude of public policies that threaten to destroy America as we know it.” […]

The Kochs also seek to cultivate Americans’ growing concern about the growth of government: at the most recent meeting, in Aspen, Colo., in June, some of the wealthiest people in America listened to a presentation on “a vision of how we can retain the moral high ground and make the new case for liberty and smaller government that appeals to all Americans, rich and poor.” […]

The participants in Aspen dined under the stars at the top of the gondola run on Aspen Mountain, and listened to Glenn Beck of Fox News in a session titled, “Is America on the Road to Serfdom?” (The title refers to a classic of Austrian economic thought that informs libertarian ideology, popularized by Mr. Beck on his show.)The participants included some of the nation’s wealthiest families and biggest names in finance: private equity and hedge fund executives like John Childs, Cliff Asness, Steve Schwarzman and Ken Griffin; Phil Anschutz, the entertainment and media mogul ranked by Forbes as the 34th-richest person in the country; Rich DeVos, the co-founder of Amway; Steve Bechtel of the giant construction firm; and Kenneth Langone of Home Depot.

The same dozen rich guys, ready to unveil new rotating fly by night Front Groups.
… and an assist from… GLEN BECK???

Which makes some sense.

Recently, Beck went hat in hand to his radio audience, strongly encouraging his listeners to open their wallets and make October 14 “the largest day of fundraising for the Chamber of Commerce ever.” Beck pledged to personally donate $10,000. 
You know… I don’t understand why an “average” individual would donate money to the Chamber of Commerce.  It’s the same rule with a self financed rich political candidate (Meg Whitman in California as an example) — even if you agree with them… Why?
For that matter, there is no Republican National Committee anymore.  It’s all American Crossroads, baby!

The future is wide open.

Delia Lopez…
She is running advertisements on KPOJ.  (A few skips from the “Technocracy” ad spot, I suppose.)  For the life of me, I don’t really know why.  I could theorize ways her pitch — Earl Blumenauer is throwing people out of his office — might resonate with the listenership of KPOJ.  But I don’t understand her latest ad.
“Go to my website and watch these videos!”
… of, Earl Blumenuer calling the “Tea Party” rally names, “weasals” as the case may be — and for some reason her ad drops out just after the name “Glenn Beck”, with the statement … what is it?  … “This is what Earl Blumenauer thinks of US!”
… No.  That’s, I guess, what Earl Bluemenuer thinks of you, not us.   Hence his new dorky up-beat ad. 

Next clip of Earl Blumenauer… what is this?  It’s someone asking his why he opposes such a common sense measure as the Balanced Budget Amendment with a perfectly appropriate answer that might resonate with a different audience — there’s, like, half a dozen conservative talk radio stations to choose from, and the video for the commercial spots shown on youtube and her campaign website show her next to a local host on KPAM.  In the “citizen journalism” that is represented with the q and a, Blumenauer drops in the word “Opportunity”, hence getting Delia Lopez to shout “Opportunity???” in a tone of outrage.  I can’t quite tell if this counts as “out of context theater”, but it is slim pickings.

All very weird.

THIS is funny.
Progressive Earl Blumenauer comes in a close second and this man is so far out of touch with his constituents its not even funny.

So what?  The ad would work alongside the ad played on the various stations “What is Obama thinking?  He’s attacking the good business people job creators of the Chamber of Commerce and the upstanding Grass Roots millions of the Tea Party and Freedom Works???  Instead of listening to them???”
Zounds!  The mind reels!
I don’t know if it’d inch her vote total up to above the 20s percentage into the 30s, but it’d probably fish for some more campaign donations in the “Campaiging as a hobby” that these runs represent.  But it appears she has work to do.  When you type “Earl Blumenuer” into youtube, the “Promoted Video” choice is Libertarian / “Independent Party” candidate Jeff Lawrence.  We’ll just see who comes in second.

No word on what Delia Lopez thinks of Joe Miller.

California:  Sans Sarah Palin, Carly Fiorina brought in the big guns of John McCain.  And

“Barbara Boxer is the most bitterly partisan, most anti-defense senator in the United States Senate today.  I know that because I’ve had the unpleasant experience of having to serve with her.  This is not a senator who is a friend of America’s heroes and it is something we must hold her accountable for on November 2nd.”

That’s just how the man who most epitomizes the form the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body, a place where Cordiality Reigns Supreme, rolls.

FLORIDA:  Sarah Palin was not in California.  She was in Florida, though.  The race is over — always needed either Crist or Meek to collapse their campaign to have any sort of chance against Rubio.  Who knows if Palin would be in Florida if it weren’t over?

