I don’t know what I am wanting with the Republican Alaska Primary, currently in recount mode.\u00c2\u00a0 Surely a “Joe Miller” upset of Lisa Murkowski gives an opening for that Democratic candidate — mayor of what counts for a large town in that state.\u00c2\u00a0 But the betting odds still tilt heavily toward the Republican.\u00c2\u00a0 Better for Murkowski to pull through, end that delusional dream which might be a reality in the last two electoral cycles but not this one, and let stand a tepidly reasonable Republican who likes to legislate a tad.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Alaska is only shade shy of Utah in terms of the no-lose proposition of a “Tea Party Movement” in taking out Republicans in the primary.<\/p>\n
There are two more opportunities left for a Tea Party to smite the Republican picked candidate.\u00c2\u00a0 Understand, you have to be leery of the whole phenomenon.\u00c2\u00a0 It is not just that their incursion discombobulates the “Overton Window”, it is also that the positive upside for the Democrats is limited.\u00c2\u00a0 They remain likely to win in this election cycle, occasionally even more likely than the Moderate to Conservative they banished.\u00c2\u00a0 But in the case of New Hampshire and Delaware, it converts a likely Republican victory to a likely Democratic victory, and a sure Republican victory to a sure Democratic victory.\u00c2\u00a0 For Delaware, it is as the state Party Chair puts it:
\n“a perennial candidate who lacks the standing in Delaware to get elected to anything.”
\nFor New Hampshire — well, it is interesting to note that the Tea Party Insurgent is endorsed by (according to wikipedia) — FORMER VICE PRESIDENT DAN QUAYLE!!!!<\/p>\n
In a previous dias, I could look at the electoral map and see the distinct possibility of a sort of victory of vaguely reasonable Republicans who would anger the Republican base on occasion but whose electoral guide ahead rests on finding ways to assert that they “worked with” the other side and the Democratic President.\u00c2\u00a0 Massachusetts gave us Scott Brown.\u00c2\u00a0 Absent New Hampshire and Delaware, the only new Republican Senator to join this set of Mainers would be the one that would come out of Illinois.\u00c2\u00a0 The Center falls ashunder.<\/p>\n
The generics portend a Republican Party thumping.\u00c2\u00a0 If this were 2008, Joe Miller in Alaska would lose.\u00c2\u00a0 Likewise these other screwballs.<\/p>\n
Rand Paul in Kentucky?\u00c2\u00a0 He will probably win.\u00c2\u00a0 Wouldn’t have won in — certainly not 2006.\u00c2\u00a0 The one solace with Rand Paul is the Entertainment Value that the Land of Alex Jones is giving us — every time someone digs apart Paul for criticism, they report on a Thwarted Establishment Conspiracy.\u00c2\u00a0 Newspaper Endorsement time should be fun in this regard.<\/p>\n
Sharron Angle in Nevada?\u00c2\u00a0 She might win, she might lose.\u00c2\u00a0 Polls show about two thirds of her voters wish they weren’t voting for her.\u00c2\u00a0 But the same might be said about Harry Reid.\u00c2\u00a0 Certainly Harry Reid has a lot to tee off in his Negative Campaign ads.\u00c2\u00a0 But I suggest he toss in a positive word about himself along the way.\u00c2\u00a0 Looking back at other Republican landslides, it may be that Angle falls where Oliver North and Mike Huffington did in 1994 — a Bridge too far.<\/p>\n
Ken Buck in Colorado?\u00c2\u00a0 Who knows?\u00c2\u00a0 You would think that his calling birther conspiracists “Dumb Asses” would be an asset, but it appears he had to walk that comment back a tad. Whatever else you can say about Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, he is more “Club for Growth” than “Tea Party”.\u00c2\u00a0 But then again, so is the “Tea Party” — except for a pancrea of rightwing populist symbols. I don’t know what I am wanting with the Republican Alaska Primary, currently in recount mode.\u00c2\u00a0 Surely a “Joe Miller” upset of Lisa Murkowski gives an opening for that Democratic candidate — mayor of what counts for a large town in that state.\u00c2\u00a0 But the betting odds still tilt heavily toward the Republican.\u00c2\u00a0 Better for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6747,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6746\/revisions\/6747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIt is hard to believe that a Wisconsin pol who spoke of global warming as “just sunspot activity” or “just something in the eons of time” could be electable.\u00c2\u00a0 But sometimes we falter against Reality.\u00c2\u00a0 Study this poll result<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 There is no basis in Reality.\u00c2\u00a0 It is the basis for the impending series of pointless investigations to hamper anything Obama might do — destructive politics, but your basis of thought comes from the President being Illegitimate just Because he is there, you have nothing else to work with.<\/p>\n
\nFlorida is a weird cluster-f.\u00c2\u00a0 Charlie Crist is playing a lot of footsy in party identification, hoping he can amass that nebulous sphere of non-partisan partisans.\u00c2\u00a0 Kendrick Meek is running to push away any of Crist’s Democratic supporters.\u00c2\u00a0 The problem is that question of how Crist would keep any of his Republican supporters if his Democratic support collapses — his “Center Holding” rests on the center believing the other part of the center will hold with him.\u00c2\u00a0 So it is Marc Rubio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"