Washington:  Dino Rossi, in his debate with Patty Murray, had some of that rhetoric that has you running for the Hills.  Ever mindful of finding a soundbyte, we get a version of the “the next generation will live in tyranny and will have to look up the word ‘freedom’ in the dictionary.”

“America is in trouble  If we don’t have a course correction in this election we’re going to wake up 24 months from now in a country we don’t even recognize.”
Let the future History books of a future civilization, what the USA is to the Ancient Greeks, show that the electorate for the State of Washington, by rejecting Dino Rossi for a third time, played the instrumental role in bringing about a new Dark Ages.  Those are the stakes, Washington State.

ALASKA:   Joe Miller versus Scott McAdams is a face off between Beards and Mustaches.
Also, everyone wants to tug at the coat-tails of the late Ted Stevens.
Nate Silver and 538, who had once discounted the possibility of a McAdams victory, is now very much hedging.  So it goes…
The news last night that Mr. Miller’s security detail had handcuffed and detained a reporter, Tony Hopfinger, after a town-hall-style meeting held by Mr. Miller is unlikely to reverse those trends, and may accelerate them. (A statement by Mr. Miller defended the actions, characterizing the reporter as “potentially violent.”)
This race is something of a wild card.  I’d be little surprised with just about any outcome.
I am kind of afraid of looking around and seeing how people are reacting to to the Security Handcuffing, as it will correlate almost exactly to their partisan predelictions regarding Joe Miller.

DELAWARE:  Such as it goes with Christine O’Donnell, and the fire breathing Conservative Talk Radio hosts, who give O’Donnell — and her debate performance — more leeway than they could dream of giving any Democrat.  Leaving aside the wholly legitimate question of what Recent Supreme Court Decisions you disagree with — and the curious reply “Can you give me an example?” to “I’ll put it on my website” — shades of the exact same thing in Katie Couric’s questioning of Sarah Palin. 
I looked on her website.  Maybe it’s there, beyond the front page “Donate Now to get her in the Lameduck Session” page that features Obama, Pelosi, and Reid saying presumably stupid things, but  I don’t see it.  I do see a Fred Barnes Weekly Standard article that trumpets that O’Donnell is getting a lot of media attention and Chris Coons isn’t — for what that’s worth.
The other high point of the debate was… the discussion of “bearded Marxists”.

 So then I would be remiss not to bring up the fact that my opponent has recently said that it was studying under a Marxist professor that made him become a Democrat. So when you look at his position on things like raising taxes, which is one of the tenets of Marxism; not supporting eliminating death tax, which is a tenet of Marxism — I would argue that there are more people who support my Catholic faith than his Marxist beliefs, and I’m using his own words.
BLITZER: Because a lot of people remember, because they’ve learned in last few weeks you did once describe yourself when you were in college a long time ago as a bearded Marxist.
COONS: Great question, Wolf. I hope folks will go and read the article.
It’s an article that I wrote as a senior the day of our commencement speech and the title and the content of that clearly makes it obvious that it was a joke. There was a group of folks who I had shared a room with, my roommates junior year, who are in the Young Republican Club and who thought when I returned from Kenya and registered as a Democrat that doing so was proof that I had gone all the way over to the far left end, and so they jokingly called me a bearded Marxist. If you take five minutes and read the article, it’s clear on the face of it, it was a joke. Despite that, my opponent and lots of folks in the right wing media have endlessly spun this. I am not now, nor have I ever been, anything but a clean-shaven capitalist.
O’DONNELL: Well, I would — I would stand to disagree because, first of all, if you’re saying what I said on a comedy show is relevant to this election, then absolutely you writing an article, forget the bearded Marxist comment, you writing an article saying that you learned your beliefs from an articulate, intelligent Marxist professor and that’s what made you become a Democrat, that should send chills up the spine of every Delaware voter because then if you compare that statement to your policies —
COONS: If it were accurate, if it were true, I’d agree. But it’s not accurate. It’s not true.
O’DONNELL: You said that on MSNBC just a few weeks ago. You said that on MSNBC.

Anyway, Christine O’donnell… is you, America.  Think about that for a moment.

KENTUCKY:  Truth be told, if I were in West Virginia — where the Democratic Senate candidate has surged ahead in the polls in part off of taking a conservative policy stance — or Kentucky, I may just chunk it all and base an affirmative vote off the baseline of … “Coal Miner Safety.  What of it?”  What other policy decisions will the Senators from these states have leverage over?
Jack Conway is running with the Chilian miners.  No word on whether those 33 miners actually endorsed him.
Note the heavily bearded miner in that ad… as against the supposed hicks in the West Virginian Republican candidate’s ad.
In other Political Ad news… Jack Conway brings up the “Aqua Buddha” controversy“– and apparently the major part of that scandal is how it leads to his opposition to “Faith Based Initiatives”.  And kill me.
So we’re one for one in the contest and what Conway insists on bringing up.  The third issue Conways drudges up in his ads — relating to the drug war — is a bit of a draw… the drug is Meth, not Marijuana.

Oklahoma:  I cannot find any information online about Democratic challenger Jim Rogers.  Maybe he’ll have something in the Voter’s Pamphlet?

Colorado:  I’ve been through this before.
I want to be on the side of Ken Buck’s “restatement”.
Buck spokesman Owen Loftus was quick to clarify that Buck did not mean to imply that homosexuality was akin to a disease. Rather “[Buck] was just saying there’s an element of predisposition there and an element of choice.”
But, of course, I’m lost with him because any statement that suggests such a thing tends to be said by people who say it’s akin to a disease.
Bennet wasted little time in declaring Buck’s views to be “outside the mainstream.”
Have we gone around the bend to where the nature of these wedge issues have flip flopped on who gets to use them?  Maybe the supposed “fiscal” strut of the “Tea Party” has allowed that to happen?

NEVADA:  The most bizarre political fact check ever.
“So that’s what we want is a secure and sovereign nation and, you know, I don’t know that all of you are Latino. Some of you look a little more Asian to me. I don’t know that. [Note: it’s the Hispanic Student Union. The whole room is Hispanic teenagers.] What we know, what we know about ourselves is that we are a melting pot in this country. My grandchildren are evidence of that. I’m evidence of that. I’ve been called the first Asian legislator in our Nevada State Assembly.”
I know that people once called Clinton the first black President, and though I can’t imagine the reason he’d ever trout that out for political effect — I guess if he ever said it and anyone fact-checked it, they’d rate it as a “yes”.  In the case of Sharron Angle — Sharron Angle needs to show some proof of someone, somewhere — anywhere — calling her Asian.

In other suggestions made by Sharron Angle:
ABC News’ Huma Khan reports: Sharron Angle’s campaign today attempted to downplay her recent comments suggesting that sharia law is taking hold in Dearborn, Michigan and Frankford, Texas.
A double fact check on this one.  Sharia Law has not been imposed in Dearborn, Michigan.  And there is a bit transcendental regarding its state of existence.

Wisconsin:  A pretty strange way to look at Russ Feingold’s political troubles, but I’m a firm believer that geography and maps tell the story.

I let this topic fade out of view, but I was always meaning to come back to it, though never quite knowing what else I’d have to say about it.  The only thing I can really say is I had a mental image that popped in immediately upon reading around this:

The movement has been growing exponentially the last five years or so… because of the internet. […]
Mostly we are attracting really smart young people… my opinion anyway… from around 14 to 28 years old for the most part. People sick of fake alternative things… like Zeitgeist, political crap, fake solutions of reform.

Imagine, for a moment, two parents of a fourteen year old boy, in the bedroom.  The mom gingerly says, “I’m a little worried about Johnny.”  The dad asks, “Why is that?  He’s getting good grades, and seems to be getting along well at school.”  The mom: “I looked through his Internet files, and came across something that’s a little … troubling.”  The dad: “Now, now.  I think we can let pass a little bit of pornography… it’s not too far removed from what you’d see in Playboy, is it?”  The mom: “No.  It’s not that. That would make sense.  He seems to be getting into…” The dad: “What?  Satanism?”  Mom: “No.  He seems to be getting interested in… um… a complete destruction of Society as we know it and a reshaping … um… I don’t know what this is. Thackocracy?”  Dad:  “Hm.  It’s just a phase.  He’ll move past it.  Why, when I was his age…”

Rejecting all forms of traditional political science, the Technocrats refused to even use standard geographical maps because their boundaries were political, so they would refer to states only by their geographical coordinates. Names, too, were suspect for some reason so members of the movement in California were designated only by numbers. A speaker at one California rally was introduced only as 1×1809×56!

Anyway, I was reminded of Technocracy when I heard an advertisement for “Technocracy, Inc”, and an invitation to go to their website, this morning on KPOJ, around about 8:20.  An invitation to go to their seemingly still unupdated website and “Evolve Again”.  What they’re aiming at with a brand new radio ad campaign here, I do not know.  But the website does not seem to have improved any from what I can tell from two months ago.

………………..

Technocracy’s rallying cry was “production for use,” which was meant as a contrast to production for profit in the capitalist system.
I thought that was Upton Sinclair’s “EPIC” rallying cry.  But everyone had different ideas which coincided a bit.